Submitted by Robert Boehning, Nov 1, 2006 15:25

It is more then just 'location, location, location' that drives the recommendations of the Security Exchange Commission for New York City's financial services companies to reconsider the placement of necessary disaster recovery facilities.

There is no question that there are viable locations that companies could locate such facilities within and around the five boroughs, as quoted by the New York City Economic Development Corporation spokesman, Andrew Brent, responding to the outside offer that financial services companies look to the Pocono Mountains to locate back up facilities, "corporate expansions like Citigroup in Long Island City and the Bank of New York in downtown Brooklyn show that the city itself can provide more than enough space for New York-based companies seeking backup offices outside Manhattan."

But what is not fully understood by most is the four major criteria set forth be the SEC for locating a disaster recovery, or back up, facility: such a facility should be located in a different watershed, located on a different power grid, located within different highway systems and finally located no further then 125 fiber optic miles from the financial services facility which is being protected.

This criterion places the choice location well outside Manhattan and the five boroughs, not in New Jersey, not in Connecticut or Rhode Island and not even in upstate New York. If not for the limitations set by the speed of light through a fiber cable the location could be anywhere - Philadelphia, Pittsburg or beyond. But the speed of light along a fiber wire does factor into this location selection. The only location conforming to the first three criteria and the limitations of the speed of light, as the fiber zigzags across the landscape to eventually reach the ideal location, is Pennsylvania's northeast. These are specific locations such as Penn Regional Business Center and Arcadia North Business Park in Monroe County of the Pocono Mountains.

So in response to this article, we would reaffirm that Pennsylvania and its private developers are not attempting to ‘steal away the business of Wall Street', we are merely supplying the geographic locations acceptable for these types of facilities. Having stated that point, we challenge the notion that there exists space available within the five boroughs that is adequate for the location of these same disaster recovery facilities.

The fact of the matter is that this segment of the financial services, disaster recovery, will find Pennsylvania's northeast has the' location, location, location, and fiber' and are ready and willing to support this Wall Street West Initiative.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.