Supporting industry-leading fiber-optic innovation

The foundation

EPB relies on HxGN NetWorks, Hexagon’s flexible and integration-ready geospatial asset management solution. EPB’s systems are built on HxGN NetWorks Core, the platform on which all HxGN NetWorks products are based, and HxGN NetWorks Comms, an advanced telecommunications GIS. With HxGN NetWorks, EPB was also able to finish its 1 Gig fiber expansion project in two years, eight years ahead of the projected 10-year timeline.

The impact

According to a study conducted by The University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, the Greater Chattanooga area has seen a $2.7 billion impact from EPB’s fiber service, including nearly 10,000 jobs and a 55% annual reduction in outages since the implementation of its smart grid.

EPB attributes Chattanooga’s burgeoning economic development activities to this impact, with many high-tech industries moving to the area because of the fiber optic network. It said more than 40% of the jobs added during the study period resulted from those industries.

EPB has no plans to stop at 25 Gig service. It is currently implementing a five-year, $70 million project to upgrade its core network capacity to 100 Gig service to keep Chattanooga on the cutting edge, and Hexagon will help it get there.

“Hexagon is the foundation of our networks. The connectivity that’s provided within those models in the NetWorks product is what’s transitioned to the other systems, whether it’s the outage management system, demand management or the provisioning systems for the fiber customers. Everything really begins with the Hexagon products.”

Jason Sauls

Business Systems Engineer

EPB