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THE
INCOMPAS SHOW
I
APRIL 3 - 5, 2017
www.bekapublishing.comDAY
1
Midco Plans Fargo
Data Center
Massachusetts Town Brings High-Speed
Internet to Rural Areas
T
he Town of Mount Washington—one
of Massachusetts’ smallest towns—is
implementing the smart infrastructure
needed to bring high-speed broadband services
to its previously underserved rural community
of 145 residents.
Located within the Mount Washington State
Forest, where internet is generally unavail-
able and cell service is sporadic, the town is
among the nation’s rising municipalities and
rural cooperatives taking the necessary steps
to provide its community with the critical broad-
band services that otherwise would not exist. By
constructing a municipally owned communica-
tions network, Mount Washington will join the
recent wave of towns taking responsibility for
providing their communities with the technology
and infrastructure required for basic high-speed
internet services. The town will retain ownership
of the network upon completion, and anticipates
selecting a third-party service provider to provide
end services to subscribers.
Mount Washington, in partnership with White
Mountain Cable (a subsidiary of Dycom) and eX2
Technology, expects construction of its active
Ethernet network to be complete in the fall of 2017.
“High-speed internet access has become an
essential service in today’s economy, similar
to that of electricity,” said Gail Garrett, select-
board member, Town of Mount Washington. “We
believe our town deserves the same opportu-
nity to connect to the internet as those in larger
communities, and, in building our own fiber-to-
the-home (FTTH) broadband network, we are
taking an important step in securing our commu-
nity’s long-term vitality and sustainability.”
Following a procurement process, Mount
Washington selected White Mountain Cable and
eX2 Technology to provide design and construc-
tion services for its (FTTH) Active Ethernet
network. White Mountain Cable will provide fiber
optic construction, fiber splicing, termination and
testing. eX2 will be responsible for verifying the
proposed broadband route and fiber-optic cable
placement, pole attachment agreements, permit-
ting, outside plant design, headend, network and
optical network design.
The network will, ultimately, provide connectivity
to residences, outfitting each Mount Washington
household with dedicated fiber strands originating
from MassBroadband’s middle mile backbone
termination point at Town Hall. Those who choose
to subscribe for internet and telephone services will
pay a monthly fee to a third-party service provider.
“The Town of Mount Washington is a
great example of a ‘can do’ attitude,” said
Joel Mulder, vice president of sales at eX2.
“The dedication and the commitment of the
town’s select board, along with the support
of its townspeople, was very evident during
this process. Other small towns can look at
this model and see that receiving broadband
services really is achievable.”
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Midco plans to break ground on a state-of-the-art Tier 3
data center in Fargo, N.D., in the second quarter.
The 16,000-square-foot facility, which is expandable to 44,000
square feet, is Midco’s third data center in the upper Midwest.
“The Fargo data center brings instant value to our customers
by providing a Tier 3 protected facility that accesses our highly
redundant and available 8,600-mile network,” said Scott Smidt,
vice president of Business Engineering and Operations. “This
data center allows colocation and interconnects with local,
regional and national providers.”
The facility will be available for business customers that need
partial rack, single rack or multiple racks. Private, caged areas
or customizable suites are also available.
“This data center provides a unique geographical intercon-
nect point for carriers and content providers,” Smidt added.
“The upper Midwest region provides a secure, cost-effective way
to interconnect carriers with their customers. It’s a significant
financial and infrastructure investment. Midco is committed to
interconnecting national, regional and local carriers to accom-
modate any and all businesses.”
The Fargo data center is expected to be operational in 2018. Midco’s
two other data centers are in Sioux Falls and Yankton, S.D.
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