Danville’s open access network has fueled economic development in the Virginia community’s resurgence after tobacco’s demise and job losses from a once thriving textile industry put a hurt on the local economy. Danville’s technological prowess is now attracting companies from China, in addition to other economic development gains we covered previously.
Jason Grey, nDanville’s Network Manager, told us that Zeyuan Flooring International, a Chinese wood floor manufacturer, is locating its first U.S. facility in Danville. Zeyuan CEO, Sindy Cui, said the company initially thought about locating in Los Angeles, but was eventually swayed by the hospitality and resources available in Danville. Zeyuan plans to invest $15-million in a 40,000 square foot manufacturing plant that will employ 100 people within three years.
Zeyuan is the second Chinese company to locate in Danville in the past year. Last September, Chinese furniture assembler GOK International announced it will invest $12.5-million to establish its U.S. headquarters and showroom in Danville. GOK International plans to employ 300 people within three years.
Not coincidentally, both companies are locating in Cane Creek Centre, one of Danville’s five industrial parks connected to nDanville’s fiber network. Serving businesses was a high priority in building the network. As the first fully automated open-access network in the country, nDanville passes more than 1,000 businesses including every parcel in each of the industrial parks. Many businesses take 100-Mbps fiber connections, some take advantage of 1-Gbps connections.
These recent additions to Danville’s thriving commercial sector are just the latest in a steady string of economic development successes for the area that include the likes of Goodyear and IKEA. And it’s not just manufacturing.
Danville is home to one of the first non-government sponsored next generation Cray supercomputers. The Cray XMT2 supercomputer is part of the Noblis Center for Applied High Performance Computing which is located in a former tobacco processing plant in Danville’s River District. Noblis uses the computer to crunch data for clients in fields such as computational biology, DNA sequencing, air traffic management, fraud detection, and counterterrorism. “This [center] screams loudly and clearly that we are making a transition from the old to the new economy,” said Danville Mayor Sherman Saunders at the 2012 ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Perhaps one drawback of Danville’s economic development success is that nDanville’s residential rollout has been slower than expected due to overwhelming demand from the commercial sector. Network Manager Jason Grey revealed there is a waiting list of businesses eager to connect to the network which is pushing residential connections back. Grey says it’s a problem he’s more than happy to deal with.