(Second of two parts)

NEW YORK CITY—When Amazon issued an RFP on a second headquarters to be located somewhere in North America, the e-commerce giant specified telecommunications capacity, and specifically “optimal fiber connectivity.” It's not a requirement that Amazon is taking lightly, and in the view—and experience—of WiredScore CEO Arie Barendrecht, some of the cities contending for the plum of hosting the company's HQ2 regard it just as seriously as Amazon does.

In part one of this interview, Barendrecht detailed the hows and whys of Amazon's connectivity requirements. In part two, he delves into what it means for a municipality to apply the principles of WiredScore's Wired Certified designation to its planning.

GlobeSt.com: For the WiredScore certification process to work at the city level, as it does at the property level, it's clearly a case of the municipality taking a leadership position on encouraging this kind of either development or retrofitting.

Arie Barendrecht: That's correct. We like to think that the number of Wired Certified buildings in a market is an indicator of the strong connectivity in the market and a real estate community that prioritizes telecommunications as a key factor in attracting tenants. That's why we've been able to do things like partner with Mayor Bloomberg when he was in office and work on the Article 80 process in Boston. City governments realize that more Wired Certified buildings means a more attractive place for businesses to locate and more places for them to sign a lease.

There's an interesting related point about Amazon, which is that Amazon has signed leases recently in two Wired Certified buildings that are under development: the T3 Building, a Hines property in Minneapolis; and 350,000 square feet in Brookfield's 5 Manhattan West development. What that Wired Certified designation tells Amazon is that these buildings are being designed for future-proofed connectivity standards.

GlobeSt.com: It sounds as though what would be beneficial to Amazon from a connectivity standpoint is going to be beneficial to any large-scale tenants in those same markets.

Barendrecht: Yes. I don't think Amazon's connectivity requirements are unique in any way. In fact, tenants like WeWork are asking questions about Wired Certified buildings and connectivity when they evaluate sites for coworking spaces. Every employer today, not just Amazon, depends on cloud computing, large file transfers and every means of digital communication available. They want to support mobile working policies, where people can videoconference into the office, or even just free movement around the building or campus, so that you can work at your desk or in a conference room or in the courtyard. That's not unique to Amazon by any means. It's just getting more attention because it's in the Amazon RFP. We talk to businesses every day, and we realize that the speed and reliability of connectivity is instrumental to any business' success.

GlobeSt.com: At the city level, what is Amazon looking for in terms of connectivity?

Barendrecht: They're looking for a government which supports and encourages advanced broadband communication as a key focus of city planning, an Internet service provider community that has dense and accessible fiber networksand a real estate community that prioritizes connectivity as a key attribute of the building. So at the macro level, it's a combination of city planning, telecommunications landscape and real estate community mentality.

At the building level, Amazon is looking for a couple of things. One is going to be resiliency: they want to know that their new campus has resilient and redundant connectivity that is designed in such a way that it won't go down, because going down is a catastrophe for a tenant like Amazon. Second, they're looking for flexibility, and that means flexibility of infrastructure. It's basically admitting, “We have a view of what a smart building looks like today, but probably not in five to 10 years. We want the infrastructure to be flexible and support the technology of a decade from now.”

(Second of two parts)

GlobeSt.com: It sounds as though what would be beneficial to Amazon from a connectivity standpoint is going to be beneficial to any large-scale tenants in those same markets.

GlobeSt.com: At the city level, what is Amazon looking for in terms of connectivity?

Instant Insights /

What's Good for Amazon is Good for Large Tenants

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