City Builds Municipal Fiber Ring

HOMESTEAD, Fl. -- The City of Homestead broke ground on Tuesday, October 28 on construction of its citywide redundant fiber optic ring. The ring will allow the city’s managing partner in the venture, Latam Smartpark (Latam) to create the largest metro intranet in the state, comprising of city government, educational institutions, hospitals, businesses and residences.

“This ring will allow for a variety of technology dependent businesses to come into our community,” said Councilman Porter, who is also Chairman of the Economic Development Committee. “As always, our goal is for more businesses to relocate to Homestead. This is a big step towards achieving that goal.”

Latam, an integrated communications provider based in Homestead, has teamed with worldwide leaders in active Ethernet networks and local developers to begin the largest fiber-to-the-home in South Florida. The company expects to have approximately 6,000 homes wired with fiber in South Dade alone over the next few years.

"Fiber-to-the-home is a next-generation reliable and scalable network that gives Latam the capacity to provide our customers with reliable access to services including high definition digital video, Video on Demand, Ultra high-speed data, Alarm Services, Home education and full feature telephony on one bill at a highly competitive price," said Roman Martinez, CEO, Latam Smartpark. "As the demand for content continues to evolve, companies that have optical networks will have the highest level of readiness and reliability to accommodate consumer demand. That is a big advantage for residents of Homestead."

"Equally important," Martinez added, "Our technology is proven. Our technology partner’s software manages the largest deployment of its king in the world with over 500,000 subscribers, which will ensure the quality of service that people have dreamed about from their telephone and cable companies”

Latam has shown its commitment for the area by building a state-of-the art teleport in the city and beginning construction on its new headquarters inside the Homestead Foreign Trade Zone. The Foreign Trade Zone will be the first independent smart business community in the state in which city residents will have 100 MB connection into their offices from anyware inside the City connected to the area wide intranet.

"The expansion of Latam's fiber network should enhance the company's long range revenue potential. The almost unlimited bandwidth of fiber creates a platform for future services that should afford the company a market leading position. Without costly upgrades to the network and its electronics, a multitude of services can be rapidly and efficiently delivered to customers," said Jose Rios, President, The Broadband Associates, a technology and telecommunications consulting firm. "A fiber optic network, such as the one being built by the City of Homestead, is about as close to 'future proof' as possible. While we expect services, capacity, and integration requirements to evolve, I see fiber's bandwidth, high reliability, and low operational costs as an important and strategic investment."

The City is also counting on its new communication capabilities to help attract businesses to the area’s Foreign Trade Zone and its Park of Commerce for industrial and High Tech development. “ We have talked in the past with several companies who were looking to relocate and who demanded reliable broadband connectivity-which we never had- and now will have that” said Mark Coopersmith, director of information technology for Homestead.

LatAm Fiber Inc.