Rolling out a pioneering 10 gig-enabled city-wide fiber network to connect over 100,000 people in the City of Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA.

Once a center of industrial activity, Kenosha is just 49 miles north of Chicago and sits on the shores of Lake Michigan, where residents enjoy almost 8 miles of shoreline frontage, interspersed amongst the many recreational parks and forests. The Milwaukee region’s first open-access fiber network will provide high-speed access to all of Kenosha’s 40,000 households, businesses, and institutions, generating digital transformation worthy of any 21st-century smart city.

The city boasts beautifully restored electric streetcars that travel a 2-mile loop, taking passengers through the two historic districts and downtown Kenosha, which presented challenges to our network design process. The city boundaries, which are similar in pattern to Swiss cheese, also proved problematic in terms of jurisdictions and permitting services requiring consideration to minimize intrusions where it could cause additional delays.

As well as the design and overall project management, NetPMD’s remit involved the provisioning of all new street cabinets, active hardware, city aggregation points, and high-speed fiber back-haul into selected Data Centers.

Mike Mason, CEO, of NetPMD said

“We were delighted to have used our extensive experience to overcome the various design challenges presented by Kenosha and are thrilled to now have our integration teams working to ensure a smooth construction process. This is a project that will future-proof the network for generations to come and we are privileged to be involved”.

Ben Bawtree-Jobson, CEO, of SiFi Networks said

“Kenosha is a special city with wonderful residents and businesses who are ready for the benefits that reliable fiber connectivity will bring to them and the city as a whole. SiFi Networks is delighted to make this long-term investment in Kenosha, and we have benefited greatly from the partnership with NetPMD, whose ability to navigate around the difficulties presented by the area will contribute hugely to the project being on budget and ahead of schedule’’.

Parts of the city will go live in a staged approach as SiFi Networks build out the network, and you can keep up to date with construction progress here.

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