FairPoint Communications has opened a new 11,000 square foot technology hub in Burlington in hopes of attracting start-up businesses in need of space and services.
The company hopes the facility will also create a new revenue stream and help Fairpoint re-brand itself.
The FairPoint Technology Hub, is part of a collaboration called VCET @ BTV in which the company is partnering with Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies to provide space and high-speed data connections in addition to networking and mentoring services for entrepreneurs.
The hub is located on the second floor of FairPoint’s downtown Burlington office.
FairPoint Vermont President Beth Fastiggi says the hub is a ‘one-stop shop for start-up entrepreneurs’ that provides space, infrastructure and expertise.
The facility is the first in what may be a series of similar hubs throughout FairPoint’s service area in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Speaking during a quarterly earnings conference call earlier this year, FairPoint CEO Paul Sunu said the potential exists for 20-30 such hubs at central office locations, if the demand is there.
Sunu said the hubs will provide an opportunity to help the company change its image as it builds the technology side of its business.
“If we can get the movers and shakers, people that are on the front edge of technology development and have them use our services and be in our center to develop their ideas and talk to people about it, I think that it starts to move perceptions,” Sunu said.
As land line telephone use declines, FairPoint is promoting its technology and Ethernet services which account for a growing portion of company revenue.
