ACD.net Linking Lansing, Creating Jobs

Internet company ACD.net is helping dozens of Downtown Lansing businesses go wireless, and has plans to make Old Town Lansing wireless by the end of fall.

ACD.net started hooking up downtown businesses to the web in November 2006 as part of an experiment to see if Wi-Fi would take off in Lansing. By July, people all over Lansing were popping into coffeeshops to use the free Internet.

"The thing Lansing has to do is market toward the high tech person," says ACD.net owner, Kevin Schoen. "These high tech developments eventually lead to retaining high tech people."

Lansing-based ACD.net has made a square mile of Downtown Lansing "hot," or wireless, and plans to extend the service to Old Town Lansing. In the next couple of months, ACD.net will start charging businesses for what is now a free service.

ACD.net is based in Old Town Lansing, has 47 employees, 10 full-time contract employees and will add two to six new jobs by the end of the year.

Source: Kevin Schoen, ACD.net

Ivy Hughes is the development news editor for Capital Gains. She can be reached at ivy@capitalgainsmedia.com.