DES MOINES, IA (May 27, 2015) – Iowa Network Services (INS) has brought its high speed Fiber Optic Network to businesses in Northeast Des Moines as a part of an expansion of its statewide carrier-grade network. The project connects portions of their existing fiber network in Ankeny and Des Moines with a new route along Delaware Avenue.
“Every mile of our network, and every new mile we install, is engineered with a number of redundant rings to provide industry-leading reliability,” say Will Walling, INS Vice President of Network Services. “This project allowed us to build additional rings while making the network available to businesses along the Delaware corridor.”
Before this expansion, businesses in the area, including the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities, were limited to slow Internet access via copper DSL networks.
“We used to have very slow service – 3 megabits per second (Mbps) – from another provider, and we experienced a lot of reliability issues,” says Josh Trout, Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities Information Technology Specialist. “When INS brought fiber to the area, we moved up to 200 Mbps service and haven’t noticed any reliability issues, even as they continue to expand and upgrade the fiber throughout the area.”
Equipped with Ethernet ring technology, the INS Network offers redundancy and protection to ensure that in the event there is a fiber disruption or cut, traffic is rerouted within milliseconds and customers are rarely ever aware that there was an issue. The INS Network also has redundant connectivity to three national Tier 1 Internet backbone providers.
“Our field technicians know the INS Network like the back of their hands, and they take pride in protecting it. For example, INS technicians conduct our own fiber locates and many times stay on site with the contractor until the job is complete to help guard against it being accidentally cut,” says Walling. “Sometimes, even with all of our preparation, fiber can be cut – by washouts, for instance – but we maintain connectivity because of our redundant ring network design.”
The INS Network is part of more than 5,500 miles of fiber network connecting multiple points-of-presence throughout the state; and continues to expand with projects scheduled for West Des Moines, Grimes and other Iowa communities later in 2015.
