Google Fiber, the FTTH initiative already well underway, has added Huntsville Alabama to their list of installed or installing base of American cities.
Huntsville has been suggested as a model for the kind of high tech growth Las Cruces seeks. This meme was especially widespread here during the early days of the spaceport project, and depending on how that progresses, could return. Of course we also already have WSMR, Holloman AFB, Fort Bliss, and PSL at NMSU…all of which are major players in high tech development.
In 1950, about 1,000 personnel were transferred from Fort Bliss, Texas, to Redstone Arsenal to form the Ordnance Guided Missile Center (OGMC). Central to this was a group of German scientists and engineers led by Wernher von Braun that had originally been brought to America by Colonel Holger Toftoy under Operation Paperclip.
As the Korean War started, the OGMC was given the mission to develop what eventually became the Redstone Rocket. This rocket set the stage for America’s space program, as well as major Army missile programs, to be centered in Huntsville.
And now Huntsville has new infrastructure that LC could benefit from…fiber to the home ( FTTH).
In Huntsville, this will be a municipal utility that will own the fiber and lease to Google, who will provide services to the residents. We need more details, but it sounds as if this at least resembles the Munipal-owned network, that some say would be best for many US cities and towns.
[gview file=”https://publicservicesalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Google-Fiber-Will-Arrive-In-Huntsville-Alabama-In-2017-Fortune.pdf”]