Salisbury, NC: We'll see your 1 gigabit and raise you 10 gigs

Gigabit Nation

In 2014, the leadership of Salisbury decided that it was time to expand marketing of their Fibrant fiber network up a few notches, that there were still lots of local businesses and individuals yet to take advantage of the network. These marketing efforts culminated with September's national announcement of their 10-gigabit municipal fiber-to-the-premise network. Kent Winrich, Director of Broadband Infrastructure for Fibrant, describes the rollout of the network and the expected impact within the community. Though the City may not expect a groundswell of subscribers for the 10-gig service, Winrich expects their current customers will appreciates the digital security blanket of knowing they have long term security against Technology obsolescence. More importantly, the new service gives Salisbury a powerful leg up as it market's itself as both a business hub and an education computing center within the state and beyond. Winrich discuss: challenges of upgrading the network to this new capacity;aligning current and future customer needs with broadband technology;maintaining competitive advantage; andmarketing Fibrant as a community asset versus a high tech toy. Salisbury is one of the many communities highlighted in my new book, Building the Gigabit City, Vol. 2. If you missed our interview with Salisbury's Mayor and Mayor pro tem discussing the cities marketing efforts, you can listen to the archive.