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UTB-CBIRD Report: “At The Crossroads” Economic Development 145
ever imagined.” 1
Most of MPC’s clients had inadequate web sites when they contracted with MPC.
The firm’s belief was that technology in general, and websites in particular, were
underdeveloped in the Valley because businesses did not perceive the value of a
quality on-line presence. But that perception is fast changing. MPC developed a
website for South Padre Island (Sopadre.com) that receives an average of eight
million hits per month, with an average of twelve browsing minutes per visitor,
building a tremendous amount of advertising exposure.
Mr. Watkins handles company sales personally. “People who are literate enough
to sell Internet web development either want too much money or they aren’t
personable enough to be in sales: So I’m the client face of the company.
Programmers are also hard to find. There is entry-level talent in the Valley but
not many people who can build a website from beginning to end. Our
programmers are mostly Canadians that moved here when they were young kids.
I’m proud of my development crew; we have never been stumped on a project.
Technically we can do anything that our clients ask.”
Customers who develop their websites with MPC also contract them as their
Internet host. Unfortunately, the valley’s Internet infrastructure is not fully
reliable, as Mr. Watkins states, “At one point we had a T1, and we were close
enough to the local pop and could get a reasonable rate. But we had consistent
outages between here and Houston that would frequently shut us down, making
us blind to the world.” Supplying intermittent service was not considered an
option. While all clients want high quality service, in some cases lives can hang
in the balance. One MPC client, South Texas EMS, employs a custom-built
instant messaging program to submit accident reports. This process which
previously took fifteen minutes can now occur in seconds. Realizing that a 98%
reliability rate was not enough for critical communications between hospitals,
MPC contracted with Rackspace in San Antonio: “It’s cheap and reliable with
little or no downtime.”
MPC is a strong example of local entrepreneurship:
⇒ Sopadre.com is their flagship client with several million hits each month
⇒ Westlaco.com chamber of commerce site has large internal intranet and
external search features
⇒ Valley International Airport provides real time flight updates for travelers
⇒ McAllen Chamber of Commerce has an award-wining MPC designed
database driven website
1 Exerpts from interview of David Watkins, CEO Multimedia Production Center, conducted by Mark
Gipson, summer 2002.
One Region -- One Future