Township to communicate through fiber optics

Board approves $12,000 to create control center for Wide Area Network

 

By Julie Evans

C & G Staff Writer

     WEST BLOOMFIELD — After an initial investment in new technology, West Bloomfield officials will be poised to save money in the long run, and improve communication between township buildings.

     On July 26, the Board of Trustees unanimously approved spending $12,000 for a control center that will allow already existing fiber optic cables to connect township buildings.

     The control center and use of fiber optics will effectively upgrade the township’s Wide Area Network system, which currently uses T-1 lines to connect township buildings.

     “Many corporations use WANs, but not a lot of people are aware of them,” said Mark Osinski, West Bloomfield’s director of Information Technology. “It’s basically the term we use when we talk about connecting to the information in another physical location.”

     Supervisor David Flaisher said the township benefited from Comcast installing the fiber optics network in West Bloomfield at no cost to the township. The Greater West Bloomfield Cable Advisory Board negotiated the installment as part of the Comcast franchise agreement. The cost of running the fiber independently was estimated around $500,000.

     “Comcast put all the fiber optics in the ground, and to complete it, we have to hook it up to our phones and computers,” said Flaisher. “By eliminating some of the phone connections we have now, this is going to pay for itself.”

     Osinski said one of the benefits of using fiber optics to move information through the WAN is the new control center will be able to alert users when there’s a failure in the system.

     “Right now we have a WAN that’s been pieced together over the years,” said Osinski. “It’s a reactionary WAN, so when we have problems, we don’t know until someone calls us and says, ‘we can’t talk.’ This is a much more solid network for communication.”

     Osinski said he and the IT department have been working on getting the fiber optics WAN ready for use since last October.

     “ We need to get this going now in order to have this in place before the new fire hall opens,” said Osinski. “It’s scheduled to open in September, and we don’t want the Fire Department to have to spend $20,000 to $30,000 for a new phone system.”

     The fiber optics WAN will also be beneficial from a security standpoint.

     “Parks and Recreation will be able to monitor some of the parks locations with video cameras through this system,” said Osinski. “It really eliminates a distance issue, which is the nice thing about fiber. It moves at the speed of light, and so far, we’re not aware of anything that will replace it in the near future.”

     You can reach Julie Evans at jevans@candgnews.com