With Internet Service Faster Than a Centerville Wind,
UTOPIA Wires City’s Businesses for the Future
Centerville’s Mayor, UTOPIA and Wired Businesses Hold “Fiber Friday” Event
to Demonstrate Benefits of Fiber Optics
Consider these dilemmas faced daily by Utah businesses:
- · An advertising agency has recently given employees the choice to work from home one day a week—a great morale booster that also reduces driving and improves air quality. But the need to send large graphics files back and forth makes it practically impossible because the internet connections at both the business and the employee’s home are too slow. The employee has no choice but to abandon what was supposed to be a great idea.
- · A local manufacturer wants to establish a relationship with a new distributor in Asia so he can grow his exports this year. A crucial videoconference is scheduled to take place but the neighborhood school is using all of the available bandwidth on the shared coaxial cable system in the area, making the business’s video connection so choppy that the distributor finally hangs up in frustration.
Easy access to broadband connections that provide reliable, fast download and upload speeds is the solution to these problems. UTOPIA (the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency) is bringing these capabilities to Centerville with its open-access fiber-optic network that offers speeds unmatched by traditional copper-wired and coaxial systems.
WHAT: UTOPIA, Centerville Mayor Ronald G. Russell and several Centerville businesses that have been connected to the fiber-optic network will host a “Fiber Friday” event to provide information on the system, demonstrate the benefits of fiber optics, and share examples of how being wired provides economic development advantages.
WHERE: City Hall
WHEN: Friday, February 17, 2012
11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Remarks from Mayor Russell, UTOPIA’s Todd Marriott and Devon Dorrity, President of Digital Business Integration, will be delivered at 11:45 a.m.
WHY: Today’s economy relies more and more on the information superhighway. Providing reliable, high-speed communications infrastructure to Utah businesses and residents is crucial if they are to compete in this age where technology is constantly changing. Fiber optics is “future-proof” and will accommodate future capabilities and applications not even dreamed of yet.
WHO: Ronald G. Russell, Centerville Mayor
INTERVIEW &
PHOTO OPPs: Mayor Russell and UTOPIA and Centerville business representatives will be available to discuss the fiber-optic network and the economic development advantages it provides. UTOPIA will also station its Mobile Command Center (MCC) at City Hall during the event so interested parties can see first-hand the speed and applications made possible with fiber optics. Demos inside City Hall and the MCC will include video conferencing and phone system capabilities as well as computer speed tests and movie downloads. The Mayor will also demonstrate the network’s super-easy set-up process with a connection ceremony celebrating Centerville’s network build out.
###
ABOUT
UTOPIA: The Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency, more commonly known as UTOPIA, consists of a group of 16 Utah cities that joined together to form a state-of-the-art fiber-optic network and provide critical telecommunications infrastructure to their residents. The network offers fiber-to-the-premises technology allowing for faster services that are uninterrupted by copper wiring or shared connections with neighbors. Its open access model fosters competition among private sector service providers who offer Internet, television, telephone and other services, giving customers the freedom to choose their own service providers, the best prices and the best service.
For more information on UTOPIA including member cities and business and residential service providers, visit www.utopianet.org.
