Staff Writer
HOULTON — The launch of a new state-of-the-art connectivity business could eventually bring additional economic benefits to Houlton now that GWI is adding to the town’s high-speed Internet capabilities.
Pioneer Times photo/Elna Seabrooks
SYSTEM CONTROL — Houlton Regional Hospital Maintenance Manager Bart Peters, is seen at the telephone system control center in the hospital’s server room where GWI will connect it’s fiber optics and enhance the system.
The new voice and data network is the brainchild of Fletcher Kittredge, GWI’s founder and CEO. He says the company is building a high-speed fiber optic network geared toward mid-size and larger businesses, although residential customers may have access in the future.
Kittredge refers to the company as the “carrier’s carrier” since other companies like call centers, financial institutions and educational facilities buy GWI’s underlying services and may use them in addition to other high-speed services. “We’re a phone company that other companies use to get services to their customers.” Kittredge says residents may have seen workers putting in lines on telephone poles for the Houlton network which will be completed in August. The Houlton installation, costing about $250,000 according to Kittredge, is a pilot project for other rural areas.
And, with bankruptcy looming over Fairpoint due to its current financial woes, a real niche may be opening up for GWI which has already set up fiber optics in other parts of Maine. The Houlton fiber optic network could heighten the town’s visibility as a major contender for service center jobs which, in turn, would boost the local economy.
Brian Longstaff, business development specialist and senior planner for the Northern Maine Development Commission says cutting edge technology “puts Houlton in a position to draw in some outside data collection type businesses that can use that type of infrastructure.” GWI has contracted with Houlton Regional Hospital, Pioneer Broadband, the Houlton Higher Education Center and the University of Maine which provides access for local schools and libraries.
Wade Hanson, community development director for Houlton, says GWI’s fiber optic network would streamline and increase connectivity to the world because the speeds of fiber optic are so much faster than existing copper wires. And, while Fairpoint has some fiber optic cables in Houlton, he says, GWI’s capacity will be greater.
Hanson does say, however, that even though the town may get a boost from fiber optics, “Houlton’s current services are already fairly up to date and cutting edge. So, we are very viable in that market as it is.” But, he adds, fiber-optic connectivity will provide some redundancy.
That kind of extra back up and support is becoming more important in light of the recent powerful cyber attacks over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Although U.S. authorities have not definitively pinpointed the source of the attack in North Korea, which is increasingly antagonistic toward America, it underscores the vulnerability of the U.S. infrastructure. Hackers targeted and shut down dozens of sophisticated, private and key U.S. government installations, from the White House to the Pentagon to the New York Stock Exchange.
The danger of a weather-related blackout or system malfunction may be more of a threat locally than espionage or cyber attacks. And, Houlton Regional Hospital (HRH) will have redundant connections thanks to GWI’s fiber optics says Maintenance Manager Bart Peters.
Older copper wires will continue to carry the hospital’s phone service. “But, if one or the other should fail we can always use the other point of connection. All of our radiology imaging is done over phone connections and telephone lines. Digital images can be sent to another facility or doctor over data transmission lines instead of sending them manually,” says Peters.
HRH’s strategic plan for infrastructure and the server room was updated to support future technology and improvements. A communications management firm in Bangor, Taylor Networks, partnered with GWI to provide service changes for the hospital. Peters added that in the event of a power failure, the hospital is prepared to use emergency generators for all the equipment.
