American Fiber Systems, a Saint Paul high capacity bandwidth provider (http://www.americanfibersystems.com/), has supplied the broadband capabilities to fulfill the City of Saint Paul's "Safe City Initiative." Powered by AFS's Minneapolis/Saint Paul fiber optic network (http://www.americanfibersystems.com/), the community's program promises to ensure lower crime rates and improve quality of life.
In partnership with the Target Corporation, the City of Saint Paul invested $1.5 million into its Safe City Initiative, offering video surveillance along the main transit route in the
community. The surveillance runs from University Avenue at the border of Minneapolis to the future sight of the Light Rail Building in the Downtown Depot of Saint Paul.
"Since this is for the safety of our residents, we had to pick the most reliable company--someone we knew we could depend on and stand behind," said Cmdr. Doug Holtz, City of Saint Paul
Police Department. "That's where AFS came in."
Video surveillance requires much higher bandwidth --often 600% more--than a still picture connection. The bandwidth required to support IP video surveillance increases the significance of
the fundamental fiber infrastructure.
AFS works with enterprise and civic organizations to create connectivity solutions - from custom fiber optic networks (http://www.americanfibersystems.com/) to high capacity managed services (http://www.americanfibersystems.com/). The AFS network enables bandwidth-intensive applications like the video surveillance for the Safe City
Initiative, providing secure, reliable, and scalable networks.
"It is an honor that the City of Saint Paul has decided to rely on AFS for a project of such importance," said Mike D'Angelo, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, American Fiber
Systems. "Savvy customers recognize that the people who support the underlying network are as critical to the project as the infrastructure itself."
The major grant from Target Corporation allowed for the development, installation and maintenance of the program's system in the heart of the City of Saint Paul. Thirty-five pole-mounted
cameras along the 13-mile route will communicate directly to police districts, enabling real-time crime detection and allowing for thorough criminal investigations.
For more information about the City of Saint Paul, visit www.stpaul.gov.
About City of Saint Paul Central Corridor Project/Safe City Initiative
A public/private partnership between the City of Saint Paul, Saint Paul Police Department (SPPD) and area businesses to build trust, share information and leverage technology to deter and
reduce crime in Saint Paul. Safe City has been successful in Minneapolis and other major metro areas including Boston, Fresno, Cincinnati and Flint Township (MI).
About American Fiber Systems
American Fiber Systems, a leader in St. Paul optical broadband (http://www.americanfibersystems.com/) and Minneapolis/St. Paul fiber
optical networks (http://www.americanfibersystems.com/), (AFS, www.AmericanFiberSystems.com (http://www.americanfibersystems.com/)) provides metropolitan
fiber optical networking infrastructure, dark fiber and transport services to carriers and large enterprises. AFS enables its customers to easily and reliably connect to a city's most
important points of communications presence, including ILEC central offices and wire centers; CLEC PoPs; Internet Service Provider (ISP) and data center locations; Inter-exchange
"carrier-hotels"; wireless providers and cable company head ends; and Fortune 1000 companies. AFS has deployed more than 1,200,000 miles of high-capacity, high-bandwidth metropolitan
fiber optic cable since 2000 in several cities, including Atlanta, Ga.; Boise, Idaho; Cleveland, Ohio; Kansas City, Kan./Mo.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minn.; Nashville,
Tenn.; Reno, Nev.; and Salt Lake City, Utah. AFS has more than 500 capacity enabled on-net buildings and supports an addressable market teledensity of more than $9 billion in annualized
telecommunications services. AFS is a privately held venture-backed company.