2020 New Jersey Guide_Site Selection

T E C H N O L O G Y
Audible’s “Innovation
Cathedral” in
downtown Newark.
Photo courtesy of Audible
Tech Tradition
New Jersey is riding its flair for innovation into the digital age.
New Jersey has long stood at
the crossroads of America’s
technological journey. Thomas
Edison, considered America’s
greatest inventor, developed light bulbs and
the world’s first phonograph at his “Invention
Factory” in Menlo Park. Decades before the
emergence of Silicon Valley, America’s greatest
minds assembled at Bell Labs in Holmdel to
develop revolutionary technologies that shaped
the world we inhabit today, including optical,
wireless and wired communications systems.
New Jersey’s legacy of discovery carries on in
the digital age. The state’s thriving technology
ecosystem, bolstered by a highly educated
workforce, forward-looking investments in
infrastructure and the state’s proximity to
New York City, is pioneering advances in
telecommunications, artificial intelligence, big
data, financial technology and cybersecurity.
The two largest telecom companies in
the U.S. — Verizon and AT&T — both
have major facilities in New Jersey. Verizon
employs 3,900 people at its 1.4 million-sq.-ft.
by GARY DAUGHTERS
operations center in Basking Ridge, while
AT&T monitors the activity and performance
of its infrastructure from its Global Network
Operations Center in Bedminster. At AT&T
Labs in Middletown, researchers are fostering
ground-breaking advances in networking, data
mining, cloud computing and video processing.
A leading financial tech cluster, New Jersey
is home to four of the world’s top 100 fintech
companies — IPC, Cognizant, Indecomm
and NICE Actimize. BNY Mellon operates
a Global Innovation Center in Jersey City.
Cross River Bank, named by Forbes among the
Top 50 Most Innovative Fintech Companies
of 2019, is expanding to the tune of some 250
employees at its location in Fort Lee.
“We are nothing without our workforce,”
says Phillip Goldfelder, Cross River’s senior
vice president of public Affairs. “You can
have the smartest CEOs and the smartest
leadership, but if you don’t find a talented
workforce, which we found right here in New
Jersey, you’re not going to be successful.”
AUDIBLE: LEADING BY EXAMPLE
Audible, the audiobook subsidiary of
Amazon, moved its headquarters to Newark
in 2007 and has played a pivotal role in the
on-going renaissance of New Jersey’s biggest
city. Since relocating to Newark, the company’s
workforce has grown from 100 employees to
more than 1,650, having doubled in the last
five years.
“Moving Audible to Newark was one of the
best decisions this company has made,” says
founder and executive chairman Don Katz. “In
addition to our growth, the economic impact
and job creation catalyzed by Audible is a call
to arms for other companies who are joining
us and who should join us here to thrive as we
have. Continuing to invest in Newark is as
important as anything else we do.”
In 2015, Katz founded
Newark Venture Partners
(NVP), a $45 million venture
fund accelerator that attracts
early-stage companies
to become “the next 100
Audibles” in Newark, while
promoting the city as a hub
of entrepreneurship. NVP has invested in
over 65 Newark start-ups, resulting in $250
million in follow-on investment in its portfolio
companies, 55% of which have at least one
female founder or founder of color. In early
2020, Katz announced the establishment of
a follow-on fund, NVP 2, with the goal of
raising another $100 million.
“It’s time to double down,” he said, “on
NVP’s success.”
In another illustration of the company’s
commitment to Newark, Audible renovated
the city’s historic Second Presbyterian
Church, which had fallen into disrepair, into a
workplace for 400 of its employees. Dubbed the
Innovation Cathedral, the reimagined space
includes game areas, an auditorium, exhibit
space, work cafes and lounges.
“This new Innovation Cathedral is
testament to the innovative solutions that can
empower communities,” said U.S. Senator and
former Newark Mayor Cory Booker at the
groundbreaking in May 2019.
MEETING THE NEED FOR SPEED
With COVID-19 forcing work-fromhome
arrangements everywhere, New Jersey’s
position is the nationwide leader in internet
access is a hugely important economic
differentiator. Broadband Now ranks the
state No. 1 in the country for broadband
connectivity.
“Due to its combination of broad coverage,
high speeds and low pricing, New Jersey is the
most well-connected state in the U.S.,” says the
internet ranking service. “Over 99% of New
Jerseyans have access to a wired connection
with speeds of 100 Mbps (Megabits per second)
or faster, and 67% of the state’s population has
access to fiber-optic internet services, which
is well over the national average of 25% of
Americans with access to fiber.
“Additionally, affordability data reveals that
78.4% of New Jerseyans have access to a lowpriced
internet plan ($60/month or less), which
is significantly higher than the nationwide
average of 51.5% of consumers with access to
the same.”
“Moving Audible to Newark was one of the
best decisions this company has made.
”
— Don Katz, Founder and Executive Chairman, Audible
The five New Jersey cities with the best
internet service, says Broadband Now,
are Paterson, Basking Ridge, Bayonnes,
Ridgewood and Asbury Park. Paterson tops
the list as tops in the state and second-highest
ranking city in the nation.
New Jersey’s superior access to broadband
is supported by some 66 data centers, one of
the highest concentrations in the country. That
robust infrastructure includes 64 colocation
facilities, 49 cloud nodes, 22 internet exchanges
and 23 disaster recovery and business continuity
(DRBC) sites.
The need for speed has boosted Newark’s
appeal to tech-heavy users, financial tech
companies in particular. More than a decade
ago, the city installed more than 25 miles of
underground municipal fiber, which has helped
give the city one of the top data infrastructures
in the country.
Newark can deliver more than 100
gigabits per second from the so-named East
Coast Telco Hotel at 165 Halsey Street,
the gathering point for as many as 60 data
communications companies offering Internet
connections throughout northern New
Jersey. The building’s tenants and colocation
providers include Morgan Stanley, Verizon,
CenturyLink, Equinix, Telecom Italia and BT
Americas.
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NEW JERSEY: THE STATE OF INNOVATION 65