Asset Plus Companies Named to MDU Hall of Fame

It takes more than a village to bring state-of-the-art broadband to multiple-
dwelling-unit structures. It takes visionary action, top technology and extra dedication to customer service. Our latest honorees also had to excel in a vicious economic downturn.

By Steven S. Ross - Broadband Properties

Courage. The courage to spend money, carefully, to bring MDU owners and tenants world-class broadband services, was in great evidence last year. Building owners
and managers, MDU-targeting equipment vendors and broadband providers offered plenty of it, too. There was no bailout for them – no stimulus money, no special tax breaks and certainly no visionary bankers. Almost all the money they spent on broadband came out of corporate cash flow. Broadband, more than ever, had to compete with other worthy uses for funds in a down economy.

These visionaries did just that. To compile this list, we scanned our own news feeds and stories. We consulted experts and some whom we had honored previously. This is mainly a list of implementers – visionary staff members in organizations that build, own or manage MDUs. Key  personnel at vendor organizations that developed and deployed some of the new technologies and ISP services that make MDU deployments easier also made the list.

Our main criterion was impact on cutting-edge MDU broadband deployments in 2009-2010.
We actually present two lists:

The Top 25. As we have done previously, we looked at track records over the past few years.

Rising Stars. Some visionaries are just getting started, or are in organizations that have been particularly hamstrung in recent times. We expect even more from them as time goes on.

This is not a list of companies. It is a list of key people in the MDU industry and its suppliers – an industry made up of large organizations that, with few exceptions, tend to hide their most talented personnel. These players did not act alone, of course. They led, or provided input to, forward-looking management and technology teams. But we judged that the resultswould have been far different and far less exciting without their participation.