The 2019 INCOMPAS Show, Day 2

« 6 » THE INCOMPAS SHOW I NOVEMBER 4 – 6, 2019 www.bekabusinessmedia.com cloud you can slice your network to serve enter- prise businesses and customers. We’ll be better and more efficient.” What’s more, DISH is in a position where it can design its own network architecture, which will provide a major advantage moving forward. “Because we’re going to build a greenfield, standalone network, we get to design and archi- tect that network,” Ergen continued. “The only other country doing that is China. We get to do something with a clean sheet of paper, which will give the U.S. an advantage.” The network, it should be noted, will be mostly software-based. “It’s mostly software,” Ergen said. “It’s not hardware, and there’s no other country that builds better software. So we’re able to take one of the strengths of the U.S., and they can build something that’s a little bit different and probably good for national security. It certainly can be more American, and more exportable for this country.” Pickering also commented on the opportuni- ties DISH will open for other market participants as it moves into wireless services and builds out its wireless network. “As DISH builds its 5G network, it is seeking partners and has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to find those partners,” Pickering noted. “This will create a great opportunity for compa- nies across the supply chain to support the network build out, in particular those companies that build fiber networks. We, of course, will work with DISH to promote these opportunities to our members.” There may be skeptics about DISH’s ability to deliver, but that’s not something that has ever bothered Ergen or the company. As Ergen explained, “can’t” is not in their vocabulary. “Our best days are ahead of us,” Ergen continued. “We’re not looking in the rearview mirror. We’re proud of our legacy as a company. Our company has grown in stair steps. We are confident we can build a new product and make a difference in peoples’ lives.” p (DISH, continued from page 1) Rocket Fiber to Build Network for Detroit Area School District R ocket Fiber is expanding its reach from downtown Detroit to an affluent suburb, inking a deal with Grosse Pointe schools to build a $2 million fiber network that will allow the internet service provider to start offering resi- dential and commercial service in the wealthiest communities of Michigan’s Wayne County. Grosse Pointe’s school board recently approved a contract for Rocket Fiber to string 14 miles of dark fiber optic cable along existing utility poles throughout the Grosse Pointe communities to connect 12 school buildings. As part of the deal, Rocket Fiber has agreed to provide the Grosse Pointe Public School District with free internet access for 15 years and free maintenance on the network for 20 years in exchange for building excess capacity that the company can use to get a foothold into internet service business in the neighborhoods of Grosse Pointe, Grosse Pointe Farms, the Park, the Woods and the Shores. “It helps Rocket Fiber grow,” said Rocket Fiber CEO and co-founder Marc Hudson, upon announcement of the deal. Rocket Fiber was the low bidder to build and service a 10-gigabit fiber network that the school district will own. The free internet service will relieve the district of its $212,000 annual Comcast bill, which has reached $268,000 some years and would have grown with the district’s increasing bandwidth demands, said Gary Niehaus, Grosse Pointe Schools superintendent “They proposed a very creative contract,” said Niehaus. Grosse Pointe schools currently use about 2.5 gigabits of internet bandwidth, but the district is in the midst of $18.5 million in technology improve- ments in its buildings that include adding more devices requiring internet access, Niehaus said. Rocket Fiber plans to install more than double the amount of fiber optic cable needed by the Grosse Pointe school district. The company will string sheaths of fiber optic cable with 144 strands of fiber; the district is buying 60 of the strands, according to a contract approved by Grosse Pointe Board of Education last month. Twenty-six of the 32 school districts in Wayne County already own their own fiber optic cable networks; Grosse Pointe is one of six school districts in the county that didn’t – until now. p INCOMPAS Show attendees filled the Olmsted Ballroom for yesterday’s keynote.