
The Little Rock Technology Park Authority Board on Wednesday was told the first phase of the development, which includes work on 415 and 417 Main St., is on time and going smoothly.
Lee Watson, CEO of the Venture Center, a tenant of the park’s temporary space at 107 E. Markham St., also spoke to the board.
He said the names of 10 startups from around the world that will participate in the VC FinTech Accelerator with global technology services provider FIS of Jacksonville, Florida, will be announced at a 5 p.m. news conference Monday at the center.
The 12 weeks of support and mentorship from FIS’ financial technology industry experts and Venture Center mentors will begin Monday.
Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin; Gary Norcross, CEO of FIS; Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola; Jay Chesshir, chief executive officer of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce; and Gary Dowdy, managing director of the accelerator, are expected to attend the news conference.
Chesshir, also a member of the Tech Park board, encouraged all to help promote the city to FIS executives in addition to making the startups’ time in Little Rock a good, memorable experience.
Watson also said the Venture Center would have its two-year numbers out next month and that it had grown from helping seven startups to helping more than 100 now.
In other business, the board authorized Executive Director Brent Birch to negotiate a three-year, $1,099.95-per-month contract with Ritter Communications of Jonesboro for 1-gigabit broadband internet.
Members also approved naming the planned conference space at 415 Main St. for former chairwoman Mary Good and learned asbestos abatement there would cost $19,027 less than anticipated because tests concluded that the roof did not need abatement.
The original estimate for the abatement was $41,984. The cost is now $22,957.
Ritter also provided a quote of $7,999.95 per month, or $95,999.40 per year, for 10-gigabit service.
The annual cost for the 1-gigabit leased fiber will be $13,199.40. The park will also be charged an additional one-time installation fee of $399.95.
Birch said the contract price could be reduced if the park discovers it doesn’t need the 1-gigabit service. It could also pay for incremental increases between the 1-gigabit per second (Gbps) speeds and 10 Gbps speeds as needed, he said.
Tenants will have the choice to use Ritter or another provider. Other providers could use the same wires in the wall as the setup would be “plug and play,” where equipment like routers are installed in an IT room, the board was told.
Unite Private Networks, AT&T, Level 3 Communications and Windstream Communications also submitted bids to provide the park with broadband, but Ritter offered the lowest price for the 1-gigabit option.
Windstream did not give the park a quote for that, but said its 10-gigabit plan would cost $4,361.
Ritter also services the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, the Arkansas Research and Education Optical Network, Harding University, Media 3, Unity Health, Methodist Family Health, Cox, the state Department of Information Systems and five central Arkansas high schools and K-12 campuses.
Birch also said he would show the board at its next meeting bids for furniture, fixtures and audio-visual equipment, which are due Monday.