STATE COLLEGE, Pa.,
Feb. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/
-- Comcast Business today announced that the Borough of
State College, Pennsylvania is
using its Ethernet services to improve internal collaboration and
data backup efforts. These services will also bring enhanced
network capacity to the townships of Ferguson, Patton and College, the County's 911 Center,
as well as the Centre Region Council of Governments and the
community's public transportation agency. By linking these
organizations and local governments to each other, this
comprehensive meshed Ethernet Network Service will help support
public safety, regional development planning efforts and provide
better community services to more than 90,000 residents.
Best known as home to Penn State
University, the Borough of State College, through its IT
Division, works closely with many local organizations and
neighboring townships to make sure they can reliably offer
innovative and economical services to its residents. With the
emergence of cloud computing and a need to transfer increasingly
large files between town police departments and municipal offices,
the Borough knew its existing WAN and Internet connection – which
was shared between the offices of State
College, Ferguson,
Patton, College, the Centre Region
Council of Governments (CRCOG) and the Centre Area Transportation
Authority (CATA) – was sorely in need of an upgrade.
"A regional backup program allows our locations to replicate
data between sites to prepare ourselves in the event of a disaster
situation. Being able to do this without compromising access speeds
for our other operations is critical," said Angel H. Hernandez, Chief Technology Officer for
the Borough of State College. "We
also rely on our network to share police records between
departments, as well as regional aerial maps, which are essential
for our community planning and development efforts. These are huge
files that are constantly changing, so being able to share them
with all parties involved has vastly improved the quality of
services we're able to provide to our residents."
Comcast Business answered the call by installing a comprehensive
Ethernet Network Service that now connects seven separate locations
– the State College Municipal Building, the Centre County 911 Center, CATA, CRCOG and the
State College, Ferguson and Patton police departments – to each other via
a meshed network that offers 30 Mbps of capacity. A separate 100
Mbps Ethernet Dedicated Internet line is also housed at the State
College Municipal Building so all Internet traffic is managed from
a single protected source.
"The customer service we've received from Comcast Business thus
far has been impressive," continued Hernandez. "The best part,
however, is that any one of these seven locations now has more
network capacity than what our combined coalition previously had –
and because the services provide us with both a WAN and Internet
access, we can support each site centrally, ensure all internal
network traffic is protected, and transfer data like large map
files, backups and video footage significantly faster without
interrupting the daily work that goes into being a service-oriented
government."
The additional network capacity being provided by Comcast
Business Ethernet services will also allow these local governments
to consider the possibility of sharing streaming video footage with
local police from various street cameras across the region in the
near future. This will add yet another feature that was never
before possible with the organization's previous network
provider.
"Municipalities today have the responsibility of ensuring the
happiness of their residents while still keeping costs in check.
Many are finding that partnering with a service provider that
already has the technology infrastructure in place can help them do
both quickly and cost-effectively," said Paul Merritt, vice president of Comcast Business
in the Keystone Region. "We have invested decades of research and
engineering into building an infrastructure that meets the
high-speed, high-capacity needs of business, education and
municipal customers around the country, and we look forward to
continuing to launch new and innovative services for local
governments of all sizes."
About Comcast Corporation:
Comcast Corporation
(Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is a global media and technology company
with two primary businesses, Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal.
Comcast Cable is one of the nation's largest video, high-speed
Internet and phone providers to residential customers under the
XFINITY brand and also provides these services to businesses.
NBCUniversal operates news, entertainment and sports cable
networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, television
production operations, television station groups, Universal
Pictures and Universal Parks and Resorts. Visit
www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.
About Comcast Cable:
Comcast Cable is one of the
nation's largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider to
residential customers under the XFINITY brand and also provides
these services to businesses. Comcast has invested in
technology to build an advanced network that delivers among the
fastest broadband speeds, and brings customers personalized video,
communications and home management offerings. Comcast
Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is a global media and technology
company. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more
information.
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SOURCE Comcast Cable