Chattanooga, Tennessee provider EPB has launched a community-wide 25Gb/s internet service, which will be available to customers on the company’s fibre network.
In partnership with Hamilton County and the City of Chattanooga, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Convention Center has become EPB’s first 25G customer. Hamilton County and the City of Chattanooga each invested $151,000 in infrastructure funding for a total of $302,000 to cover the cost of installing networking equipment and wifi access points throughout the centre, as well as much of the cost of providing multi-gig connectivity for the next five years.
The launch of the service is the latest in EPB’s ongoing efforts to upgrade the whole community-wide network from core to the optical networking equipment at customer locations with the latest optical signalling technology alongside deployment of Nokia’s symmetrical 25G PON technology. This allows EPB to provide 25G services anywhere across its network while avoiding the need for one-off, point-to-point installations.
The provider has also expanded its partnership with Arista Networks, which is providing the equipment to upgrade the convention space to wifi 6 with its multi-gig PoE campus switching platform. Security capabilities include wireless intrusion prevention system (WIPS) and IPFIX to ensure secure visitor connections.
Vicky Gregg, EPB board chair says: ‘EPB is keeping Chattanooga on the cutting edge. We are once again breaking the typical approach for internet service providers by proactively upgrading to the latest technologies in anticipation of future needs. Our goal is to enable new frontiers for technical innovation and job creation for our customers to the benefit of our whole community.’
Hamilton County mayor, Jim Coppinger says of the service launch: ‘The new 25Gb/s internet service gives our Convention Center a major competitive advantage in drawing business conferences, conventions, e-gaming competitions and other events that bring tens of thousands of visitors and many millions of dollars in spending into our local economy.’
Chattanooga’s mayor Tim Kelly agrees: ‘EPB has continuously pushed the boundaries of what a utility can do for a city, and by launching 25Gb/s internet service community-wide, we have solidified Chattanooga’s competitive advantage as the premier destination for the country’s emerging knowledge innovation economy.’
David Eckard, CTO North America at Nokia comments: ‘This announcement highlights how fibre broadband services are evolving beyond residential broadband. Businesses have an insatiable appetite for connectivity, driven in part by the pervasive use of video but also now by cloud-based applications requiring instant bandwidth. Providing business services on the same fibre network is an evolutionary and pragmatic use of their existing network assets, and 25G PON provides the immediate capacity uptick to be able to offer unparalleled bandwidth.’
Pramod Badjate, group vice president and general manager, cognitive campus for Arista Networks says: ‘Providing high network speeds, capacity and security at public venues can be very challenging. The partnership between Arista and EPB provides customers with high connection speeds and security for both wired and wireless networks.’
