The Iowa Communications Network (ICN), the state-owned, fiber optic infrastructure, announces the successful completion of technology upgrades in three regions of Iowa. This aggregation upgrade involved enhancing specific locations with a dedicated 10Gb connection. The improvements are designed to safeguard essential infrastructure, ensuring redundancy and meeting the increasing bandwidth needs of users in public safety, healthcare, government, and education.
ICN's engineering team improved the following rural sites by installing new equipment in segments, completing a ‘daisy-chain’ approach:
- In Central and Northeast Iowa there are four (4) aggregation sites upgraded between Highway 20 and Interstate 80. The locations include Newton, Marshalltown, Grundy Center, and Waterloo.
- In Northeast Iowa there are six (6) aggregation sites upgraded at the locations of Tiffin, Cedar Rapids, Vinton, Independence, Oelwein, and Calmar.
- In South Central Iowa there are four (4) aggregation sites upgraded between Interstate 80 and Highway 34. The locations include Newton, Pella, Oskaloosa, and Ottumwa.
The site-by-site upgrade also enables the use of existing and unused, or "spare," fiber strands that were already part of the Network backbone.
The equipment hardware is being upgraded from 24x1Gb connections to 24x10Gb connections as part of a broader Network upgrade that will affect 156 aggregation locations. These upgrades are designed to future-proof the network and ensure it can handle the increasing demands of emerging technologies, like the previously completed 100Gb core upgrade.
In June 2022, ICN began rolling out this network upgrade for a 10Gb converged aggregation network across the state, utilizing its 3,400 miles of owned fiber optic infrastructure. Equipment deployed at the sites will allow for Ethernet and IP services to pass through the Network on a redundant and resilient infrastructure. To date, ICN has successfully installed the new aggregation equipment at 62 locations. Additionally, there are 15 more sites where installations are underway at different stages. Looking forward, there are plans to upgrade approximately 79 more sites.
More information can be found on ICN’s website at icn.iowa.gov.