Things have been busy at FairlawnGig. We have been designing and building the essential components necessary to operate and manage the FairlawnGig network and begin offering Internet services to the community. Building the FairlawnGig data center, establishing connectivity to the Internet and wireless work on the Fairlawn tower were key activities during the past few months.
Data Center
One of the most important aspects of FairlawnGig is the data center. Located in the Fairlawn Department of Public Service building, this state-of-the-art facility is the heart of our network. All of the fiber from the entire network will run into the data center. The switches and routers that control the network are in the data center. FairlawnGig is an always-on, non-stop network. All of networking systems are designed to be resilient, and the data center has its own backup power capability. We have already survived a six hour power outage at the City without dropping FairlawnGig service for a moment.
A key function of the data center is to manage and monitor the FairlawnGig network. In addition to our local management of the network through the data center, we are also supported by our design, build partner Fujitsu Network Communications. Fujitsu has a nationwide Network Operations Center (NOC) in Texas that monitors all aspects of the FairlawnGig network from the fiber in your neighborhood, to the equipment in the field necessary to operate the fiber, and every piece of equipment in the data center. The NOC can identify issues with the network early—usually before they are visible to a customer.
Connectivity to the Internet
FairlawnGig is a modern, multi-gigabit fiber optic network that covers the entire City. It is crucial to connect this wonderful network to the rest of the world in a high performance way. We have established two multi gigabit connections to the Internet from our data center with different providers and more Internet connections from other providers will be coming soon.
Early Customer Service
As we bring the data center online and connect with our Internet partners, it is important to thoroughly test these capabilities to ensure that FairlawnGig will deliver the fastest, most reliable service possible when we take on paying customers. The City of Fairlawn has already switched to FairlawnGig Internet service as the main City campus was already connected to the Data Center with fiber. We established a temporary fiber link to the Akron-Fairlawn Hilton and Doubletree hotels and have been offering service there for a few weeks. We also have a few businesses in the area who are receiving service wirelessly so that they can begin using FairlawnGig service now, before the fiber is built to their offices.
What’s Next?
In early August, construction crews will begin building the FairlawnGig fiber network out into neighborhoods. If you sign up for FairlawnGig, we will contact you directly to let you know when construction will be happening in your neighborhood and when you can upgrade to FairlawnGig’s unparalleled Internet service.
Stay tuned for more information. It has taken a while to progress to this point, but soon we will be moving at the speed of light!