Customer Success Story
Gigabit Fiber Creates Economic Value and Social Good for Chattanooga
Affordable gigabit internet has transformed Chattanooga into a technology and research hub. Plentiful, low-cost connectivity has attracted new businesses and new talent, creating as much as $1.3 billion in economic value.
Overview
| Company | EPB, Chattanooga |
| Industry | Energy and Utilities |
| Products used | MX10004 and MX10008, MX10003, MX204, ACX710, EX Series, QFX Series, SRX Series |
| Region | Americas |
$1.3 billion
In net economic value and social benefits due to fiber network
Offered
Free Internet to underserved students during pandemic to reduce the digital divide
Developed
New revenue streams with expanded network capacity
Simplified
Network operations with a shared infrastructure for electrical power and broadband
Electric Power Board (EPB) is a municipal utility that operates as an independent board of the City of Chattanooga to provide electric power and fiber optic services to the greater Chattanooga area.
EPB has played a critical role in transforming Chattanooga into a vibrant smart city. With affordable gigabit fiber available to all homes and businesses, Chattanooga is fueling economic growth.
Shane Sexton, executive corporate technical consultant, and Joe Freeman, network engineering manager, have been at the heart of this transformation as they design and build EPB’s network.
“The capability that EPB brings is a game changer,” Sexton says. “EPB offers gig circuits that are incredibly affordable, especially compared to other cities.
Today, EPB is one of the largest publicly owned power distributors in the U.S. It serves more than 170,000 homes and businesses with gigabit fiber, delivering triple play services to residential customers, business services, and wholesale services to other service providers. EPB’s fiber network has been built on a foundation of Juniper routing since the start.
Most recently, EPB expanded its Internet edge to enhance its peering and transit connections to support growing demand for residential and business services. To support increased redundancy and capacity at the edge, EPB deployed Juniper Networks MX10008, MX10003, and MX204 Universal Routing Platforms.
The expansion of the Internet edge with Juniper allows EPB to create new revenue opportunities. “Implementing new capabilities with the MX10000 line of routers has given us the ability to peer with Ashburn and Atlanta facilities so we are less reliant on transit providers,” Sexton says. “Because we now have a presence in the carrier hotels, we can offer last-mile services to other carriers.
With gigabit fiber available to every home and business, Chattanooga has created economic growth that has revitalized the city. Fast, affordable broadband has transformed Chattanooga into a technology and research hub and has attracted many new employers and start-up ventures. Seven venture capital funds are now located in the city, as are 600 health-related companies. New business parks and housing have popped up around the city as well.
A citywide fiber network has delivered an estimated $865 million to $1.3 billion in net economic and social benefits to Chattanooga in the first five years after fiber deployment, according to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. That’s a greater return on investment than EPB anticipated at the start. The university study also found that during that same initial period, between 2800 and 5200 jobs were created directly because of the fiber network. Residents also received between $2400 and $3700 in value due to lower Internet prices from increased competition and avoided utility rate hikes due to a smart power grid.
The community has attracted $110 million in federally funded research for smart cities because of the gigabit infrastructure and expertise.
The Products
MX10004 and MX10008
The MX10004 and MX10008 Universal Routing Platforms deliver unprecedented scale for service provider and cloud operators, enabling advanced business and residential multi-service edge services with a cloud-optimized form factor, and superior cost-per-bit economics. The MX10004 and MX10008 are SDN-enabled, delivering up to 76.8 Tbps of system capacity in 4, 8, or 16 slot chassis supporting dense 100 GbE, 400 GbE, and, in the future, 800 GbE interfaces. These carrier-grade platforms have extensive automation capabilities.
MX10003
The SDN-enabled MX10003 Universal Routing Platform is built for space and power constrained environments. It is also a carrier-grade, multiservice platform with extensive automation capabilities enabling operators to meet ever expanding bandwidth, subscriber and service demands. The MX10003 Universal Routing Platform delivers 2.4 Tbps of system capacity in a 3 RU unit and supports 144 x 10 GbE or 24 x 100GbE interfaces in a single chassis.
MX204
The SDN-enabled MX204 Universal Routing Platform provides a modular, automated, carrier-grade solution for service providers and enterprises. The compact platform brings 400 Gbps capacity and a full feature set to space and power constrained environments.
ACX710
The ACX710 1U router is a hardened multiservice solution that delivers the performance, capacity, and features needed to provide universal metro access and aggregation services. It offers a high-density, cost-optimized metro solution in a compact footprint.
Published December 2020