THE MAINE ADVANTAGE: Maine Telecommunications

All 13 lots in Madison Business Gateway are ready-to-build and are fully serviced by underground utilities, including water, sewer, electricity – as well as fiber-optic capabilities. This allows tenants the freedom to do business anywhere in the world from Madison through cutting edge voice, data and video services.

Madison also shares Maine’s high bandwidth ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) network, enabling users to simultaneously transfer voice, data, and video at very high speeds, and the state’s telecommunications backbone is 100 percent digitally switched. It has also deployed SONET ring technology providing redundancy and reliability throughout the state, even its most rural areas.

Maine's position as a telecommunications leader enables businesses to use the latest technology to compete in the global marketplace. L.L. Bean, MBNA and Auto Europe all operate large, complex call centers serving their customers worldwide. L.L. Bean alone received more than 15 million customer service calls in 2000. Verizon and the 22 independent local phone companies in Maine have invested heavily to ensure Maine's telecommunications are cutting edge.

Maine is highly "nexus friendly" - a safe haven for call centers and their clients to avoid collecting and remitting sales taxes. Maine is the first state to have a statewide ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) fiber optic based network, allowing efficient digital transmission of voice, data, and full motion video.

Maine is also the first state to link every school and library (nearly 1200 sites) with Frame Relay Service. This allows high-speed internet access at each site. 100 percent of Maine's telecommunications network has upgraded to digital technology, making Maine one of the first states in the with this distinction. Digital networks support higher bandwidth with less downtime.

The school district and town are committed to keeping Madison residents and businesses connected with the latest technological infrastructure.