P&G Helps Wire Cincinnati

Cincinnati is advancing its position as one of the most wired cities in America with an agreement between The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) and Cinergy Communications (CC) to build a high speed fiber optic network that will circle metropolitan Cincinnati, connecting P&G’s seven major locations. P&G will use only a portion of the network’s total capacity, and the remainder will be available for other CC customers. The network will increase the amount of local bandwidth for voice, data and video, adding to the leading position Cincinnati already has as a high tech city. The system itself will be comprised of a 60 mile, 144 count fiber optic backbone. Just one pair of fiber strands in the network can transmit up to 2 terabits of data per second Encyclopedia Britannica, from New York to San Francisco in 1/320th of a second.

P&G will purchase Corning MetroCor fiber for the network. CC will install and maintain it. Installation will begin promptly with completion by mid-late summer this year.

“Greater Cincinnati already has a top tier IT infrastructure and is among the highest bandwidth per capita cities in the U.S.” said Gary Conley, president, TechSolve (formerly the Institute for Advanced Manufacturing Sciences). “Additions like this new network will increase the region’s capacity to meet the emerging need for high bandwidth.” Mr. Conley recently led efforts to complete an e-commerce readiness assessment for the region. The assessment concluded that the Greater Cincinnati region has an extensive existing network that should continue to be expanded to keep IT infrastructure ahead of demand in order to attract new high tech businesses and support future emerging high bandwidth applications.

P&G data communications manager Jim Scholefield remarked, “This network provides best-in-class capacity for P&G. It will provide greater speed, reliability, flexibility and security with sufficient bandwidth available to meet business needs well into the future. This is in line with P&G’s goal to make the web part of everything we do. Bandwidth is the ‘electricity’ that powers a new-economy company. Increasing available bandwidth is vital to allow this new web based environment to flourish.” P&G also announced it will use the investment in the network to benefit non-profits involved in further improving the region’s technology readiness by donating some of its unused fiber strands. “We have selected Cincinnati State Technical and Community College to be the first recipient because of its focus on improving the region’s IT workforce,” said Mr. Scholefield.

“Hopefully, our technology donation will serve as a catalyst for generating other donations that will continue to improve the overall region’s capabilities and demonstrate Cincinnati’s commitment to being a high tech city.”

In acknowledging the donation, Ron D. Wright, Ph. D., president, Cincinnati State, said, “Regional leaders from business and industry have set a clear challenge for those who provide workforce training and education. This exciting gift allows Cincinnati State to continue our efforts to prepare job seekers and incumbent workers for productive participation in the new economy.”