GlobeSt.com: In terms of connectivity questions that they're looking to address from a city- or market-level standpoint, what are some of the key points they'll probably make to Amazon?

Barendrecht: The RFP is actually pretty short, much shorter than I think most people would have assumed, and it's interesting that connectivity has received that kind of attention in such a short RFP; obviously it's important. But Amazon left a pretty broad umbrella question about connectivity for cities to interpret, and that's because there are so many factors that go into making a city attractive from a connectivity standpoint.

It's important to understand why Amazon put this into the RFP. It's not just because Amazon is an Internet company; I think that's a myopic point of view. They're not just an Internet company; they're one of the most, if not the most, forward-thinking, innovative companies across the globe. So when they're making a real estate decision, they need to know that it is future-proofed for the cutting-edge technologies that they'll be employing—not just today, but 10 or 20 years down the line.

At the municipality level, there are actually vast differences in how US cities approach broadband planning and policy, making certain cities better suited than others for Amazon from a connectivity perspective. One is related to the Internet service providers in a city, and the density, availability and acceptability of those providers. Some cities make it very easy for providers to build and install infrastructure, both within the urban core and to the outer parts of the city. New York City has done a good job of this; there are parts of the city outside of the Financial District in Manhattan that have a wide variety of best-in-class Internet service providers.

Some of the ways that city governments encourage Internet service providers are around permitting processes, subsidizing infrastructure builds in less-dense parts of the city and something called the dig-once policy. Any time a street is opened to enable one Internet service provider to lay fiber-optic cable, that is an opportunity for any provider to lay infrastructure at the exact same time. That makes it a lot less costly and impactful on the residents of the city when it's happening all at once, and it really encourages density and availability of fiber.

A second thing that really differs from market to market is the ways that city governments encourage the landlords and developers to build connected buildings. That is near and dear to my heart at WiredScore, because I work with landlords to help encourage the design and implementation of telecom infrastructure. It's exactly why cities like New York and London partnered with WiredScore to make sure that we can convinced all of the landlords and developers in the city to build to best-in-class telecom standards.

Another example of how cities can encourage the real estate community to prioritize connectivity is something called the Article 80 process in Boston. It's something that Wiredscore worked on with the Boston Planning and Development Agency, and it necessitates that all new developments applying for approval must answer a broadband questionnaire to explain how that project will build to best-in-class telecom standards that WiredScore has recommended to the City of Boston. So this is the City of Boston telling the entire real estate community in the city, “If you want to get your permit approved, emphasis and focus on telecom infrastructure is a big part of that application.”

Next: How the WiredScore certification can work on a municipal level

NEW YORK CITY—“Ensuring optimal fiber connectivity is paramount at our HQ2 location. Please demonstrate the fiber connectivity on all submitted sites. Also, demonstrate multiple cellular phone coverage maps to ensure optimal service.”

This paragraph in Amazon's Request for Proposals to build a second headquarters somewhere in North America is light on specifics, and may not be top of mind when considering what it would take to reel in the enormous catch that an eight-million-square-foot headquarters facility would represent to a city's economy. Yet the world's largest online retailer had good reason to specify telecom capacity in its RFP, and a city or region's ability to meet that requirement certainly will be weighed along with such factors as the pool of qualified employees. GlobeSt.com spoke with Arie Barendrecht, cofounder and CEO of New York City-based WiredScore, for his assessment. Part one of a two-part interview follows below.

GlobeSt.com: The connectivity qualification isn't given much play when cities publicly make their case for being the best market to build HQ2. Is this a provision that cities are overlooking or taking for granted?

Arie Barendrecht: This isn't something that the forward-thinking municipalities are taking for granted at all. We've been in touch with city government representatives in a handful of US cities to help them answer this part of the RFP, based on our expertise and knowledge of the connectivity in a particular market. It seems that this is a more difficult piece of the RFP to easily quantify or respond to, but for some of the cities where we have relationships, this is getting the appropriate attention and we will see connectivity as a meaningful part of the response.

GlobeSt.com: In terms of connectivity questions that they're looking to address from a city- or market-level standpoint, what are some of the key points they'll probably make to Amazon?

Barendrecht: The RFP is actually pretty short, much shorter than I think most people would have assumed, and it's interesting that connectivity has received that kind of attention in such a short RFP; obviously it's important. But Amazon left a pretty broad umbrella question about connectivity for cities to interpret, and that's because there are so many factors that go into making a city attractive from a connectivity standpoint.

It's important to understand why Amazon put this into the RFP. It's not just because Amazon is an Internet company; I think that's a myopic point of view. They're not just an Internet company; they're one of the most, if not the most, forward-thinking, innovative companies across the globe. So when they're making a real estate decision, they need to know that it is future-proofed for the cutting-edge technologies that they'll be employing—not just today, but 10 or 20 years down the line.

At the municipality level, there are actually vast differences in how US cities approach broadband planning and policy, making certain cities better suited than others for Amazon from a connectivity perspective. One is related to the Internet service providers in a city, and the density, availability and acceptability of those providers. Some cities make it very easy for providers to build and install infrastructure, both within the urban core and to the outer parts of the city. New York City has done a good job of this; there are parts of the city outside of the Financial District in Manhattan that have a wide variety of best-in-class Internet service providers.

Some of the ways that city governments encourage Internet service providers are around permitting processes, subsidizing infrastructure builds in less-dense parts of the city and something called the dig-once policy. Any time a street is opened to enable one Internet service provider to lay fiber-optic cable, that is an opportunity for any provider to lay infrastructure at the exact same time. That makes it a lot less costly and impactful on the residents of the city when it's happening all at once, and it really encourages density and availability of fiber.

A second thing that really differs from market to market is the ways that city governments encourage the landlords and developers to build connected buildings. That is near and dear to my heart at WiredScore, because I work with landlords to help encourage the design and implementation of telecom infrastructure. It's exactly why cities like New York and London partnered with WiredScore to make sure that we can convinced all of the landlords and developers in the city to build to best-in-class telecom standards.

Another example of how cities can encourage the real estate community to prioritize connectivity is something called the Article 80 process in Boston. It's something that Wiredscore worked on with the Boston Planning and Development Agency, and it necessitates that all new developments applying for approval must answer a broadband questionnaire to explain how that project will build to best-in-class telecom standards that WiredScore has recommended to the City of Boston. So this is the City of Boston telling the entire real estate community in the city, “If you want to get your permit approved, emphasis and focus on telecom infrastructure is a big part of that application.”

Next: How the WiredScore certification can work on a municipal level