Fiber optic network comes online for Utah Valley cities
STEPHEN CHAPEK The Daily Herald on Thursday, May 01
With the touch of a button, Gov. Mike Leavitt inaugurated Utah Valley's own countywide high speed, fiber optic network on Wednesday at Utah Valley State College's Computer Center.
Providing a demonstration of its real-time capabilities, Leavitt participated in a live four-way video conference call via the fiber optic network, with officials in Spanish Fork, American Fork and Provo.
The Utah Valley Community Network went live after nearly 10 years of planning and a concerted effort by city governments in Utah Valley. The UVCN takes several of the high speed, fiber optic networks already built in towns like Provo, American Fork and Spanish Fork and links them together. For those connected to it, it offers the fasted and most direct connection to other computers on the network in Utah Valley as well as the Internet.
"It's a step ahead in technology," Leavitt said. "It will be an economic magnet for companies and individuals who understand the importance of it. In the long run it will mean jobs and a competitive edge."
Data transmitted over the UVCN will move up to 100 times faster than if it were traveling over the Internet, offering gigabits of data per second. With the new Utah Valley specific network, high speed data applications, like video conferencing, can be done without having to route data over the Internet, which slows the flow of information down and potentially compromises security, according to John Bowcut, the chairman of UVCN, who also serves as the director of information services for the city of Spanish Fork. Instead, data will flow directly from a home in Payson or Provo, to one of UVSC's servers or to one at the airport or city hall.
Local government and schools, the planners of the project, will be the first to take advantage of the new technological infrastructure. "You need a certain number of customers to reach critical mass to make a project like this feasible," Bowcut said.
Local government and schools, the planners of the project, will be the first to take advantage of the new technological infrastructure. "You need a certain number of customers to reach critical mass to make a project like this feasible," Bowcut said.
School districts tied into existing city fiber optic networks are already using them for day-to-day operations, said Peter Kruckenberg of the Utah Education Network. As the network expands to more homes and locations, parent-teacher conferences over video could become common place in a few years, he predicted.
Other envisioned uses for the new network are residents taking a class at a local college from home, or city administrators working from home while tapped into the city's database using the high speed connection.
"Fiber optic networks are great for moving large amounts of data over short distances," Bowcut said. "Whereas the Internet was designed to move smaller packets of data over a widely spread-out network."
Residents who are already hooked up to their respective city fiber optic networks will be able to use the new network immediately for high bandwidth applications like video conferencing.
While other regions such as Salt Lake County and some communities in Washington State have built similar regional intranets, what makes Utah Valley's unique is the fact that the network extends clear into the home, Bowcut said. Provo City's iProvo program, which is being tested by Provo City Power, has already wired nearly 300 homes into the network.
After government and educational use of the new network becomes common, UVCN managers plan a second tier expansion, where private companies and utilities can begin to make use of it.
"I could see the phone service and cable TV using the network," Bowcut said. He said many technology and research companies also would likely be eager to take advantage of the network as well.
Timetables and funds for further expansion have not yet been decided upon and will require the approval of each community's city council.
"I think it's good for the economy," said Paul Venturella, telecommunications manager in charge of the iProvo project for Provo City Power. "As businesses look to locate to the area, or individuals decide to move to Utah Valley, they will look at the availability of this type of service as another reason to move here. Good connectivity will be as important as good roads and good schools." |
