You may have wondered what is happening with the giant spools of blue and orange conduit being installed throughout the Miami Valley.
Led by the Miami Valley Communication Council and Miami Valley Education Computer Association, a fiber optic service ring is being installed to connect the communities of Kettering, Centerville, Oakwood, Moraine, West Carrollton, Miamisburg and Springboro.
This infrastructure investment allows the cities to partner more efficiently on joint projects and to combine resources to gain economy of scale on shared technology services such as internet. In fact, the concept of this project was so unique that it was awarded $100,000.00 in Local Government Innovation Funds in 2013.
Longer term, the intent is that other area government entities (incl. libraries, schools, park districts), non-profits and businesses could become customers on the network and realize technology service improvements or cost savings.
Data service is now a highly demanded form of infrastructure for companies and a critical resource for public safety. Partnering with our neighbors to install the fiber-ring makes the project more affordable and allows us to connect our emergency operations centers to theirs increasing the reliability of our system, particularly in the case of a disaster or citywide outage.
We were proud to lead the way on this regional project and know that offering this modern infrastructure amenity will be highly valuable.