Posts filed under 'Technology'
Posted: March 12, 2010: 5:02 pm
Artist concept looking SE from interection of Ave. A and Third St. NW
Winter Haven City Commissioners met today (Friday, March 12) in a Quarterly Planning Workshop designed to discuss potential new projects and review the status of previous priorities.
One primary area of interest involved a proposed downtown parking garage that would be situated on the block where the Ritz Theatre is located. The garage would essentially wrap around the theatre. Conceptual plans call for first floor retail space for urban connectivity and several floors of parking spaces including a top deck. Total number of spaces would number slightly more that 5oo.
Commissioner Jamie Beckett pointed to the new “Business Continuity Center” located in the 610 Plaza building (formerly Verizon) that can accommodate overnight up to 250 workers from a business that has suffered an interruption due to catastrophic circumstances anywhere. Beckett said his number one question from downtown businesses dealt with parking and he added, “Where will we park those 250 extra workers.” (Also, a developing downtown technology sector now employs approximately 230 people and is projected to employ 500 by 2012.)
City Manager Dale Smith noted that parking garages are never inexpensive but the current economic climate should produce a cost effective climate for building.
The commissioners instructed staff to develop definite plans and recommendations on how to proceed.
The planning workshop lasted three-hours and dealt with a variety of topics. The Commission is also interested in evaluating the need for updating the Community’s visioning document, “Our Future By Design.”
| See other posts filed in: City of Winter Haven, Commercial Developments, Downtown, Real Estate, Technology
Posted: January 6, 2010: 3:15 pm
Downtown Winter Haven sparkles with new pavers, lighting and landscaping, a beautiful new library , a variety of great restaurants and a growing number of special shops. But quiet and little-noticed is an emerging technology sector anchored by a unique fiber optic crossroads and the USF Polytechnic technology accelerator.
The primary driver of this tech hub is two large telecommunications buildings formerly owned by Verizon/GTE and now owned and being developed by the Six Ten Corporation. The two buildings are hardened and carrier grade and have become the anchors for what is now known as the Inland Fiber and Data Park — a four-block area offering safe data storage and emergency back up facilities to both government and corporate clients from throughout Florida and both national and international interests.
There is currently 300,000 square feet of space serving 26 companies with approximately 230 employees. Six Ten is proposing to add another 50,000 square feet of new space by 2012 effectively doubling the number of companies to 50 and employment to 500. These high technology jobs are projected to average wages of $43,000 – $69,000.
Currently there are eight fiber optic providers located downtown. They include: Level 3, Verizon, Nuvox, Time Warner Telecom, FPL Fibernet, BrightHouse and Sprint. That number is expected to grow to twelve by 2012.
Tenants include medical, business service and support, software developers, data centers anddisaster recovery, technology, educational institutions and State and Federal Government. Another key partner in the development of this technology park is Elephant Outlook Information Services providing secure email management and compliance.
Key to this emerging sector is the synergy derived from public/private partnerships. Six Ten Corporation and Elephant Outlook are partnering with the resources of the City of Winter Haven, Central Florida Development Council, East Polk Committee of 100 and USF Polytechnic to maximize the position of Polk County and Winter Haven in this highly desirable area of economic development.
High wage and high potential in the heart of downtown. The future looks bright.
| See other posts filed in: City of Winter Haven, Commercial Developments, Downtown, Economic Development, Technology
Posted: December 4, 2009: 4:51 pm
Important News Regarding USF Polytechnic Business Incubator and Accelerator Opportunities …
Do you have an idea for technology- related business, or know of an existing business interested in setting up shop in central Florida? If so, we might just have the resources and personnel in place to help you succeed.
The University of South Florida Polytechnic is pleased to announce that the staff of our USFP Blue Sky Business Incubator (Lakeland) and Business
Accelerator (Winter Haven – to be housed in the 610 Plaza building pictured right) is officially in place. Their main charge is to promote the USFP Blue Sky sites to start up tech companies and young firms who can benefit from the many resources afforded to them through the world-class Blue Sky facilities, our economic development partners throughout the community and the highly skilled students, faculty, and staff at USFP.
Specifically, USFP Blue Sky East and USFP Blue Sky West will offer:
- Free or subsidized, fully furnished office space
- Connections to the University’s substantial resources, including;
- Technology
- Research
- Expertise
- Social Networking
- Student Interns
The USFP Blue Sky centers enjoy collaborative relationships with key economic development partners in state and local government, as well as:
Central Florida Development Council
Central Florida Partnership
East Polk Committee of 100
Florida High Tech Corridor
Lakeland Economic Development Council
Tampa Bay Partnership
In addition to these valuable connections, our newly placed USFP Blue Sky staff members represent experience in the fields of business development, international business, and entrepreneurship. They will be on site to assist to you take your operation to the next level.
We’re looking for a few good companies… to help us move Polk County and central Florida forward. Call us today at 863.667.7056 or email us at BlueSky@poly.usf.edu for more information.
Please visit us on the web at http://poly.usf.edu/BlueSky/
| See other posts filed in: City of Winter Haven, Technology
Posted: December 2, 2009: 11:48 am
Friday, December 11th, 2009 Ridge Career Center will have a formal Ribbon Cutting for the new Health Science Building and the Firefighting Facility expansion at 9:00 a.m. in the Career Center’s Plaza. These two projects (total investment: $10 million) have been under construction since fall 2007. Ridge will present these beautiful, high tech facilities to community members on this day and share how they are training the workforce of tomorrow in health science and public service careers.
Refreshments will be served immediately following the Ribbon Cutting and tours of both facilities will be held from 9:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. We encourage you to make time in your busy schedule to join with area Chamber members in this celebration!
Ridge Career Center is located at 7700 State Road 544 in Winter Haven.
| See other posts filed in: Chamber Events, Education, General Announcements, Technology
Posted: August 25, 2009: 4:29 pm
Propak Software based in Winter Haven announces the introduction of LandMaster, a new generation of Web-based software solutions for the agricultural industry. The new product is designed to help the Florida Citrus Industry increase efficiency and profitability and to advance food safety and traceability.
The LandMaster family of products includes applications specifically developed to support growers and processors in data collection and land management including identification of the land, blocks, and parcel locations, by commodity, variety, growers and ownership. LandMaster was developed to be modular and therefore growers can purchase specific applications to support their agricultural operations. Key applications in the new LandMaster family of software include: Crop Care, Crop Scout, Harvest, Field Time, GEO, Commodity Processing and Available for Sale.
ProPak Software has previous experience in citrus-related software through its existing CitrusPro software platform. The company began development and investment in the LandMaster family of products more than three years ago. “The launch of LandMaster is a culmination of our long-term plan to offer software solutions that can transform agriculture.” stated John Sauer, President of ProPak Software.
LandMaster software handles all types of agricultural commodities and activities from crop care to geospatial mapping, which is integrated with Microsoft Virtual Earth from the point of contact in the field. Crop scouts can utilize GPS coordinates to mark trees for further inspections, replacement and many other caretaking activities. Harvesting managers and caretakers can use an electronic and interactive map of their operations and monitor activities on a real-time basis from anywhere and at anytime. LandMaster is available as a site license to larger growers and as an online service to smaller growers.
“LandMaster and the Ford Work Solutions in-dash computer system and a mobile broadband internet allows citrus growers and all commodity growers with an integrated real-time approach to take care of our agricultural food supply more efficiently and safely by monitoring all aspects of the growing process, from the time they purchase and identify the land,” stated Rick Montney, Vice President of ProPak Software.
ProPak Software is a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner and, in addition to the LandMaster Family of Products, also markets CitrusPro and BeveragePro software developed for the citrus and beverage markets.
Propak is one more important facet of Winter Haven’s growing technology hub. It was founded in 1992 and has its roots in the citrus industry.
| See other posts filed in: Technology
Posted: August 7, 2009: 11:06 am
The University of South Florida Polytechnic’s Blue Sky business incubation program is now accepting applications for space in its two facilities — a business accelerator, Blue Sky East in Winter Haven, and an entry-level incubator, Blue Sky West in Lakeland. Winter Haven’s Blue Sky East will be located in the former Verizon building amid an already emerging technology hub. The Six Ten Corporation was instrumental in working with USF Poly on Blue Sky East.
“We want a diverse group of entrepreneurs with the potential to create a significant economic impact in central Florida,” says Marshall Goodman, VP and CEO of USF Polytechnic. “These facilities provide opportunities for a wide range of enterprises. Some will be raw start-ups, and some will be more advanced. Regardless of the stage, Blue Sky represents an opportunity to thrive.”
Applicants must be for-profit technology corporations, with proprietary technologies preferred. Applicants can be a start-up company, an existing small business in a growth phase, an existing business launching a new business project, or an international business looking for a soft-landing site.
The Blue Sky facilities are the first public business technology incubators in Polk County. They will focus on attracting and nurturing entrepreneurial businesses by creating a place where USF Poly faculty, staff and students can work with businesses to develop innovative technology. Incubated companies will benefit from the proximity to and resources of a national research university as well as the assets of economic development networks.
The application is available at here. Applicants must be for-profit technology corporations. Preference will be shown for proprietary technologies. Applicants can be start-ups, existing small businesses looking to grow, an existing business that is launching a new project, or an international business looking for site in the U.S. that plans to hire locally and pay local taxes.
| See other posts filed in: City of Winter Haven, Commercial Developments, Downtown, Economic Development, Education, General Announcements, Technology
Posted: July 22, 2009: 2:31 pm
Sal Moraco and Mike Kingham have announced that Cyberlink1 and Kingham Software are joining forces in Polk County’s Web development and hosting industry. Both companies believe the strategic partnership will create increased technological and creative solutions for their respective client bases.
Moraco said, “I’m excited about the partnership. I have built Cyberlink1 with a foundation of creativity and technical specialization to guide clients of all sizes and industries through the complicated and ever-changing world of the Web. My team and I have enjoyed providing clients with the very best design and hosting solutions and we are thrilled to continue those same high standards in partnerhsip with Kingham Software.
Among the clients served by Cyberlink1 are: Atlantic Blue, Bogdahn Group, Eye Express, Six Ten Corporation, Peterson Myers, The Humane Society and Keep Winter Haven Clean and Beautiful to name but a few. Moraco will continue his role in sales and marketing consulting and will be available to assist with new projects.
The joint venture is another step in the growing technology sector in downtown Winter Haven. Both Cyberlink1 and Kingham are long time players in area Web development.
| See other posts filed in: Downtown, General Announcements, Technology
Posted: June 16, 2009: 1:57 pm
Winter Haven-based cnp_studio has joined forces with California-based VOCE (pronounced voe-chey) Communications. Voce purchased the hard assets from Clark/Nikdel/Powell Design and Communications and hired the Web team including Nick Gernert, Sean O’Shaughnessy, Chris Scott, Mike Pretty and Pete Schiebel (the team will remain based downtown). (Clark/Nikdel/Powell continues to offer Web design and support focusing on their local clients.)
Voce and cnp_studio have been long-time business partners and worked on a variety of social media projects since 2006. The firm manages social media programs for a number of firms including Comcast, Disney, ebay, Fujitsu, Intel, Logitech, NetApp, PlayStation, VeriSign, Yahoo! and has teamed with cnp on most of those projects. cnp’s independent projects have included publishing platform work for the “Real Dan Lyons,” MIT Sloan and PlayStation Europe, user interface design work with Symantec and traditional Web site development and intranet work for Platinum Games and Prudential. The firm also specializes in customized blogs using the WordPress platform. And if you like bacon you’ll want to visit Bacolicio.us — used for practical jokes around the world — noted by such organizations as the New York Times and Huffington Post.
cnp_studio Director of Platform Services Nick Gernert notes, “This means good things because Voce has always challenged our team to do great things. Our ability to pursue new ideas, platforms, and technologies is unchanged. Our clients benefit from the expertise of Voce while Voce’s clients benefit from the platform developer working in direct contact with their strategists. Voce believes that the combination of their public relations and social media marketing teams with cnp’s Web development expertise will add value for their clients. The combined group will be known as “Voce Connect.”
Editors note: cnp_studio is one of many fine emerging technology firms growing in downtown Winter Haven. It also happens to involve my son, Nick, and a talented team. The Chamber is currently gathering information and will soon publish a special series of blog posts about our emerging technology hub and the unique reasons that downtown Winter Haven is positioned to help technology-oriented businesses grow and thrive. The recently announced USF Poly business accelerator will further accentuate our strategic technology attributes.
| See other posts filed in: Downtown, Technology
Posted: June 11, 2009: 6:08 pm
Winter Haven to be home to USF Polytechnic technology business accelerator.
In a memo distributed today, June 12, to the Mayor and City Commisioners, City of Winter Haven Community
Development Director David Dickey announced the following information:
In April 2009, the Polk County Commission, in conjunction with the Central Florida Development Council, earmarked $1 million in funding to help establish a high-tech business incubator to be located on the USF Polytechnic campus.
The incubator concept has gained momentum so quickly that the decision was made to establish two locations prior to the completion of the Polytechnic campus. An incubator will be established in Lakeland with a business accelerator to be located in downtown Winter Haven.
Benefits to new companies will include proximity to, and resources of, a national research university; access to operational infrastructure including office space, equipment and technology; faculty experts; technology consultants; and training programs.
The decision to locate this facility in downtown Winter Haven is result of a partnership between the 6/10 Corporation and the City. The 6/10 Corporation will provide rent-free space in the Verizon building located at 199 Avenue B, NW. This building houses the Inland Fiber & Data Technology Park which makes the accelerator a great fit. Subject to approval and funding availability, the City’s CRA would provide $10,000 annually to help offset operating costs.
It is anticipated that the facility will be operational by September 1, 2009 and will initially house from five to ten new companies. The proposed accelerator can be distinguished from a business incubator in that it will target more mature start-ups that still require a degree of support. It is hoped that the companies will grow into adjacent office space and maintain a long-term downtown Winter Haven presence.
This development will further advance the developing technology-based business core downtown. Congratulations to both Lakeland and Winter Haven. The County/CFDC/USF/Lakeland/Winter Haven/Six-Ten partnership is a very positive step in economic recovery. The Polytechnic influence will grow the high-skill / high-wage sector critical to the area’s long-term future.
| See other posts filed in: City of Winter Haven, Commercial Developments, Downtown, Economic Development, Education, Employment Opportunity, Success Stories, Technology
Posted: December 31, 2008: 11:40 am
As 2008 comes to an end we offer our list of ten significant Winter Haven developments from the past twelve months. While the economy has slowed, there is still much positive local activity. A great many developments hold promise for the future. Here’s our selection – each is linked to the original blog post. What would you add?
10. DCA approval of the CSX intermodal rail facility
9. Winter Haven Hospital completes $40 million addition.
8. PCC one of nine community colleges to offer four-year degrees
7. Ledger New York Times buys News Chief
6. Winter Haven opens new airport terminal
5. City plans for Chain of Lakes property
4. Winter Haven Hospital attains Magnet status
3. Six Ten Corporation/T3 Communications “Inland Fiber and Data Technology Park” downtown
2. Winter Haven Parks Grow by 250 acres since 2000
1. Cypress Gardens closes … to reopen in March 2009
What would you add to this list?
The Chamber extends our best wishes for a bright and prosperous 2009. And remember … buy from local merchants, the job you save may be your own!
| See other posts filed in: CSX - Winter Haven, City of Winter Haven, Commercial Developments, Cypress Gardens, Downtown, Economic Development, Health Care, News Media, Parks and Green Space, Perspective, Real Estate, Technology, Tourism, Transportation
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