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Bon Carre' - Baton Rouge's internet and high tech center:
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NEWS RELEASE Date June 8, 2000 Funding Approved for Baton Rouge's First-Ever, World-Class Louisiana Technology Park Yesterday, the Legislature approved a $2.7 million dollar capital outlay allocation for the development of the Louisiana Technology Park, an initiative spearheaded by Governor M.J. "Mike" Foster, Jr. The park will hold a Tier 1, world-class commercial data center and a high-tech business incubator in Baton Rouge's Bon Carre' Town Center, the redevelopment of Bon Marche. "This will put Louisiana on the map as a competitive Internet Corridor," said Governor M.J. "Mike" Foster, Jr. "I have said many times that I think technology will play a huge role in helping Louisiana's economy. This park will create thousands of jobs and make cutting edge technology available to our Louisiana businesses." Projections for the Louisiana Technology Park show at least 400 permanent, full-time jobs retained or created each year, with a total of 2,400 jobs by 2005 at an average annual salary of $50,000. This level of employment represents a total of $438 million in total wages and a cumulative $67 million state tax impact by 2005. In addition, the Louisiana Technology Park will provide hands-on technical training, employment opportunities for students, and consulting opportunities for LSU and Southern University faculty. Jason Hewitt, Chairman and CEO of Baton Rouge's VedaLabs, Inc., a major international player in the digital music delivery business, said "This is one of the most innovative and exciting projects we've seen in the country. Without this investment by the state, VedaLabs would be forced to relocate its entire operations to Austin or Houston. We want to be in Louisiana. Now, we plan to move our entire operations to the Louisiana Technology Park." This marks the first-ever effort by a state to link a Tier 1 data center with a world-class incubator utilizing hardware and software provided by EMC, Cisco and Oracle, world-leaders in technology. "This is just the kind of leadership position we want our state to take," said Governor Foster. "It's a credit to our state that these global leaders recognize the potential for an initiative of this magnitude in Louisiana. This public/private partnership could very well signal the beginning of a major diversification of our economic base, and that's good for all of our citizens." The Louisiana Technology Park has two main components which will provide all of the necessary resources for building and supporting new and emerging technology companies. One component is the commercial data center, the only Tier 1 Commercial Internet Data Center in Louisiana, Arkansas or Mississippi, which will be owned and operated by Solid Systems, Inc. Within its first year of operation, it is expected to provide 600-800 terabytes of storage capacity --- the equivalent of approximately 140,000 home computers. The other component is the technology company incubator, which will be owned and managed by Research Park Corporation. It will afford Louisiana the opportunity to grow and develop promising start-up technology companies, supported by cutting-edge software and hardware and knowledgeable business consultants. "The Louisiana Technology Park will establish an Internet technology presence in a way Louisiana has yet to experience," said Research Park Corporation President Edward Ashworth. "The major Internet backbone infrastructure running through Baton Rouge provides unlimited expansion opportunities. We're not simply providing a place for technology businesses to get started; we're making it very attractive for them to stay in Louisiana." Bon Carre is an ideal location for the Louisiana Technology Park. Steve Koinm, Director of Professional Services of Solid Systems, Inc. stated, "Remarkably, there is more fiber optic availability at the intersection of Florida Boulevard and Lobdell Boulevard than any other location in East Baton Rouge Parish."
For more info go to the link for Bon Carre - www.boncarre.com
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