News
A Georgia-based fiber-infrastructure provider has announced a major investment in a planned 100-mile fiber route to facilitate what they hope will become a new economic zone along State Highway 130 near Austin, Texas.
Plans to construct the first “intelligent infrastructure economic zone” in Texas will soon be in full swing following an announced $20 million investment from FiberLight in a project that involves collaboration with the Autonomy Institute, a public-private partnership with members that include major companies.
FiberLight, which builds and operates mission-critical fiber networks, announced their investment with a press release Feb. 7 and described the Austin-area project as an effort that will deliver “much needed bandwidth to the fast-growing areas adjacent to State Highway 130.”
In the project, FiberLight explained they would provide high-speed 10 and 100GB connectivity to public infrastructure network nodes (PINNs) across roughly 92 miles of State Highway 130 in the Austin area. The company said the network will “support the development, installation, and software needed to manage autonomous systems.”
Jeffrey DeCoux, the chairman and an autonomy fellow at the Autonomy Institute, described State Highway 130 as a modern-day Route 66 that supports dozens of communities.
“Intelligent infrastructure touches the day-to-day life of each of our citizens and is crucial to competitiveness and prosperity,” he said, according to FiberLight’s announcement. “FiberLight has helped deploy critical digital infrastructure statewide, and their expertise will build a stronger and more connected Texas.”
Autonomy Institute, a 501c3, collaborates with large infrastructure investors and infrastructure banks to advance intelligent infrastructure improvements, a summary of the organization stated.
Organizations listed as members of the Autonomy Institute include companies like Raytheon, Cisco, Ericsson, Above Robotics, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Comments from Bill Major, the CEO of FiberLight, were included in the company’s announcement about the State Highway 130 project. He elaborated on how the improvements could be used to support automated vehicles.
“To realize the goal for safe and reliable use of automated vehicles, fiber optic placement – delivered by PINNS – is critical,” he said. “For this project, our fiber infrastructure will deliver 10 and 100GB connectivity of capacity or more to each of the more than 240 PINNs, situated every 2,000 feet, across State Highway 130, and provide a resilient solution that will drive economic expansion and job growth for the region.”
FiberLight’s announcement stated the State Highway 130 project “advances the concept of smart cities.”
“When complete, the FiberLight network will support autonomous mobility districts, public safety, and response, as well as distributed work centers,” the company’s announcement stated. “The advanced spatial computing capabilities from the endeavor will support autonomous cars, trucks, and drones as well as advanced AR/VR and other edge computing applications.”
