ANNOUNCEMENT: iUHBA’s Journey of 30,000 fiber route miles starts in Ontario County, New York.
On August 14, 2009, I signed two important documents that mark the single-most important event in our company’s 9.5 years history of planning and developing the “FiberBroadband Strategy”. A Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation on Information, Communication, and Technology matters in Ontario County, New York, as well as a Master Agreement for Dark Fiber on Ontario County’s state-of-the-art Optical Fiber infrastructure was signed between iUHBA Networks, Inc. (iUHBA) and Ontario County’s Finger Lakes Regional Telecommunications Development Corporation (FLRTDC).
iUHBA and FLRTDC’s teams have been working on the strategy since January 2009. The agreements were signed on behalf of iUHBA by me, and on behalf of the FLRTDC by CEO Edward E. Hemminger, who is also Ontario County’s Chief Technology Officer.
It became clear to us, at iUHBA, from the very beginning that Ed Hemminger shared our vision in terms of project specifications, planning and development, and even the business strategy. Both teams are excited about this opportunity as they understand that the signing of the agreements, in the words of Ed Hemminger, “signify the beginning of a great partnership”, and “this is an exciting day for Ontario County”. Ed Hemminger and the policy makers in Ontario County understood early on that the continued well being of Ontario County’s economy and society is integrally linked with the development and implementation of an advanced digital, ultra-high-speed wireless and wired communications infrastructure.
For iUHBA, this day is exciting too, as it allows us to work on a focused agenda now onwards. The total investment in Ontario County will be around $100M for the wireless network and higher level architecture. iUHBA’s First Phase investors will know exactly where their money will go, and the deliverables and milestones achieved in Ontario County will allow for raising the rest of the $2B investment required for iUHBA’s major rollout in the Grand Lakes Region and NorthEast Corridor, which will ultimately reach a population footprint of almost 90 million people, and passes 30+ million households. This costly project will have its roots in Ontario County.
Ontario County, New York, has basically been chosen for three main reasons: 1) its decision to invest in a state of the art county-wide fiber ring, 2) Ed Hemminger’s vision and agreement with our strategy, and 3) his amazing team of experts, including the likes of Joe Starks, President of ECC Technologies, who want to go the extra mile to make this grand project a reality.
iUHBA plans to
1. rollout a proprietary, commercial County-wide ultra-high-speed wireless network, to be realized between January 2010 and April 2010, with services of up to 100 Mbps per wireless subscriber;
2. rollout a proprietary, multi-media and multi-system pilot project for Fiber To The Home/Office, reaching 3,000 connections, to be realized between March 2010 and June 2010, with services ranging from 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps speeds per connection, in a yet to be determined neighborhood in one of the cities in Ontario County;
3. build a high-level multi-media and multi-system architecture, including a state-of-the-art Network Operating Center, to function as the core of the wireless and wired infrastructures that it will build in the County and its surrounding region
In the coming weeks and months, the iUHBA and FLRTDC teams will clarify responsibilities and areas of cooperation regarding telecom infrastructure issues in Ontario County, including development, projects initiated by the FLRTDC, and identify facilitating and supporting strategies for iUHBA in terms of gaining rights-of-way, access to public institutions, etc.
For more information, you can email me at NEAL [at] iUHBA [dot] COM or Ed Hemminger at ed.hemminger [AT] co.ontario.ny [DOT ] us.
Neal Lachman
David Croslin