[Archived] Jones Communications of Alexandria Named Recipient of 1997 Alexandria Technology Achievement Award


News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date:	Monday, March 10, 1997
Contact:	Vice Mayor Redella S. Pepper, (703) 751-0770; City Council Member Lois L. Walker, (703) 549-6068; Mark McLindon, Chairman, Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, and Chairman, Alexandria Technology Achievement Award Committee, (703) 527-1451; Tom Brannan, Assistant City Manager, (703) 838-4300

Jones Communications of Alexandria Named Recipient of 1997 Alexandria Technology Achievement Award

Alexandria Mayor Kerry J. Donley and Alexandria Chamber of Commerce Chairman Mark McLindon today presented the 1997 Alexandria Technology Achievement Award to Jones Communications of Alexandria in recognition of the company’s efforts to build a state of the art, interactive, fiber optic telecommunications network in Alexandria.

The award was announced today at a luncheon honoring the award winner and four other finalists.. The award presentation kicks off Alexandria Technology Achievement Week (March 10-14) that will showcase recent advances in technology by Alexandria-based businesses.

Alexandria Technology Achievement Week and the Technology Achievement Award are sponsored by the City of Alexandria, the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, and the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, Inc., to recognize local businesses that have developed new technology or incorporated advances in technology in their operations. The Technology Achievement Award originated with the City’s Ad Hoc Task Force on Information and Communication Technologies, which is co-chaired by Alexandria Vice Mayor Redella S. Pepper and Council Member Lois L. Walker.

Alexandria is home to 157 high technology firms and their more than 8,900 full-time employees. In December, local business leaders joined with City, state and federal government officials to open the Alexandria Small Business Development Center for Entrepreneurial Resources and Technology at the George Washington University’s Alexandria Graduate Education Center on King Street. In addition, the City is investing heavily in educational technology, including $8.6 million in the past two years for the Alexandria City Public School’s Technology Initiative.

Jones Communications of Alexandria was selected for the 1997 Award by a panel of judges that cited the company for being among the first communication companies in the country to build a fiber-optic network capable of delivering high speed Internet access, local telephone and cable services simultaneously. The technology employed by the company in Alexandria represents the cable industry’s first deployment of a customized 10-ring fiber optic network. The two-way network provides improved reliability and better picture quality, and increases the number of cable channels from 54 to 80. Jones Communications employs 150 associates in Alexandria.

The other finalists chosen from among the 26 Alexandria firms nominated for the Technology Achievement Award are: MPR Associates, Inc.; Society for Human Resource Management; UUcom Inc., and VSE Corporation. In addition, the judges gave special recognition to the Alexandria City Public Schools for the Schools’ Technology Initiative.

The judging panel consisted of George Gingerelli, President, GMG Enterprises, Inc.; Esther Smith, Editor-at-large, Washington Technology; Dr. Fred Krimgold, Director, Outreach and Economic Development, Northern Virginia, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; and Joseph Viar, Founder, Viar and Company.

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