Magellan Advisors and the City of Hillsboro Bring New Fiber To 40 Local Schools
Denver, CO, November 09, 2020 – In a time when schools, students, teachers and administrators need access to broadband more than ever, Hillsboro School District is now connected to its new locally-owned fiber network with nearly limitless capacity. As part of the 2017 Hillsboro School District Bond, the Hillsboro School District partnered with the City of Hillsboro to build a fiber network to connect all schools and facilities together. This network provides fast, reliable Internet access at all sites as well the infrastructure for security systems, telephone services and other essential communications systems for the District.
In 2017, Magellan Advisors was selected by the City to engineer and manage construction of this 70-mile joint use fiber network that would connect all schools to high-capacity, redundant fiber while creating a platform for fiber to the home broadband across the City. Magellan worked collaboratively with the City and School District to assess their needs and lay the foundation for a citywide fiber network that would meet both organizations’ requirements – fiber interconnecting all schools and a fiber to the home architecture to support broadband to 100% of homes and businesses. “It was very important to us to understand both organizations’ requirements since we were designing a network that would provide both broadband connectivity and direct fiber access to schools. Magellan Advisors’ engineering team had numerous meetings, design reviews and presentations with both organizations to make sure we were building this network to meet the diverse needs of Hillsboro’s community,” mentioned John Honker, president of Magellan Advisors.
In early 2019, Magellan Advisors finished the engineering design and together with the City, procured the construction contractor for deployment of the network. To ensure that the network was built to the specifications of the design and that the community at large was protected, Magellan Advisors lead construction management and inspections on behalf of the City. Magellan Advisors’ team of onsite inspectors and construction managers gave the City resources to oversee construction, manage field changes and keep the overall project on track. This alleviated the need for the City to staff personnel internally, as Magellan Advisors’ staff provided an entire team with deep municipal fiber construction experience.
Today, Hillsboro’s schools are realizing the benefits of being connected to nearly limitless bandwidth. “By partnering with the City of Hillsboro and its fiber to the home project, we are both able to cooperatively share the planning and costs of such a major endeavor. This investment in infrastructure will provide the district and City with self-sufficient internet access for decades to come” stated representatives from the District.
About Magellan Advisors
Magellan Advisors provides planning, engineering, grant development, implementation and management of the fastest, most technologically advanced fiber and broadband networks.
Our mission is to connect every community, one at a time, to the digital economy so that no one is left behind. Our work ensures that communities are able to access every opportunity the internet has to offer so they can thrive in the connected world.
We work for municipalities, utilities, co-ops and regional governments but serve any organization that is building fiber and broadband infrastructure.