OpenCape Institutional User Sees Internet Speed Double

A major institutional customer on the OpenCape fiber optic network in the Cape Cod region of Massachusetts is now enjoying Internet access at double the speed. 

CapeCod.com reports that local CapeNet, the supplier of service over the OpenCape network, has doubled the Internet speed for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) from 1 Gigabits per second (Gbps) to 2 Gbps. By switching to CapeNet as its primary provider, WHOI now also has the ability to expand up to 10 Gbps.

Previously, CapeNet provided 100 megabits to WHOI as a secondary provider, but the research and educational organization was interested in dramatically increasing its Internet capacity. In order to increase capacity, WHOI needed to make the switch to CapeNet.

CapeNet, the private provider that operates via the CapeNet fiber infrastructure, offers services across southeastern Massachusetts and to every town on the Cape. In addition to 150 institutional customers, the network connects businesses that handle large data, libraries, colleges, high schools, research facilities, municipal buildings, healthcare clinics, and public safety agencies. It is middle mile infrastructure, which means it links the Internet backbone to organizations and businesses that serve end users.

To become the primary broadband provider for WHOI, CapeNet installed additional equipment in Boston, Providence, and throughout the research campus. “It was actually quite a substantial undertaking in order to expand their capabilities,” said Alan Davis, chief executive officer of CapeNet.  

CapeNet On The Move...To Businesses and Residents?

CapeCod.com also reports that CapeNet is: 

...[C]ontinuing to expand services to educational institutions on the Cape. 

“We hope and expect that by the end of this year, certainly no later than next year, that we will actually be the primary provider of all the high schools on Cape Cod if not the middle schools and elementary schools as well,” said Davis.

The network will also be expanding fiber to 59 cell towers so a major mobile provider can expand coverage for customers in the area.

CapeNet recently announced that it would begin reaching out to residents and businesses in Falmouth, where the network serves 19 municipal facilities. OpenCape will soon host a survey on its website for local residents so the partners can obtain a better perspective on whether or not there is interest in the community. The results of the survey will determine if they move ahead with residential and business connectivity.

OpenCape History 

Started in mid-2013, the OpenCape is a 475-mile fiber-optic network serving more than 100 community anchor institutions in southeastern Massachusetts, the South Coast, and South Shore.  The middle-mile infrastructure was funded with a $32 million grant from the Broadband Technology Opportunity Program through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and about $8 million in funds from the state, county, and private-sector partner CapeNet.

Dan Gallagher, senior consultant to OpenCape Corp., and Davis wrote in an OpenCape blog last year: 

 “With the support and backing of the community, CapeNet and OpenCape are aggressively pursuing a broad range of funding sources to complete laterals and last-mile connections that will allow our region to unleash this great resource. Accomplishing this goal will allow OpenCape to fulfill its mission of improving the quality of life for the residents in our community.”