BCBusiness

26 BCBusiness Month Year Photo Credit C I T Y O F N E W W E S T M I N S T E R P R O M O T E D C O N T E N T Networking at Its Finest Always building for the future, the City of New Westminster is moving forward with a multimillion-dollar project that will provide businesses and residents with rapid broadband service T he city at the geographic heart of Metro Vancouver is poised to take a central role in B.C.'s technologi- cal future. For now, it's laying the ground- work—literally. The City of New Westminster is currently putting the -nishing touches on a $7-million network of underground -bre. By this fall, BridgeNet, a municipally owned, open-access broad- band network, will connect the city's main business areas, running from Highway 1, through downtown, and over the Queens- borough Bridge. The city plans to lease its -bre to telecom- munications companies and Internet service providers, which will then be able to deliver lightning-fast broadband to end users, at competitive prices. "We're installing the infrastructure so that these companies can come in and oˆer businesses and multi-dwelling units located along the -bre loop access to high-speed net- work—connecting customers in an aˆordable way," says Blair Fryer, New Westminster com- munications and economic development manager. High-speed connectivity is essen- tial to a spectrum of applications, from software development and visual eˆects to teleconferencing and robotic remote surgery. BridgeNet is the linchpin in the city's Intel- ligent City Initiative, a plan to transition the local economy away from its traditionally industrial base. Based on a model developed by The Intelligent Community Forum—a New York-based non-pro-t policy research organization—similar plans have been suc- cessfully implemented in cities such as Strat- ford, Ont., and Riverside, Calif. The model includes measures to stimulate growth, cre- ate jobs, open up digital access for citizens and improve livability. "The basic notion is that there has to be a -bre network in place, and the city owns that network, the same way it owns the roads," says Councillor Bill Harper, co-chair of the Intelligent City Advisory Committee. Fibre leasing oˆers a healthy source of non-taxation revenue for the city, while ultimately attract- ing knowledge-based businesses to the area. Of course, plenty of tech "irms and businesses have already cottoned on to New West in recent years. The city represents an affordable alternative to Vancouver's Gastown and Yaletown, where -bre is plen- tiful and relatively inexpensive—but leases tend to be the opposite. Nicholas Boughen, owner of CG Masters School of 3D Animation and Visual Effects, set up shop in New Westminster four years ago, attracted by Intelligent City, and the city's collaborative approach to development. "I don't think you could -nd a more sup- portive city government for data and knowl- edge-based industry. They're unbelievable," he says, adding his business will be "-rst in line" to look at high-speed data oˆerings made possible by BridgeNet. The new network comes on the heels of several urban-revitalization projects that have transformed New Westminster: Anvil Centre, a new conference centre and o™ce tower opened in 2014, the slick Trapp Block condo development and the thriving Brewery District, to name a few. "Everything we've been doing over the last 10 years is -nally starting to gel, to the point where it's attracting young, family-oriented professionals," says Harper. Combined with relatively affordable leases and housing, it's a tempting pack- age for new businesses, and those ponder- ing relocation. Harper also points to New West's small-town feel (the local population of 70,000 covers just 15 square kilometres) and preserved historic downtown—oˆering all the tony brick buildings a tech startup could crave. High-speed -bre completes the package. As Paul Romein, CEO and owner of Techno Monkey Media, a new-media production company based in New Westminster, puts it: "It's a huge, huge selling point for tech companies moving into New West and investing here." The City of New Westminster has plans to lease its network of underground fibre to Internet service providers and telecommunications companies CoUr t eSY oF CIt Y oF ne W W eSt MInSt er

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