Amarillo Connected Project Underway, Working
Closely with Impact Broadband
The City of Amarillo, Impact Broadband and Mimosa by Airspan, a
subsidiary of Airspan Networks Holdings Inc. (NYSE American: MIMO)
are teaming up to bring the project, Amarillo Connected, to life.
The goal is simple: provide low-cost broadband access to Amarillo
to bridge the digital divide and help up to 10,000 students and
low-income residents.
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the full release here:
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Amarillo, Texas (Photo: Business
Wire)
When Amarillo CIO Rich Gagnon came to Amarillo five years ago
from Palo Alto Networks, he immediately saw that a deep divide
existed between those with connectivity and those without. Amarillo
shares many of the same challenges similar to other small cities
across the US trying to provide connectivity to students and the
community. The one thing that makes Amarillo’s digital divide issue
unique is the number of refugees who add to the population.
According to the Refugee Language Project, 12,000 refugees have
settled in Amarillo and 59% of this population are enrolled in
English as a Second Language Programs. Access to education for this
portion of the community is critical for them to become a US
Citizen and contribute to the long-term growth of Amarillo’s
economy. The North Heights Neighborhood best represents the
challenges facing Gagnon and his team. “There is no broadband
available in most of this area, and where it does exist, it is
priced far above the national average,” said Gagnon. When COVID hit
Amarillo, Mayor Ginger Nelson, and City Council Member Howard Smith
kicked off Amarillo Connected, assigning Gagnon and CFO Laura
Storrs to lead the effort.
Amarillo Connected began as a series of proof-of-concept efforts
to trial various technology solutions. Amarillo Independent School
District (AISD) and Region 16 aligned with the City as part of this
effort and quickly realized that Gagnon’s vision is vital to
ensuring that students and staff have equal access to education.
Like many school districts, AISD has turned to wireless Mi-Fi
Hotspots to connect students while learning remotely, a model that
has identified “coverage gaps” and will prove to be unsustainable
long-term.
Gagnon was looking for a solution that had been proven to be
successful in similar deployments and to have the benefit of
simplicity. Part of the plan to make this network sustainable is
for the City to support the deployment, monitoring, maintenance and
repair with staff from the City or a local partner.
Mimosa by Airspan Chosen to Provide Fixed Wireless Access
(FWA) and Wi-Fi Solution
Mimosa by Airspan's Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) and Wi-Fi
solution was a clear winner, meeting the City’s detailed
requirements. Mimosa outperformed its competitors by a wide margin
– two other products were tested and rejected. Mimosa by Airspan
engineers were able to get the pilot sites up quickly. Airspan has
the only outdoor radio point-to-multi-point (PTMP) solution capable
of operating on spectrum from 4.9 GHz – 6.425 GHz.
“We chose Mimosa by Airspan for lots of reasons,” said Gagnon.
“The key reasons were simplicity of deployment, proven technology,
and their support, technology and planning resources.”
The partners are currently in the pilot phase, testing Mimosa by
Airspan equipment to optimize performance for in-home student use.
The testing has achieved symmetrical speeds of 100 Mbps (megabits
per second). The City of Amarillo is using Mimosa by Airspan A5c
Access Points and C5x radios, with plans to upgrade to Mimosa by
Airspan’s new 6 series of Wi-Fi 6E based FWA solutions in early
2022.
Based on the urgency of serving students, speed of deployment is
critical. The goal is to have 50 square miles covered by the end of
the 2021-22 school year. This includes providing in-home broadband
access in all Amarillo independent school district locations, in
addition to the approximately 10,000 students. Thousands of
students are expected to be able to access broadband for the first
time – particularly in northern Amarillo.
Helping Healthcare Professionals
Mimosa by Airspan will also provide connectivity at the new
Amarillo healthcare annex, a community healthcare center. This
includes VoIP voice solutions, and high-speed internet access for
doctors and nurses. Mimosa by Airspan will also provide fixed
wireless point-to-point (PTP) Wi-Fi-enabled connectivity at the
City’s Bomb Squad headquarters.
One of the “Best Pilot Programs” In the Nation
Gaby Rowe, Project Lead for Texas' Operation Connectivity, was
introduced to Amarillo Connected by Impact Broadband, a project
consultant for Amarillo Connected. Rowe has been actively assisting
the State of Texas negotiate technology solutions needed to support
remote learning. She has implemented several programs to reduce
costs to cities and school districts across the state, bridging the
divide to hundreds of thousands of students. “Amarillo Connected is
one of the best pilot programs of its type I have seen in the
nation,” said Rowe. “This type of infrastructure is needed to
bridge the digital divide that creates obstacles for underserved
areas.”
Application Submitted for State Funding of $100M to Cover 55
Texas Communities
Rowe has recently assisted the City in submitting an application
to the Texas Broadband Development Office for funding of up to $100
million to cover the region surrounding Amarillo, comprised of 55
communities. If successful, Amarillo Connected will transform to
Panhandle Connected. This network will add over 80 towers and 70
repeaters to the City’s network. Impact Broadband will work closely
with the City and Region 16 to ensure the network is sustainable
financially and all 53 rural communities have access to broadband.
The Region 16 Technology Services Division provides support for
internal and external clients as it strives to support state and
regional objectives. Consultation, training and continuing
technical support are offered to LEAs for local area networks,
including the Internet and videoconferencing.
Mayor Nelson feels, “Amarillo Connected is a game changer for
the entire 26 county region of the Texas Panhandle. It will bring
equitable internet services to areas that have struggled with
reliable connectivity. Whether these areas are in poorer, urban
parts of the City of Amarillo or in the rural small towns,
residents who live there urgently need our help within the city
without the infrastructure, but also those small towns where
there’s not any as well. To say I’m excited is an understatement.
Citizens having equal access to internet for education, healthcare,
banking, and civil services is a crucial component to day-to-day
life. I am incredibly proud of the team that has worked tirelessly
to build this program.”
Gagnon adds, “I am doing this to drive equity to all citizens
and force economic development that outlasts me. This network will
allow my grandchildren to innovate and make Amarillo a place people
want to raise a family, start a business or relocate to. This
project’s success is an important example of leadership in
education, non-profit, government, private sector, and citizens
working together to solve difficult challenges in our
community.”
A Digital Divide Model for US Municipalities and
States
“Amarillo Connected is a model for other municipalities and
states to use to help bridge the Digital Divide,” said Jaime Fink,
Mimosa by Airspan VP Technology, Fixed Wireless. “We are proud to
be part of this terrific project, and to use our industry-leading
Fixed Wireless Access and Wi-Fi solutions to help provide broadband
connectivity to students and their families.”
About the City of Amarillo
The City of Amarillo serves a population of over 200,000
citizens, and provides support services for rural communities
throughout the 26-county Texas Panhandle. The City operates all
services and programs with the intent to provide the best
environment for every Amarillo resident to find and achieve their
potential for greatness. Open Spaces – Endless Opportunities. For
more information, please visit www.amarillo.gov.
About Airspan
Airspan Networks Holdings Inc. (NYSE American: MIMO) is a
U.S.-based provider of groundbreaking, disruptive software and
hardware for 5G networks, and a pioneer in end-to-end Open RAN
solutions that provide interoperability with other vendors. As a
result of innovative technology and significant R&D investments
to build and expand 5G solutions, Airspan believes it is
well-positioned with 5G indoor and outdoor, Open RAN, private
networks for enterprise customers and industrial use applications,
fixed wireless access (FWA), and CBRS solutions to help mobile
network operators of all sizes deploy their networks of the future,
today. With over one million cells shipped to 1,000 customers in
more than 100 countries, Airspan has global scale. For more
information, visit www.airspan.com.
Mimosa, a subsidiary of Airspan, is the global technology leader
in wireless broadband solutions, delivering fiber-fast connectivity
to service providers and enterprise, industrial, and government
operators worldwide. Mimosa access, backhaul and client solutions
are deployed in a hybrid-fiber-wireless architecture, and
engineered for both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint
connections, across a variety of diverse applications including
residential and business high-speed internet access, surveillance,
agribusiness, education, and hospitality networking. Mimosa's
technology delivers unprecedented levels of cost-effective spectral
efficiency, allowing scarce spectrum to be concurrently and
reliably shared across networks. Mimosa was acquired in 2018 by
another subsidiary of Airspan Networks Holdings Inc. (NYSE
American: MIMO), the award-winning, leading vendor of 5G software
and hardware.
Operation Connectivity
Operation Connectivity is a statewide joint effort between
Governor Greg Abbott, the Texas Legislature, the Texas Education
Agency (TEA) and TX ESC Region 4 to enable long-term home
connectivity for Texas's 5.5 million public school students through
the provision of an e-learning device and reliable high-speed
home-based internet connections sufficient for learning.
About Impact Broadband
Impact Broadband was formed to support rural communities and
K-12 in their quests to bring digital equity to residents. Impact
Broadband is focused on equalizing education among the countries
most underserved communities. By leveraging over a decade’s worth
of experience assisting commercial carriers with large network
deployments, we ensure community leaders are looking at technology
solutions that offer a sustainable model and potential for public
and private partnerships. For more information, please visit us at
www.ImpactBroadband.net
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211213005290/en/
City of Amarillo Media Contact Jordan Schupbach
Jordan.schupbach@amarillo.gov 806-378-3549 Airspan Media Contact
Howie Waterman hwaterman@airspan.com 917-359-5505 Operation
Connectivity Media Contact Gaby Rowe gaby@growassociatesllc.com
Impact Broadband Media Contact Melissa Ashurst
melissa@impactbroadband.net 470-848-0319
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