Eurofiber begins with large scale fiber-optic network deployment for city of Rotterdam
Eurofiber Netherlands will begin deployment in January of a large-scale, finely meshed fiber-optic network that will connect all the locations of the Rotterdam municipal authorities. Eurofiber won the European tender for the project last September. The initiative will create a single, high-quality fiber-optic network for the city. As a result, the Smart City ambitions of Rotterdam will be facilitated, while the municipal authorities achieve significant savings and make optimum use of the infrastructure already in place.
As part of the contract, Eurofiber will be supplying the municipality of Rotterdam with nearly 300 Managed Dark Fiber connections for a period of eight years. Dark Fiber refers to fiber-optic connections that are not linked to active equipment. The new fiber-optic network makes optimum use of the digital infrastructure already in place in Rotterdam. Wherever possible, the municipal fiber-optic networks, including Glazen Maas, will be re-used to optimum effect, thus minimizing the need for investments in new connections.Smart City RotterdamRotterdam is preparing the city for the future – and developing Smart City applications is a key part of that process. Essentially, Smart City solutions are about applying smart technology to urban challenges. Innovations like sensor technology, resilience, mobility solutions, 5G and big data are deployed with the aim of making the city and its residents smarter, more sustainable, and more efficient. Communication, data, information, knowledge and sharing all these things play an important role here. High-quality digital infrastructure is absolutely essential for that to happen. The open, smart, digital fiber-optic infrastructure that Eurofiber will be providing for the municipality is an important foundation on which Rotterdam can innovate.Why Eurofiber?The municipal authorities prioritized optimum availability, maximum bandwidth, and strong network security. Eurofiber can deliver all of those. In addition, the infrastructure that Eurofiber provides is open. That means that Rotterdam has complete freedom to add or alter services and applications as it sees fit. This level of autonomy is important to Rotterdam, since IT services for the city’s residents, visitors and businesses evolve constantly. The new network also offers sufficient opportunities to support the internal ambitions of the municipal clusters and departments.Social Return on Investment (SROI)Supplementing the core project, Eurofiber and the Municipality of Rotterdam will be jointly investing in the development of a number of social initiatives. These initiatives will be defined throughout the course of the collaboration.