Laura Freeman, Hudson Hub-Times – Velocity Broadband, the city’s Internet utility, is moving faster than expected, and city officials asked for Council to approve two resolutions Oct. 6 to meet the increasing demand.

“It’s moving faster than we thought,” said City Manager Jane Howington. “Demand has been much greater than we thought.”

Council members unanimously approved a resolution for a contract with Great Lakes Data Systems for the purchase and implementation of broadband management softwarefor $132,415.

City Manager Jane Howington said staff had thought they could track the first few customers for the Velocity Broadband but the city expects to exceed its goal of 50 customers by the end of the year.

The software manages clients and keeps track of every item, Howington said. The software meets the standards of the industry and can handle any number of clients in the first year.

Assistant City Manager Frank Comeriato said the city needs the management software to meet Council’s instructions not to hire more staff.

“We won’t be able to manage the broadband without the software,” Comeriato said. “We are at a point we need to get that data into our system. It’s valuable for the client and account management.”

The software allows the city to manage the new utility without hiring staff, Howington said. Because its meets industry standards, it can be modified to other systems if necessary.

“Implementation is crucial in the first year,” said Council President Hal DeSaussure. “We have to do what we say we can do.”

Not only are there more customers interested, one of the customers is already asking for a higher bandwidth.

The city didn’t want to pay for the increase in bandwidth capacity until it was necessary which led to the second resolution to amend a contract with Lightower Fiber Networks Inc. to increase the bandwidth capability for Velocity Broadband services. The city would pay $2,600 per month instead of $1,000 per month.

Council passed both resolutions unanimously.

Read the original article here.