OnLight Aurora is Gigabit Challenge Grant Recipient

Illinois Governor Quinn and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity have granted OnLight Aurora and Aurora Illinois a $1 Million grant to further develop the City of Aurora fiber optic network. One of the most robust networks in the state, this fiber optic network currently spans 50 miles of the city and will add an additional 15 miles through the grant process. OnLight Aurora will use these funds to connect the community anchor institutions of Aurora to the fiber to provide access to high speed broadband and the ability to collaborate with other organizations on the network.

These community anchor institutions include area schools, both K-12 and higher education as well as public and private, medical centers, social service agencies, arts & entertainment and businesses. In today’s economy, these connections are the fourth utility, an essential component to properly function and grow. Connection to this growing fiber network offers data center capability, and collaboration opportunities along with a highly scalable, highly competitive information technology tool. Users will then have highly available access to both voice and data network service.

OnLight Aurora is an Illinois not-for-profit with offices in Aurora Illinois serving the community by providing low cost, highly available and scalable access to the City of Aurora’s fiber optic network. Its services are designed to support and foster economic development growth and promote organizational collaboration through this network.

Illinois City Upgrades Network as Foundation for Economic Growth

Report from Cisco, 2012

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Aurora, the second largest city in Illinois, had become increasingly concerned with the costs of its unreliable network spread across 52 different buildings within 46 square miles. The network was disjointed, resulting in high fluctuations and variance in service from building to building. Aurora began to look at ways to use fiber optics — an advanced, innovative technology, to replace its older, traditional copper network. 

"Aurora’s network upgrade has resulted in a range of successes and improvements across the municipality. The consolidation of equipment and providers and integration of Cisco’s fiber network has provided an annual savings of $485,000 for the city."

These savings resonate in the current economic climate, as affirmed by Mayor Weisner, “With local governments increasingly facing limited resources, you have to be able to find efficiencies in operations.” Although the cost savings are gratifying, Beck notes that that was just the beginning: “The priority for the fiber optic network was initially cost savings; however we’re realizing that the benefits don’t end there. We’ve had some super wins with this technology, and we’re going to keep leveraging the infrastructure.” 

“Cisco’s fiber network has helped us become the 21st century version of the City of Lights: the city of light speed.”
— Mayor Tom Weisner, Mayor, City of Aurora

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This report covers how City of Aurora has integrated an advanced fiber optic network to improve government efficiencies, saving taxpayer dollars.