Home > Hormel Foods Endorses Google Fiber for Austin, MN
I'm Jeff Ettinger, president and CEO of Hormel Foods Corporation. I'm excited about bringing the Google Fiber project to Austin, Minnesota, and want to help spread the word about why, "We Gig It"
High speed networks and economic development are intrinsically connected. The Google Fiber network represents an unprecedented opportunity to bring a new generation of applications and resources to our homes, workplaces, schools and institutions.
Austin has it all -- a world-class cancer research center at The Hormel Institute; cutting-edge patient care at the Austin Medical Center branch of the Mayo Clinic; and a community college and education system involved in partnerships with the University of Minnesota, thanks to the science and technology focus of the Hormel Foundation. All of this in the background of a rural and agriculture-based county. We're unlike any community that calls the headquarters of a Fortune 500 company home.
And speaking of Fortune 500 companies, no one else can boast as one of their iconic products, the other SPAM! We've been making SPAM® luncheon meat at Hormel Foods since 1937. Our track record of success and innovation goes back over 100 years. But we are increasingly aware that the success or failure of business is driven by the broad and rapid sharing of information. Today, we operate facilities, manage employees and sell products in countries throughout the world – all from Austin. Partly because we are in such a remote location, we have had to rely heavily on a growing digital infrastructure to manage our operations and to communicate with our consumers.
As a community, we're growing and we're changing. And that is why Austin, Minnesota is the perfect location for Google to test its Google Fiber ultra-highspeed broadband network. This community understands, better than most, the value of technology in connecting it to the rest of the world.
I urge everyone with an interest in this community’s continued economic growth to support the Google for Austin, MN campaign.