Montgomery County Moving at the Speed of Ideas

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett was joined by County Councilmember Hans Riemer to announce the partnership between USA Fiber and White Oak data center Bytegrid, which represents a new milestone in the creation of the Ashburn Fiber Express. The Ashburn Fiber Express is a key component of Leggett’s ultraMontgomery Broadband Economic Program.  ultraMontgomery will create faster, more reliable, fiber connections for Montgomery County and Maryland data centers, businesses, and research institutions to reach major data centers in Virginia. 

USA Fiber’s low-latency, direct fiber route, built underneath the Potomac River, will connect Bytegrid, a preeminent data center within the County, to a 7-mile ring of more than 30 data centers in Ashburn, Va. Ashburn is the data center hub for all Internet traffic and “cloud services” on the East Coast. More than 90% of all East Coast Internet routes use one of the 10,000 Internet connection points in Ashburn.

“Internet connectivity and network infrastructure enable our economy to move at the speed of our ideas,” said Leggett. “Using the improved fiber connectivity provided by USA Fiber’s Ashburn Express, Bytegrid can offer the opportunity for federal agencies, research institutions, and large businesses in Montgomery County to have the convenience of installing and accessing equipment locally; the security of using a federal information security standard-compliant facility; and the ease of connectivity to other data centers.” 

A shorter, direct fiber route to Ashburn could lower broadband networking costs, reduce latency by 25%, improve network reliability, enhance speed and network security, and add critical path diversity to Ashburn for all entities in the Montgomery County-Baltimore-Northeast U.S. corridor. Local businesses and fiber providers, accessing USA Fiber’s Ashburn Express, will have another option to provide a diverse route for their communications, ensuring continuous access to the Internet.  

“With support from my Council colleagues and the County Executive, I have been working hard to make digital infrastructure a higher priority for Montgomery County,” said, Councilmember Hans Riemer. “This great initiative shows what can happen when you get the right people around the table. I congratulate the County Executive for this new fiber network partnership, which will make our data networks more competitive and strengthen our economic position in the region. I look forward to keeping the momentum going on our broadband strategy.” 

With this new Bytegrid-USA Fiber partnership, and the opening of the USA Fiber Ashburn Express in September, this public-private partnership requires minimal investment of public funds; it will provide state-of-art ultra high-speed service; and it will make gigabit Internet connectivity better in Montgomery County than in Fairfax.

Economic Benefits of a Direct Montgomery County-Ashburn Fiber Route Include:

• Bolstering knowledge-based economy.
• Stimulating job growth in “Advanced Industries.”
• Enhancing the competitiveness of private and public sector employers.
• Bridging the gap in Internet traffic flow between key data centers in Ashburn, Va. and business centers in Maryland.
• Promoting Montgomery County and the State of Maryland as a hub for technology innovation.

The ultraMontgomery program, a key component of Leggett’s 6-Point Economic Plan, is designed to grow and attract the knowledge-based businesses that rely on ultra-high speed broadband networks. When the County’s East County Fiber Highway opens in 2017, businesses near the County’s FiberNet infrastructure and the Maryland Inter-County Broadband Network can use the County’s fiber as an “on-ramp” to USA Fiber’s Ashburn Express and to Bytegrid and other data centers within the County.

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Release ID: 16-439
Media Contact: Ohene Gyapong 240-777-6507