Middletown, Ohio, Firm to Hook into Butler County Fiber Optic Network
Posted on: Wednesday, 30 July 2003, 06:00 CDT
Jul. 29--HAMILTON, Ohio--A Middletown-based company will be the first private sector firm to hook into Butler County's fiber optics network.
The Butler County Commission on Monday approved a $112,000 advance from the county's revolving loan fund to aid in the purchase of equipment for I-Fiber -- a fiber optics technology company that develops systems to enhance telecommunications capabilities for cable television, telephone companies and other service providers.
"We are not in competition with current businesses providing services to customers," said Patrick Heinz, I-Fiber president. "We develop technology that will enable those companies to better serve their customers."
Originally based in Dayton, Heinz said the company moved its headquarters to Middletown because of the county's installation of a broad-band fiber optics network.
So far, the company has built 11z2 miles of fiber to connect to the county's network from Middletown and has generated contracts with 30 customers. Heinz said another 130 customers are scheduled to hook into the network through I-Fiber within the next two months.
"We're building an enabling technology," Heinz said. "We are a small company, but we have a vision and currently have filed for 30 patents on technology we've developed."
The company is also working with officials in Monroe, Trenton and Oxford to hook into the network through those legs of the county system.
In pursuit of its technology development, I-Fiber is purchasing $125,000 in new equipment, $112,000 of which will now be financed through the county's revolving loan fund for seven years at 5.25 percent interest.
"It takes time and energy to put these things together," Commissioner Courtney Combs said. "I believe we're on the brink of major, major economic development in Butler County as a result of the fiber optics network."
Combs said telecommunications initiatives and the need for broadband services is growing nationally, but that Butler County is the only county in the U.S.
to have built its own network.
Heinz said the commission's "foresight" has created an environment that fosters opportunity for businesses to locate locally and to grow.
Commission President Michael Fox said one of the immediate benefits of a fiber optic system is that it provides a conduit for telephone companies to provide toll-free calling within a region that includes Butler, Hamilton and Clermont counties, as well as areas of northern Kentucky.
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To see more of the Middletown Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.middletown.com
(c) 2003, Middletown Journal, Ohio. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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