Fiber-optic broadband cable comes to Lenox

LENOX – Following the launch of MassBroadband 123 last month in Otis, Lenox is set to join the fiber-optic cable network.

Last month, Governor Deval L. Patrick came to Otis to mark the official launch of the first segment of MassBroadband 123, designed to bring high speed internet connectivity to 1,200 key facilities in over 120 western and central Massachusetts communities.

Now, that fiber-optic cable is coming to Lenox, including the town’s library.

“Right now, they’re laying the cable out in front of the building,” said Sharon Hawkes, executive director of the Lenox Library. “They already came here and laid the cable up to the building, and eventually, someone will come in to do the inside of the building to run the cable all the way to our telecommunications office.”

The library is one of several community facilities in Lenox to be directly connected to the fiber-optic cable network. Each town receiving the broadband access has designated Community Anchor Institutions (CAIs) – facilities such as libraries, town halls, schools and community centers that will be connected to the cable. In Lenox, the CAIs include the library, town hall, and the schools, according to Town Manager Gregory T. Federspiel.

Once the cable is connected to the buildings, the town will have to contract with a vendor to get Internet service up and running. “We haven’t started to explore that yet, but we hope to in the next month or two,” said Federspiel.

For the Lenox Library, their computers, which operate under the C/W Mars network, will be connected to high-speed broadband via the fiber optic cable.

“It gives us the opportunity to expand our bandwidth if we want to,” explained Ms. Hawkes.

According to Mr. Federspiel, the MassBroadband 123 initiative was mostly geared towards rural communities and hill towns that had no cable connectivity at all.

“Most of the town already has cable, so it wasn’t as critical for Lenox as it is for other communities,” he said. “Having said that, it’s still nice to have the fastest available highway for data and internet connection as possible.”

Posted by Dana Drugmand on May 2, 2013. Filed under Community News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry