Customer Success Story
US Ignite and Juniper Help Cities Spark Economic Growth
Across the US, often in rural, less populated regions, there are broadband deserts where only the very few and extremely affluent enjoy fast Internet. The nonprofit US Ignite works directly with these underserved communities to accelerate economic growth and unlock the area’s potential by making it possible to connect everyone to the vast richness of high-speed broadband infrastructure.
Empowered
Regions to realize economic growth and commercial opportunities through high-speed connectivity
Attracted
High-tech research and jobs to a Midwestern university with community-improved
Assisted
A small Oregon city to attract millions of dollars in venture capital and reduced vacancy rate to 7 percent
Allowed
Louisiana city to respond to residents’ emergency needs and share critical information
US Ignite works directly with those underserved communities to accelerate economic growth and unlock the area’s potential by making it possible to connect everyone to the vast richness of high-speed broadband infrastructure.
“We’re about accelerating the smart city movement throughout the world,” says Scott Turnbull, director of technology at US Ignite. “We work with partners and regional leaders to identify applications and services that are available through an advanced network that will be the most valuable for developing strategies for economic growth and community opportunities.”
An advanced high-powered network is central to US Ignite’s smart city game plan, and Juniper is its best performer. The Juniper Networks QFX5100 line of Ethernet Switches is integral to many US Ignite projects, including Digital Town Squares.
QFX5100 switches dramatically increase capacity between mid-mile and backhaul networks and last-mile broadband infrastructure deployed by ISPs so that broadband can conveniently reach community businesses, governments, and residents. The high-performance, agile, and scalable QFX5100 switches deliver 10/40GbE capacity to broadband-lacking communities. QFX5100 switches also have flexible deployment options and rich automation features.
“We’re not giving our communities a free, nameless puppy,” Turnbull says. “QFX Series switches are a proven solution that fits into their operational footprint.”
Another advantage is that the capabilities of Juniper networking encourage communities to be more creative and innovative. “Communities start thinking ‘Wow, what can I do now that I couldn’t do before?’ Juniper’s robust feature set gives them so many possibilities,” Turnbull says.
As regions recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, Turnbull sees advanced network services as an important differentiator for returning to economic health. “Network services are a fundamental technology for a world that may need to cycle through periods of isolation or quarantining as we work to find a vaccine and potentially face another future virus outbreak,” he says.
For cities without advanced networks and high-speed broadband, Turnbull says, “Capacity is a barrier and not having enough is a problem. We will always have hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters impacting our society. Having a scalable network that connects people to the services they need most is absolutely critical for us to respond in the next few years to Covid-related challenges and other future disasters that will definitely come our way.”
The Products
QFX5100
The QFX5100 line of top-of-rack 10/40GbE switches for the data center offers low latency, deployment versatility, and rich automation features. These switches provide universal building blocks for industry-standard architectures such as spine-and-leaf fabrics.
Published June 2020