ALEXANDRIA —The Alexandria Business Park has been certified fiber ready by AT&T, making it a more attractive site for modern businesses.
“Any business looking to locate in Alexandria will have access to the cutting edge of communication technology,” AT&T Indiana President Bob Soards said at a press conference Wednesday at the park, which is at Indiana 9 and Indiana 28.
The designation makes the business park one of seven sites in the state certified as having easy access to fiber, which could be used to attract a large business that would need high-speed access for many workers, said Rob Sparks, executive director for the Madison County Corporation for Economic Development.
“We are going to see jobs developed because of this project,” Sparks said. “The access to rail, power, fiber … sets this site apart.”
It’s not just tech-focused companies that would be interested in access to fiber, which offers faster, more reliable internet connection than simple copper wires.
“There’s no such thing as a low-tech business,” Soards said.
Even a large factory focused on mechanized production could see benefits of more bandwidth while doing things such as downloading machining plans or using internet-connected machines.
“Any business that wants to locate here has access to cutting-edge internet infrastructure,” Soards said.
Several large businesses have looked at the sites, although Sparks couldn’t identify any by name, many of which have looked at purchasing sites as large as 500 acres.
“Most of these leads have large employee counts,” Sparks said. “I am hopeful we will land a project.”
Alexandria Mayor Ron Richardson said he’s happy to promote anything that can help the city land a large employer that could help give residents good, steady work.
“Entrepreneurs and established entities alike are hungry for fiber-based services,” he said. “This designation is one more way to help Alexandria stand out from the pack.”