Cincinnati Bell to Provide Fioptics Gigabit Internet Speed To The Brandery in Pilot Partnership
April 14, 2014
CINCINNATI, Ohio – Cincinnati Bell, a leader in telecommunications and broadband networking services, today announced that it has established a strategic partnership with The Brandery to provide up to 1 gigabit Internet speed to the business accelerator. The partnership will make The Brandery the only Top 10 startup accelerator in the U.S with a fiber partner and the first 1 gigabit small business customer in the Cincinnati Bell network.
In addition to providing data and voice to The Brandery, Cincinnati Bell also will provide voice and data service to members of The Brandery's 2014 class who remain in Cincinnati upon graduation, and Cincinnati Bell employees will volunteer as mentors to Brandery teams.
"Cincinnati Bell is committed to supporting small businesses in our community," said Dave Heimbach, chief operating officer of Cincinnati Bell. "We want to remove as many barriers as possible - two of those being speed and connectivity - and this partnership will do just that. Our Fioptics gigabit Internet speed provides a great foundation for accelerating new ideas, productivity and business development."
Heimbach added that in 2014 Cincinnati Bell is investing more than $80 million in its fiber network to support its customers.
"Cincinnati Bell's commitment to fiber is vital to fully reaching the entrepreneurial potential of our region," said The Brandery Co-Founder Dave Knox. "Through this partnership, The Brandery will be able to offer our startups unmatched speed, as well as a technology partner who is fully invested in the future of their businesses."
Cincinnati Bell estimates that the fiber speed will be turned on to The Brandery offices on Vine Street in Over-The-Rhine in late June, just in time for the start of The Brandery's 2014 class.
Fioptics gigabit Internet speed, which is 100 times faster than average broadband speeds, is available to select customers today from Cincinnati Bell. After The Brandery installation, this speed will be available to multiple tenant business units by the end of the second quarter. It will be made available generally to business and consumer customers by the end of the third quarter.
About Cincinnati Bell
With headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE: CBB) provides integrated communications solutions including local and long distance voice, data, high-speed Internet, entertainment, and wireless services that keep residential and business customers in Greater Cincinnati and Dayton connected with each other and with the world. In addition, enterprise customers across the United States rely on CBTS, a wholly-owned subsidiary, for efficient, scalable office communications systems and end-to-end IT solutions. Cincinnati Bell is the majority owner of CyrusOne (NASDAQ: CONE), which provides best-in-class data center colocation services to enterprise customers through its facilities with fully redundant power and cooling solutions that are currently located in the Midwest, Texas, Arizona, London, and Singapore. For more information, please visit www.cincinnatibell.com.
About The Brandery
The Brandery is a Cincinnati-based startup accelerator with a goal of supporting startups in technology-based consumer experiences. The Brandery is annually recognized as one of the elite startup accelerators in the country. More than 60 mentors work with the companies, who each receive $20,000 in seed money. Leading Cincinnati-based design firms offer free branding and visual identity guidance to each of the startups. The Brandery is an inaugural member of the Global Accelerator Network - independently owned regional organizations that operate startup accelerator programs in dozens of cities across the United States and around the world.
Media Contact:
Angela Ginty
Director, Corporate Communications
Cincinnati Bell
513-397-7144
angela.ginty@cinbell.com