State Grant Will Support New Fiber Optic Network for Stow Town Offices

STOW — The Town of Stow will be connecting town and school departments via a fiber optic network thanks to a $135,000 state grant.

The new network will connect the following sites: Town Building, Police Department, Fire Department, Public Safety Building, Old Town Hall, Randall Library, Community Center, Municipal Garage, West School Museum and Pine Bluff Recreation Area, as well as Hale School and Center School.

The fiber optic municipal area network’s passive optical design is designed to support transmission of all communications applications on the network including voice and data, security systems, surveillance systems, audio visual systems, wireless edge applications, public safety alarm and radio frequency transmissions, extended LAN networks, building control systems, SCADA applications and all other communications systems.

The town-owned network means Stow government will no longer need to rely entirely on external developers and private internet service providers. Also, this opens the possibility for StowTV to increase its ability to film and broadcast local programming and continue to inform the community.

The $135,002 grant was awarded by the state Executive Office for Administration and Finance. The Community Compact Municipal Fiber grant program assists municipal agencies in improving technology infrastructure to close gaps in their local networks.

“Thank you to the Healey-Driscoll Administration for its continued support of small communities,” Town Administrator Denise Dembkoski said. “These changes will allow us to maintain greater control over our digital present, especially involving sensitive information we need to collect.”