City of Opelika, Alabama to offer residents superfast broadband

The City of Opelika, Alabama will soon be providing residents with the ability to monitor and manage their own energy consumption to help save money and make their homes greener with the help of smart grid technology from Alcatel-Lucent.

A new fiber optic network will also give residents the opportunity to access new high-quality broadband voice, data and video services, including lightning-fast Internet access, IPTV and video-on-demand services. A new high-capacity ‘Fiber-to-the-home’ (FTTH) network will bring these broadband connections to households and businesses and allow Opelika Power Services to extend the reach of its ‘smart grid’, supporting new power sensors and smart meters across the city. The new network will allow the company to dynamically monitor and measure performance across the power grid in real time, helping them more effectively manage the flow of electricity and identify and resolve problems quickly, reduce repair time for outages and minimize impact to customers. A detailed picture of customers’ energy needs will help the utility balance power supply and demand, leading to more operational efficiency, reduced waste and greener power. The use of remote sensors and smart meters will also provide savings by automating operations, enabling employees to work more efficiently and helping to minimize the risk of human error.