Verizon Quantum Helps Power Lower Manhattan Business Competition

NEW YORK – In its continued commitment to the revitalization and growth of lower Manhattan, Verizon is partnering with Take the HELM, a competition offering more than $1.25 million to innovative companies opening offices in the downtown area. Verizon will provide FiOS Quantum, the company’s super-high-speed Internet service, at no charge for one year to the winners in the startup category of the competition. The deadline for entering is Monday (July 15).

Take the HELM
Take the HELM (Hire and Expand in Lower Manhattan) is an initiative of the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. In its second year, this innovative business competition is designed to provide to business start-ups and entrepreneurs recognition and awards for contributing to the evolution of lower Manhattan as a diverse hub of the creative economy. Up to four winning competitors will receive cash prizes up to $250,000 to open or expand their office in lower Manhattan, up to four runners-up will receive $50,000, and up to twenty finalists will receive $10,000.

FiOS Quantum Internet service – which offers downstream speeds of up to 300 Mbps and upstream speeds of up to 65 Mbps – will help the winning startup companies develop and refine their business models and projects in lower Manhattan.

“Our main goal through the Take the HELM competition is to highlight and enhance factors in lower Manhattan that will allow companies to grow and thrive,” said NYCEDC Executive Director Kyle Kimball. “Thanks to Verizon, the start-up finalists that locate in lower Manhattan will have the added bonus of free FiOS Quantum Internet service. This generous award, which will better the connectivity of New York City, will be central to helping us achieve our objective.”

Post-Sandy Fiber Optics
Following superstorm Sandy, during which the bulk of lower Manhattan’s decades-old copper infrastructure was either washed away or destroyed beyond repair, Verizon installed a fiber-optic infrastructure for the area. With the new technology serving this critical part of Manhattan, Verizon’s residential and business customers are experiencing a more reliable and resilient communications network, with higher and faster broadband capabilities, and one that can handle the continued growth of telecommunications and Internet traffic well into the future.

Small-business owners have told Verizon that the ability to forward their phones to working office space and the ability to access their data remotely is a paramount concern during emergencies or natural disasters. Customers who had Verizon FiOS coupled with cloud-based online backup and storage were able to retain critical data that could have been lost during superstorm Sandy.

Verizon’s FiOS Quantum Internet service is delivered over the company’s 100 percent fiber-optic network, which connects directly to residences and businesses. With Verizon’s top offering of 300 Mbps, businesses can quickly download documents, watch webinars and live webcasts, participate in videoconferencing, access files from the cloud, and upload files and communicate with clients. For example, with Verizon’s fastest service a business could transfer 10 gigabytes of data in just 4.4 minutes.