Ogden City Improves Operations and Public Safety Services with Comcast Business

Comcast Business today announced that Ogden City is using its Ethernet services to provide faster Internet access and high-performance connectivity between 18 municipal locations, including its City Hall, public safety headquarters, airport, five fire stations and two golf courses, as well as the city’s parks.

Founded in 1851 in the heart of Northern Utah along the Wasatch Mountains, Ogden City has deep ties to the history of U.S. commerce, formerly serving as the junction of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads. With a population of 82,825, Ogden continues to be poised for additional growth after being ranked No. 11 on Forbes’ list of Best Places for Business 2014. With this growth in mind, city officials recognized the need for an improved IT infrastructure that could support the local government’s operations and scale as needed as they strive to provide quality services for residents, including Wi-Fi access for employees and the public at city-owned properties.

Previously relying on legacy T1 lines from another provider, the city was not receiving the amount of bandwidth that various departments within the government needed to provide fast and efficient public services to local residents. Like most municipalities today, the city relied on its network and Internet access to connect departments with each other as well as their constituents. More importantly, Internet connectivity is also an important part of the city’s public safety response system, including fire dispatch and police response. For example, fire trucks that rely on cellular signals to receive emergency calls found that they were losing connectivity when they entered fire stations. Through a wireless network supported by Comcast services, those trucks now have the ability to maintain constant contact with the local dispatchers’ network, connecting via Wi-Fi instead of relying on cell service.

“By switching to Comcast, we are able to increase the amount of bandwidth available to the various departments within the city without increasing cost,” said Andy Lefgren, IT Operation Manager for Ogden City. “This allows us to not only operate more efficiently now, but also opens up a wealth of other technology initiatives that we can pursue, such as VoIP and expanded use of cloud and web services, enabling us to better serve citizens and provide them with Wi-Fi connectivity when they are at one of our public locations.”

Ogden City currently has two 100 Mbps Ethernet Dedicated Internet lines providing Internet access directly to its city hall and public safety headquarters. The city is also using an Ethernet Network Service to connect 16 other locations and to access the Internet. IT leaders have also benefited from the flexibility that Comcast Business services offer by being able to provide temporary connectivity to seasonal locations such as the city’s rodeo grounds, which are only used for two months each year.

“Comcast Business has a proven track record of supporting businesses throughout the country and provides the services customers need to help stretch their budget while using advanced technology for public services and communication,” said Paul Merritt, director, Comcast Business. “Given the reach of our network and the availability of our Ethernet services, we are in a great position to provide municipal customers with more bandwidth and improved IT flexibility at a reasonable cost.”

About Comcast Corporation:

Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is a global media and technology company with two primary businesses, Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal. Comcast Cable is the nation's largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider to residential customers under the XFINITY brand and also provides these services to businesses. NBCUniversal operates news, entertainment and sports cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, television production operations, television station groups, Universal Pictures and Universal Parks and Resorts. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.

About Comcast Cable:

Comcast Cable is the nation's largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider to residential customers under the XFINITY brand and also provides these services to businesses. Comcast has invested in technology to build an advanced network that delivers among the fastest broadband speeds, and brings customers personalized video, communications and home management offerings. Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is a global media and technology company. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.