A business incubator gives entrepreneurs technology solutions they need now — and later

“It’s nice to be able have our members securely and easily connect their devices … without having to worry about service interruptions or challenges.”—Christina Graham, executive director, Catapult

The Lakeland, Florida Economic Development Council (LEDC) opened Catapult, a non-profit business incubator and co-working space, in a 10,000 square foot basement. The new venture quickly exceeded expectations, and within six months, Catapult had 100 members.

Having outgrown the original space, a larger space was secured. LEDC president Steve Scruggs envisioned a state-of-the-art facility with everything an entrepreneur would need, including reliable technology.

Spectrum Enterprise provided technology services for the initial Catapult location. Both the services and Spectrum Enterprise proved to be highly reliable, so there was never any question that they would provide services for the new building as well.

For Catapult executive director Christina Graham, fast WiFi was a top priority. The Spectrum Enterprise Managed WiFi solution worked reliably in Catapult’s existing location, so a plan was made to use it in the new space. FIA service, Managed Security Service (MSS) and Unified Communications (UC) service would also be carried over.

While most of the services would remain the same, it was decided to upgrade the existing 200 Mpbs FIA circuit to a 1 GB circuit in anticipation of future membership growth.

After a smooth installation, Catapult opened its doors in March 2020 — right before COVID-19 hit. Thankfully, the increased use of high-bandwidth applications like videoconferencing has not caused any issues because of the gigabit internet connection. In addition, the UC solution is getting more use than ever before, with a larger number of members using the conference room phones. The call quality is highly reliable since it uses a dedicated fiber network.

Today, Catapult has over 150 members, and intends on more than doubling that number within the next three years. With Spectrum Enterprise by their side, they’re prepared to provide all their members with the technology services they need to support their growing businesses.