Chattanooga Gig: Your Gig is Here.

About

Thanks to the Gig, STEM students in Chattanooga are experiencing biology and STEM like never before. Researchers at USC place live biological specimens under a Digital Cinema Microscope and capture ultra-high resolution (4k) movies of the microorganisms while simultaneously transmitting live, HD images from the microscope to students in the STEM class.

Chattanooga? As in, the Choo-Choo?

Why did we do it? In Chattanooga, we have a legacy of taking bold steps that benefit our community. When Volkswagen announced Chattanooga as its headquarters for North American manufacturing, and Amazon.com chose our city for their new distribution centers, it was a nice confirmation that we're on the right track.

But we're just getting started. Because everything we create - from infrastructure to opportunity - we build of, by and for our community.

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And we are looking for people to join us. We're open for business.

100% Fiber turns Possibilities into Potential.

Chattanooga's community-owned electric utility EPB is installing a 100% fiber to the premises network. Built to run America's first true Smart Grid and offer residential high speed Internet, video and telephone services, the network was also built to empower our community in new ways.

Because bandwidth is no problem, Chattanooga's Fiber Optic network enables upload and download speeds 200 times faster than the current national average, and 10 times faster than the FCC's National Broadband Plan (a decade ahead of schedule).

Make a Smart Move to EPB Fiber Optics.

An open platform for creating transformative products and services.

We have built an expansive, powerful, 100% fiber network. But the power isn't in the platform. The real power is in how we use it.

Our infrastructure spurs research and development of new technologies right here in the United States, and preserves American jobs.

This is the ultimate tool for entrepreneurs. For established companies looking to become game-changers. For anyone needing a system that can help test and prove ideas.

Instead of trying to guess what products and services the market will demand, we are inviting talented people to use our network to work on complex challenges.

Not one size fits all, but one platform for mass innovation, accelerated R&D, broad testing and deep creativity.

Skeptical? That might make you the kind of person we're looking for…

Skepticism of such claims is healthy and smart. But you know progress when you see it. And you want to be part of creating change that is real, meaningful and sustainable.

We believe that people matter even more than ideas, and smart people with relevant experience will take full advantage of what we've built. In ways we haven't yet imagined.

Our success depends entirely on those who get involved. It is that simple, and that powerful.

THE SMARTER SMALL CITY

A vibrant city of the Southeast, we are centrally located between Atlanta, Nashville and Knoxville, with easy access to Birmingham, Huntsville, Greenville, Augusta and Asheville.

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Chattanooga - the Scenic City - offers a full cultural calendar, museums and theater companies, semi-pro and state university sports teams. Innovative programs in the arts, sustainability and food economy. A heritage rich in charitable work. And the best outdoor recreation East of the Mississippi.

Your dollars go farther here. The cost of living in Chattanooga is well below the national average. And in Chattanooga, you join not

only Volkswagen but a network of other companies, local government, grantmaking foundations, and public interest developers who work together to support economic development, for the common good.

Chattanooga. A city without limitations. The best of big city connectivity and lifestyle, without the hassle. With Chattanooga broadband at your fingertips, you can work from anywhere. Why not choose to live in the most connected city in America?

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THE SMARTER SMART GRID

We began formulating plans for a Smart Grid network more than a decade ago, and received a stimulus grant of $111 million from the Department of Energy to accelerate our project.

Because Chattanooga's Smart Grid runs on our 100% fiber optic network, we are adding two-way communications not only at the smart meter on every home and business - but all along the grid.

Next-generation energy system promises industry improved power quality and reliability. – Industry Week

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In Other Press

1 Gig + a true Smart Grid =A Test Bed for Next Generation Technology

"The Smart Grid as we talk about it is not the smart grid [EPB is] pioneering. They're pioneering something that could be revolutionary in terms of electric generation and distribution, and that is going to become a center of excellence." – Robert Bell, Co-founder of the Intelligent Community Forum

Real world Opportunities. With real time results.

With our true Smart Grid, data is received in real time. So it can be instantly used to create a self-healing grid with new levels in power quality and reliability.

This means greatly reduced outage times. Security and efficiency measures beyond anything in the industry. Mitigating the rising cost of energy generation. Opening up new opportunities for people to manage their own energy use. And much, much more.

The Smart Grid vs. the Tornado

In the Spring of 2011, the largest tornadic storm in US history hit the Southeast, leaving tragic devastation in its path. Even though EPB’s Smart Grid has only been activated across half of the system, it demonstrated the benefits that it will bring to our community.

From every part of the system where our Smart Grid equipment has already been activated, we were able to access data that helped us determine whether there were outages.

And in many cases, the Smart Grid was able to reroute power around problems. Isolating outages and routing around it, so that companies experienced zero down time. So their business functions could remain fully operational – and so EPB could focus resources on bringing power back to other areas on the system, that needed help the most.

Fiber Means Business

Major corporations, technology firms and call centers are using our fiber to build their business. Benefiting from unlimited bandwidth, incredible speeds and local, Chattanooga-focused customer service.

Some are taking it even farther. Venture capital firm Lamp Post Group is investing in small start-up companies that have big vision, that are innovating the future. For LPG, fiber is powering smart investment by attracting creative entrepreneurs who are eager to explore what is possible with so much bandwidth. In 2012, they are launching Lamp Post Lab, bringing bright undergraduates from around the country together to explore what can be built using the world’s fastest Internet – with a $50,000 prize for the best idea to get started.