Author: Kathy Siebrasse

October 18, 2021

Scenes from “Meet in the Middle” at The Utility Expo

iFiber was a proud sponsor and participant in Planet Underground’s “Meet in the Middle” at The Utility Expo Sept. 28-30, in Louisville, KY. Planet Underground’s mission is simple: Be the spark that powers change in underground utility damage prevention. One of the ways it acts to accomplish its mission is to produce peer-to-peer learning events such as The Jobsite and The Roundtable. Both of these popular events were held at The Utility Expo. Planet Underground is a knowledge sharing organization whose primary focus is underground utility damage prevention. It offers media and networking events that provide valuable peer-to peer learning experiences. Damage prevention is the responsibility of excavators and underground utility owners. As an underground utility owner, iFiber is dedicated to damage prevention and in continuation with iFiber’s partnership with JULIE, Inc., it supports Planet Underground’s mission. JULIE is a non-profit corporation dedicated to keeping Illinois safe and connected.

iFiber’s Samantha Zamudio and Jen Uridil-Dolman at The Utility Expo.
Jen Dolman with Matt Streets and Mike Parilac from Planet Underground. This was Mike’s last event before he retires – congratulations Mike!
iFiber’s Jen Dolman participates in a RoundTable Live Discussion with representatives from INTREN, Pipeview America, and Badger Day Lighting. The topic was “Who doesn’t view damage prevention as a public safety issue?”
Jen Dolman with Fred Krienbrink – City of Naperville Electric & JULIE Board Member, Matt Turk – INTREN & former JULIE Board Member, and Josh Turk – Traffic Management.
iFiber’s Jen Dolman at an outdoor exhibit.
Representatives from USIC, Stake Center Locating, Texas 811, and Tennessee 811 discussing “Utility damage statistics: leading or misleading?” at a RoundTable Live Discussion.
August 27, 2021

iFiber Participates in The Utility Expo Sept. 28-30

iFiber is a proud sponsor and participant in Planet Underground’s “Meet in the Middle” at The Utility Expo Sept. 28-30, in Louisville, KY. Planet Underground’s mission is simple: Be the spark that powers change in underground utility damage prevention. One of the ways it acts to accomplish its mission is to produce peer-to-peer learning events such as The Jobsite and The Roundtable. Both of these popular events will be held The Utility Expo.

Planet Underground is a knowledge sharing organization whose primary focus is underground utility damage prevention. It offers media and networking events that provide valuable peer-to peer learning experiences. Damage prevention is the responsibility of excavators and underground utility owners.  Planet Underground believes communication, planning and cooperation between the two sides can go a long way, but that education is an important key in damage prevention. “Detection and avoidance” are one in the same and Planet Underground educates owners and excavators through video, print, live broadcast, and face-to-face gatherings.

As an underground utility owner, iFiber is dedicated to damage prevention and in continuation with iFiber’s partnership with JULIE, Inc., it supports Planet Underground’s mission. JULIE is a non-profit corporation dedicated to keeping Illinois safe and connected. It offers message processing and damage prevention education service for the safety and protection of underground facilities and the community. JULIE Inc. neither owns nor marks any underground utility lines.

To maximize protection from excavation damage, owners and excavators need to understand in a general way how utility systems work, what they are built of, how they appear above the surface, how they are mapped, the science behind detection technologies and the variables that impact accurate designation from the surface. The term “excavators” encompasses a wide-ranging group of companies and individuals, many which are never going to know this information. However, a majority of JULIE, Inc. one-call notifications are generated by owners and companies working for owners. Owners need knowledge of all utility systems, not just their system. The largest percentage of underground utility damages consist of an owner striking another owner.

iFiber is proud to be a sponsor in Planet Underground’s “Meet in the Middle” at The Utility Expo in Kentucky this September and hopes to see you there! For registration information, visit https://www.planetunderground.tv/meet-in-the-middle-planet-underground-at-the-utility-expo-2021/.

August 11, 2021

Call JULIE Before You Dig!

Whether it’s 811 Day or any other day, remember to call JULIE! Nearly 2 in 5 Illinois homeowners will put themselves, their families, and their communities at risk by digging without contacting @JULIE1call first. Always Call 811 before you dig to avoid service disruptions and damages to buried utilities.
April 6, 2021

Broadband Essential to Economy

Strong, reliable broadband networks like iFiber’s have been key to keeping the U.S. connected for more than a decade. The COVID-19 pandemic has proven even more broadband’s essential role in local, national and global economies. Details on a new survey of economic development experts about the value of broadband and digital technology as development tools, are featured in Broadband Communities magazine: https://www.bbcmag.com/…/broadband-essential-to-post…

March 26, 2021

New Members Serve iFiber, Ventures Boards

Four new board members joined the boards for iFiber and Illinois Fiber Ventures (iFiber’s for-profit arm) in January 2021. Joining were: Kevin A. Catlin, Boone County Administrator, who is serving as iFiber’s Vice Chairman; Todd Hughes, Information Technology Director for the City of Rockford, who joined both boards and serves as Vice Chair of the Fiber Ventures board; Jay Jorgensen, Co-Founder and COO of eX2 Technology, LLC, who joined the Illinois Fiber Ventures board, serving as Secretary/Treasurer; and Ray Montelongo, founder and president of Montel Technologies, who joined the Ventures board. Read more about the new members, along with their colleagues, on the iFiber Leadership & Board page.

March 1, 2021

iFiber helps connect COVID-19 vaccination site

iFiber recently worked with SwedishAmerican Health System in Rockford, IL, to establish a COVID-19 vaccination site at Loves Park City Hall. Because both entities are on the iFiber network, when SwedishAmerican requested an immediate connection between the two locations, iFiber was able to establish service within three hours.

The collaboration between Loves Park and SwedishAmerican came about through the support of Greg Jury, Mayor of Loves Park, who also is a member of SwedishAmerican’s Board of Directors. The Loves Park COVID-19 vaccination site is capable of serving 450 patients per day.

“SwedishAmerican has been extremely fortunate to partner with iFiber while setting up and running our COVID-19 vaccine site. Scheduling and documenting several hundreds of vaccinations each day is a monumental task that requires coordination in many areas. Thanks to iFiber, we’ve been able to run the clinic with extreme proficiency, which allows us to give our patients the best care possible,” said Roger Crook, President of TriRivers Health Partners, LLC, a joint I.T. venture of FHN and SwedishAmerican Health System.

iFiber is proud to have helped in the rapid response to establish this important COVID-19 vaccination site. The collaboration highlights the benefit of iFiber’s community-focused fiber initiatives and the agile emergency response capabilities the network provides.

A division of UW Health, SwedishAmerican is dedicated to providing excellence in healthcare and compassionate care to the community. The organization serves residents of 12 counties in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin through a dedicated and caring staff, a major acute care hospital and a free-standing outpatient cancer center in Rockford, a medical center in Belvidere, a network of 30 primary care and multi-specialty clinics, and one of the region’s largest home healthcare agencies. For more information visit www.SwedishAmerican.org.

iFiber Continues Core Modernization Project

Illinois Fiber Resources Group (iFiber) continually works to provide the best possible platform for Internet service providers and community anchor institutions. The latest project in this effort is the upgrade of the core backbone devices of the network.

iFiber has procured a new platform for the core ring of the network, in cooperation with the iFiber equipment manufacturer Ciena. This new platform increases the bandwidth between core nodes through native 100 Gbps ports with expansion capability to 200 Gbps. In addition, this device provides more 10 Gbps ports available to customers.

iFiber has five core sites, and is nearing completion of the third core device upgrade. The remaining two core sites are anticipated to be completed in May, 2021. Customers, including Internet service providers, will be notified at least two weeks in advance of the remaining core upgrades. Please note that only certain customers in the area will be directly impacted by these core upgrades. Notifications also will be sent to a broader range of customers that, while unlikely, may experience a service interruption. The notifications will provide information on the likelihood of interruption.

iFiber is proud to continue offering an open-access fiber option to serve communities working with our service provider partners. iFiber is dedicated to its commitment to meeting ever-changing communication needs now and into the future.