The Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce joined the Montgomery County Commission, City of Montgomery, and business and military leaders to announce the Montgomery Cyber Connection, an initiative that will connect every person, business and device to the rest of the world at the speed of light. The Montgomery Cyber Connection will have a significant economic impact on not only the River Region, but also the entire State of Alabama.
“We cannot overstate the significance of the Montgomery Cyber Connection in expanding industry in the River Region and putting Montgomery on the map thanks to the vision and expertise of Dr. Bronner and our military leaders and neighbors at Maxwell Air Force Base,” Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said. “This partnership and initial investments made by the city, the county, the Chamber and our business leaders are the first steps to unleashing a wave of economic development that may rival Hyundai.”
Driving the Montgomery Cyber Connection is the Montgomery Internet Exchange, located in the Retirement Systems of Alabama’s Dexter Avenue Datacenter. Montgomery is one of only four sites in the Southeast with an Internet exchange — and the first in Alabama.
The Montgomery Internet Exchange will speed content delivery to those in the River Region and beyond by storing it closer to home, rather than pulling it from exchanges located in other parts of the country. Additionally, the Montgomery Internet Exchange will benefit from a partnership with Akamai Technologies. Akamai, a global leader in content delivery network services, will store servers at the RSA Datacenter. Akamai chose to locate in Montgomery because of the global significance of the new Cyber College at Air University and because of local public and private partnerships in support of the military.
The Montgomery Cyber Connection will link Alabama’s universities in research collaboration, support the new Air University Cyber College mission to strengthen national defense, and stimulate business development and tech startups. In addition to the tremendous statewide impact for economic development and innovation, The Montgomery Cyber Connection will boost the Montgomery metro economy and improve quality of life for area residents. The Montgomery Cyber Connection opens up a new vertical industry target and job growth potential for the River Region. According to key partners in the effort, the MGM Cyber Connection can have the economic impact of landing a new Hyundai, which creates more than $4.8 Billion in statewide impact annually.
The Montgomery Cyber Connection was created as a result of partnerships among government, military, business and university leaders. More information is available at www.mix-al.net.
