As 2025 comes to a close, we want to reflect on the major projects completed that strengthened the state's digital backbone, ensuring faster, more reliable, and secure connectivity for Iowans.
Essential Connections: Historical Building & Redundancy
In a shining example of public-private partnership, ICN rapidly deployed the Granite EPIK cellular solution at the State Historical Building in March after a vendor outage disrupted connections.
- Impact: This swift action kept critical services like elevators and fire alarms operational, preventing an estimated 63 hours of staff overtime for manual monitoring.
- Future Resilience: New EPIK deployments now feature a highly redundant setup: one fiber connection plus two cellular SIM cards from separate providers, creating a three-tiered connection for state facilities.
Boosting Statewide Speed and Efficiency
ICN made key upgrades to deliver high-performance, low-latency connectivity across Iowa.
- Omaha IX Peering: We joined the Omaha IX Internet Exchange. This move allows ICN to connect directly with major cloud and content providers (like Google and AWS). Resulting in faster speeds and improved performance for K-12 schools, higher education, public safety, and government.
- Network Equipment Upgrade: We continue the process of upgrading key aggregation sites across the state, replacing 1Gb connections with 10Gb equipment. With 91 sites already complete, this upgrade future-proofs the network and ensures it can handle rising demands from emerging technologies.
Securing Our Infrastructure
Protecting the network's foundation was a major focus this year.
- Fiber Relocation: Due to the demolition of the Wallace State Office Building, ICN executed a complex, multi-phase project to reroute critical fiber optic connections that ran through the structure. This ensured seamless continuity of service for agencies across the Capitol Complex.
- BOREAS Partnership (2026 Completion): ICN is collaborating with the BOREAS Network to establish a new 100-gigabit path to the cloud in Chicago. This partnership provides additional diversity and resilience, further strengthening ICN's access to major content providers.
- Capitol Complex HVAC Upgrade: ICN completed a vital HVAC (cooling) upgrade at the Lucas State Office Building switch room. Properly sized, new cooling units replace aging systems, securing the State's critical network equipment and preventing overheating and service disruptions.
Highlighting Critical Infrastructure
We launched a new critical infrastructure webpage to better communicate our Network's role as the Stateβs fiber-optic critical infrastructure backbone. This resource highlights the essential services ICN provides, connecting communities and ensuring access to vital digital resources for all Iowans.
The infrastructure investments and successful partnerships of 2025 ensure our statewide fiber optic network is more robust and ready to support the State's digital needs than ever before.