Portsmouth Emerges as Next Smart City in the Southeast

“State, regional, and local agencies are vying to bring in new businesses as the competition paradigm has shifted. Location is not the frame of reference anymore,” says Daniel Jones, CIO for the City of Portsmouth. “Businesses want exceptional connectivity and more technology choices. Portsmouth can meet those needs through our partnership with Juniper.”

With the design and architecture complete, the Portsmouth Community Broadband Network (PCBN) will provide 56 miles of fiber infrastructure with a global, transatlantic reach through regional connectivity of fiber cables located in nearby Virginia Beach. Once complete, the network, which is scalable to 1.2 Tbps, will add momentum and validation to Portsmouth’s efforts to achieve smart city status.

Portsmouth has earmarked multiple smart city projects that will depend on fast, reliable connectivity. A major need is to expand Wi-Fi into city parks and in transportation corridors. To further enhance transportation, the city intends to add IoT sensors to alert drivers of rising sea levels during storms and high tides. Another high-value benefit is that the network will enhance connectivity options by leveraging regional aggregation of Internet service providers at wholesale pricing models.

“Our partnership with Juniper provides the foundational layer of next decade technology,” says Jones. “Juniper’s engineering and aggressive, leading-edge networking infrastructure gives Portsmouth the capabilities of next-decade technology now,” Rothfuss adds.

Portsmouth has a similar forward-thinking vision. It will keep undertaking new smart city goals and stake out a rightful claim as technology hub for the best and brightest digital businesses.