INDUSTRY

Mediacom Business has announced an agreement to provide a dedicated fiber connection with Gigabit internet speeds to the Missouri Innovation Center (MIC), a flagship, non-profit, incubator organization focused on leveraging research and innovation produced in conjunction with the University of Missouri, for the economic benefit of the region and the state.

Dan Templin, Senior Vice President of Mediacom Business, said the agreement with the MIC is due in part to a company-wide initiative called Project Open Road, a significant capital expenditure to proactively connect more businesses to their network and provide the level of broadband capacity that is critical for commercial and research facilities like the MIC.

“The Missouri Innovation Center is currently sharing a University of Missouri fiber feed with other university users, limiting bandwidth to incubator residents who are in need of higher capacity to power their business applications,” Mr. Templin said.“Mediacom Business’ Gigabit+ Fiber Solutions will provide the 1-Gig internet speeds to power next-level technology like precision agriculture, live augmented reality and other cloud-based services. Our network will deliver the dedicated, fast and private connection to the public internet that is critical for incubator residents.”

One example, according to Bill Turpin, President and CEO of the MIC, involves an incubator startup called StoryUP, a positive media platform that utilizes virtual reality technology to immerse users in stories and experiences that can produce specific brainwave patterns.

Mr. Turpin said StoryUP has been creating compelling VR videos for customers all around the globe. StoryUp is also exploring ways for their platform to relieve baseline symptoms of anxiety in hospitals, veteran’s homes, and chemotherapy clinics. “StoryUP presently offloads as much as a terabyte of raw video data to a separate drive each week, so the dedicated Mediacom Business connection of 1 Gigabit internet speeds will satisfy their data transfer requirements, making them much more productive.”

Stacey Button, Director of Economic Development for the City of Columbia, Missouri, and President of Regional Economic Development Inc. (REDI), said the partnership between Mediacom Business and the Missouri Innovation Center will help entrepreneurs translate their new business ideas into high-growth businesses. “Mediacom Business has the high-capacity broadband tools that the MIC needs to help businesses grow and be successful, all for the benefit of this region and the state.”