Actelis Networks Thursday announced it is keeping traffic running smoothly in California’s state’s capital with its Ethernet over copper solutions. Like many cities in the U.S. looking to install new IP-based traffic controllers and cameras that improve road safety and reduce traffic congestion, the City of Sacramento needed to first upgrade its legacy telecommunications network to provide more sophisticated monitoring and control capabilities. By deploying Actelis’ Ethernet over copper products, Sacramento leveraged the city’s existing copper infrastructure to deliver fiber-like performance.
Sacramento’s new IP-based cameras are connected to Actelis’ intelligent Ethernet access products. They already are helping the citizens – although in ways they may not be aware. For example, if a traffic signal fails, technicians at the city’s Traffic Operations Center are now notified much faster, making repairs quicker and more cost effective.
“These systems are going to be invisible to the public,” said Shad Bennett, head of traffic engineering and operations for the City of Sacramento. “It’s all about efficiency and detection. Technicians can now tune the timing of the signals in response to changing conditions in order to optimize traffic flow and minimize congestion. The system’s sophisticated monitoring and control capabilities are also attracting interest of other agencies within the district.”
This ability to optimize traffic flow is crucial, according to Bennett, because congestion has increased enormously in the Sacramento area over the last decade. Actelis’ Traffic/ITS solution is resulting in decreased time on the road and traffic congestion, which is helping to reduce the city’s carbon footprint since cars are not idling as long.
Actelis’ Traffic/ITS solution delivered the necessary bandwidth over Sacramento’s extensive outdoor copper infrastructure, according to Eric Vallone, vice president of marketing at Actelis. “For cities like Sacramento, this is a huge advantage, because it means they can leverage the investment in their copper infrastructure to extend their existing Ethernet LAN across the whole district of jurisdiction,” he said.
In a press statement, Actelis said its Traffic/ITS and video surveillance applications are a fit for President Obama’s Universal Broadband Plan, as well as funding options, which will be made available as a result of initiatives passed during last November’s elections. These government funds will be limited to supporting infrastructure buildouts and upgrades for traffic improvement.
In addition, the U.S. Conference of Mayors recently released the second in its series of reports on infrastructure projects that are “ready to go” in cities across the nation. Commonly known as the “Main Street Mayors Report,” they define these as projects that can be started quickly after funding is received and generate the significant numbers of jobs that are needed to strengthen the economies of our metro areas and our nation as a whole. According to the report issued in December, more than 400 cities of all sizes in all regions of the country claim there are nearly 11,400 infrastructure projects “ready to go.” These projects represent an infrastructure investment of more than $73 billion that would be capable of producing an estimated 847,000 jobs in 2009 and 2010.
As Actelis’ Charles Clawson, director of enterprise sales, who is working closely with Sacramento, Roseville and other government agencies across the country, points out: “Cities are waking up to the fact that they can easily and economically deploy new IP-based services over their existing copper-based networks, which in turn can make their cities safer, more efficient, and even greener. Most metropolitan areas have tens of miles of fiber in the ground, but can leverage their thousands of miles of copper,” added Clawson. “We believe that California’s capital is a great example of how cities can implement President Obama’s proposed Universal Broadband Plan and Main Street economic recovery program.”