CREATING A GIGAcity

A local Internet company is working to improve the Internet infrastructure of northern Nevada by creating GIGAcity Nevada.

GIGAcity Nevada offers fiber and microwave Internet technology that will provide reliable wireless connectivity to multi-tenant buildings and residential homes. GIGAcity Nevada is a service of SkyFiber Internet, a Nevada Internet company that has been in business for 17 years.

The service can provide Internet speeds up to 1,000 MB per second. They buy fiber that is already installed and tap into nearby “lit buildings,” or buildings that already have fiber optic capability, to connect businesses to fiber without having to install new fiber infrastructure.

“We have so much more flexibility once you go wireless,” Sean Duff with Gigacity Nevada said.

The fiber and microwave act as backups for each other so that the users will have reliable Internet. They can get their customers’ Internet up and working within a couple of days or two weeks at the longest.

“Once you move in, it’s live,” David Peissner, carrier coordinator for GIGAcity Nevada, said.

Typically, it can take as much as 120 days to get fiber Internet service to a building that does not have the infrastructure.

They are working with a verity of partners including Switch to make GIGAcity Nevada a reality.

Peissner and Duff started developing the GIGAcity Nevada concept six months ago based on the need for better Internet infrastructure in northern Nevada.

We started this model “out of frustration because no one is doing it,” Duff said.

Google has created a similar model with their Google fiber, which is being implemented in other cities across the United States such as San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and Kansas City, Kan., to name a few. However, to wait for Google to bring Google fiber to Nevada would take years.

“Nevada is not even on the roadmap,” Duff said.

Broadband networks are no longer a luxury. They have become a necessity in the business world. Peissner and Duff explained, that with all the new companies coming to the region they will need more bandwidth, which will require a strong infrastructure. If the region cannot handle the Internet capability that existing and new businesses need this could deter companies from doing business in northern Nevada.

“It is sad that this area is not up to speed,” Duff said.

The need for wireless and fiber broadband networks and the increase of companies settling in northern Nevada provided an opportune time to rollout GIGAcity Nevada.

They are still early in the process but have already connected one business with this model and they have a few more in the works. Duff and Peissner did not disclose prices but said they will be very competitive in the current market.

“It is going to be very disruptive,” Duff said.

They differ from other telecommunications and Internet providers in the area because they only focus on Internet connectivity and not phone or television.

“This is our core business, bringing big data to other companies,” Duff said.

They plan to offer GIGAcity Nevada statewide and if successful they may even take the business national. They are also trying to set up a coalition to get telecommunication companies to work together and create better connectivity throughout Nevada.

“One player is not going to get the job done,” Peissner said.

SkyFiber Internet has about a dozen employees and is located 8975 Double Diamond Parkway, Suite 9. They plan to roll out GIGAcity Nevada for businesses in the next couple of weeks and for residential in June. For more information, go to gigacitynevada.com.