NOVEMBER 19, 2010 -- Fiber-optic network services supplier FiberLight, LLC held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Baltimore Technology Park this week to officially launch a new, $20 million 104-mile fully diverse fiber-optic network. The new fiber-optic network will augment FiberLight’s existing 123-mile Baltimore network and 299-mile Virginia and DC networks by extending its underground optical backbone.
The extension will take the fiber-optic backbone past the downtown business district to connect to the cities of Laurel, Columbia, Elkridge, and Greenbelt, while providing greater diversity to the Maryland/DC/Virginia region.
“We selected Baltimore as a primary market to invest our capital dollars as a way to provide greater economic opportunity for all citizens and businesses in the Greater Baltimore region,” Kevin Coyne, FiberLight’s president and COO and a Baltimore native said. “In today’s economy, cities must position themselves as being forward thinking, innovative, and technology rich in order to secure new economic opportunities. FiberLight’s high fiber count network future proofs Baltimore and its surrounding communities and offers secure connectivity to Washington, Virginia, and beyond while reducing the overall cost of broadband solutions through a choice of providers for service delivery.”
“This is a very exciting project for Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake; the economic impact it’s going to have on Baltimore is immeasurable, along with the jobs it will create,” Kumasi Vines, special assistant, Economic and Neighborhood Development for the City of Baltimore, said. “This project is part of a process of making Baltimore known for being open for business and open to high speed connections to other cities in the region.”
Patrick Mitchell, President and CEO of the public/private partnership Maryland Broadband Cooperative, added, “You can build networks but you still have to have a way to connect; having members like FiberLight gives us a way to get broadband out to the rural areas of Maryland for the purposes of telecom-health (initiatives) and our last mile providers.”
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