Westchester County

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Westchester County

• GDCN Presentation - August 2007

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AboutWestchester County
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Strategic Location

• 500 sq. mile (1295 sq. km) region north of New
  York City in the heart of one of the world's
  greatest metropolitan markets
• Centrally positioned within the Northeast and
  Mid-Atlantic region between Boston, Montreal,
  Toronto, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington
  D.C.
• Host to a number of key industry clusters,
  including ICT, biotechnology headquarters/corpor
  ate services
• Excellent public and private school systems and
  universities as well as many cultural and
  historic sites and events

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A Wealthy, Diverse Growing Population

• Almost 1 million residents (more than twice that
  of any of six surrounding Hudson Valley counties)
  
• The 2nd wealthiest county in New York State after
  New York City ranks 6 out of all 3,110 counties
  in the US
• A population that has increased 5.6 percent since
  the 90s
• Diversity is key Hispanics make up more than 15
  of the population African-Americans, about 14
  Asian, 5

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A Skilled Labor Force

• A workforce of over 458,000 highly skilled
  managerial, marketing, professional and technical
  workers
• The unemployment rate has continually dropped
  over the past decade and is now about 3 percent
• Number of new jobs has increased steadily since
  the 1990s, driven by high rates of growth in the
  service sector

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Some Of Our Famous Companies
Westchester is a very attractive location for the
American headquarters of foreign companies
because of location, quality of life, education,
labor pool and community support for people from
around the world. There are over 30,000 business
establishments in Westchester County.
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Westchesters Colleges Universities
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County And Local Government

• Westchester County government spends almost 2
  billion per year and has around 5,000 employees
• Includes 40 departments/offices, ranging from
  Social Services, Health and Public Safety to
  Parks and Tourism
• Westchester is the only county in the nation to
  own and operate an amusement park (Playland)
• Executive, Legislative Judicial branches
• Also 43 full-time independent cities, towns, and
  villages plus dozens of other school, safety
  municipal agencies

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Westchester Does Business Globally
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Global Business Initiative

• Established in 1998 to further economic,
  educational and cultural cooperation between
  Westchester County and strategic regions
  throughout the world
• Including selected targets China, Italy,
  Ireland, Australia
• The County recognizes globalizations impact on
  the local economy and has used its International
  Program to help local companies and educational
  institutions increase their competitiveness and
  get their fair share in the increase of global
  trade
• Trade missions
• Global videoconferencing services
• Networking / matchmaking events
• Strategic partnerships, both locally and around
  the globe

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Greeting Chinese hosts during a 2006 trade
mission to Beijing Shanghai
Interactive websites have been created for each
of the Countys five trade missions to China
since 1998
The County has facilitated global
video-conferences with companies in countries
such as China, Germany, Russia Chile
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ICT Environment
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Westchester Telecom Network

• 800 mile (1287 km) fiber-optic network built in
  partnership with Lightpath links facilities
  throughout the county with voice, video,
  high-speed data and Internet
• Exemplifies Countys commitment to technology and
  a network model that spawns greater creativity,
  innovation, new forms of collaboration and
  economic vitality
• Greatly reduced our telephone and data
  communications costs
• Includes dozens of public sector organizations,
  including school districts, hospitals, libraries,
  fire and police departments and a majority of the
  countys municipalities
• Plus 75 private-sector organizations, including
  PepsiCo, Fuji Photo Film USA, and major office
  building complexes.

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Map Of Westchester Telecom Network
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Westchester Telecom And Economic Development

• Westchester Telecom puts us on the map in the
  areas of technology, education, and economic
  developmentlight years ahead of most other
  communities. It is a true information
  superhighway that will exponentially improve the
  quality of life for Westchester residents,
  providing better and more accessible education,
  healthcare, and government service. It will bring
  universal access to services and bridge the
  digital divide. It will also lay the groundwork
  for future economic growth, much the same as the
  post roads did in the eighteenth century and the
  railroads did in the nineteenth century.
• ?Martin Rogowsky, Majority Leader
• Westchester County Board of Legislators

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Westchester Is A Major Research Center

• Our high talent labor and high environmental
  quality make the county an attractive location
  for high tech research
• IBMs main research labs
• American research center for Philips, Kraft,
  Bayer
• Regeneron and other bio-tech research companies
• Result 10 of US patents have a Westchester
  address

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Examples of Government Uses Of The Telecom Network

• Community Emergency Notification System
• Robust system used to place outbound calls, cell
  text messages and e-mails to Westchester
  residents during emergencies and other events
• VoIP Hot Phone Project
• High-availability communications system among
  hospitals and many other safety agencies to
  coordinate response
• Integrates the traditional telephone network
  (including cell phones)
• Videoconferencing
• Varied uses internal distance learning
  international

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E-Government And Mobility
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Awards Accolades
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What Can You Do Online?

• Protect people
• Educate and empower people
• Involve people in local decision making
• Communicate quickly and efficiently with many
  people
• Entertain
• Spur economic development
• Run a more efficient government
• Coordinate public and non-profit agencies

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GIS Online
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Automation And Wireless Service For Field
Inspections

• In Health, environmental field inspection
  activities are being automated
• With notebooks and EVDO service for air/water
  quality, food service, retail inspections
• Construction job site inspectors
• Wireless document/workflow to ensure that only
  licensed plumbers and electricians are overseeing
  the work
• Parks inspectors use an automated report to
  inspect the conditions of County parks

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Manhole Inspection System
Old paper forms and manual management functions
have been fully automated by portable GIS devices
using GPS.
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Our Vision Of A Mobile Broadband Network

• Provide secure, mobile broadband data connection
  in all parts of Westchester
• Both for every day road warriors and
  emergencies 
• Sufficient bandwidth for video, voice, data
• Westchester Countys Office for Economic
  Development and the Department of Information
  Technology are charter sponsors of U.S. Channels,
  a web-based community that promotes trade into
  and out of the U.S. market by connecting key
  stakeholders in the global technology market.
  Government and economic development groups,
  business and trade associations, and their
  constituencies of technology vendors are invited
  to join U.S. Channels to build strategic
  relationships and promote themselves to the rest
  of the world. Similarly, business technology
  users are invited to promote their technology
  needs to the global network.

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Discussion

• Contact information
• Thank you!