Fiber rollouts continue as communities chase economic perks of broadband

Now that gigabit broadband has become the new unofficial standard for high-tech businesses, new expansions of fiber-optic cables hold more economic weight than ever before. This is good news for the fiber-optic cable manufacturers - the technology is more likely to become commoditized as gigabit Internet speeds become integral to the operations of more businesses. Tech companies and data centers flock to areas with robust gigabit connections, and this precedent is encouraging cities of all sizes to investigate fiber rollouts.

Small towns go big with gigabit
After the decline of domestic textile production, families across nearby communities like Quitman, Mississippi, fell on hard times. Limited job development and tax revenues led to population loss as well, according to the Daily Yonder. Broadband gigabit Internet has provided members of the Quitman community with an opportunity to reshape their destiny. The town of 2,300 recently won a bid to become one of Mississippi's first gigabit cities, courtesy to an impending fiber rollout. By leveraging the power of fiber-optic broadband, citizens of Quitman are planning to revamp the city, reduce crime and recover the town's real estate value.

Public and private alliance brings fiber to Cleveland
A partnership between non-profits and businesses in Cleveland is bringing a new fiber-optic network to Ohio, said Government Technology. Sold as the first commercially available gigabit network in the country, the fiber-optic infrastructure will eventually connect multiple biotech businesses, health care facilities and medical research labs. Cleveland's latest gigabit venture reflects a greater need for broadband connections outside of the tech sector. With more businesses outsourcing storage and services to the cloud, the strength of a company's Internet connection has never been more important.

Cities follow the lead of their neighbors
The Washington Business Journal recently reported on a phenomenon that is likely to grow more and more common. Northern Virginia's Stafford County, envious of the many perks enjoyed by nearby community and fresh gigabit hotspot Loundoun County, has been inspired to develop its own gigabit network. However, as communities move further away from city centers, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage the logistics of leading fiber-optic cables to each home. Thankfully, the latest breakthroughs in fiber-to-Ethernet technology will make it easier for to get gigabit signals over existing copper wires.

Perle has an extensive range of Managed and Unmanaged Fiber Media Converters to extended copper-based Ethernet equipment over a fiber optic link, multimode to multimode and multimode to single mode fiber up to 160 km.