New Wireless Gigabit Internet Connection Unveiled in Silver Spring

County Executive Ike Leggett announced the completion of the “first link” in Montgomery County’s (MD) plan to connect government buildings and local businesses to ultra-fast Internet connections. The new “ultraGig” link connects the Internet service provider Atlantech Online’s Silver Spring Data Center to the Silver Spring Innovation Center and provides the building with a 1 gigabyte per second connection -- exponentially faster than the building’s previous connection that ranged from 10 megabytes per second to 200 megabytes. The innovation center is one of four business incubators run by the county. It houses a number of local start-ups.

The move is being pitched as a first step by the county to engage in what has become a mounting arms race by municipalities across the country to provide growing businesses the fastest Internet connections possible to compete in the burgeoning tech industry. The technology, which is being developed by Washington (DC)-based FiberTower, uses small satellite-like dishes mounted on rooftops to direct pencil size beams that deliver the internet service, according to Joseph Sandri, the president of FiberTower Solutions. Sandri said the Internet service is reliable 99.999 percent of time, a much higher rate than typical Internet service providers, even those that provide connections through fiber optic cable buried underground. Another benefit, Sandri said, is that the technology doesn’t require the massive construction and labor costs that installing traditional fiber optic does because the dishes can be installed on rooftops and the connection beamed wirelessly. Leggett said the ultraGig connection costs the same price as the previous internet service the county paid for at the building.