A few years ago, Thompson accompanied then-Gov. Mike Leavitt on a trade mission to California's technology-rich Silicon Valley, hoping to lure high-paying jobs to Utah. Thompson says several company representatives approached him, only to quickly walk away.
"As soon as they heard we had only one fiber-optic line, discussion quickly ended," he sighed.
Today, Comcast marks completion of a $1.5 million fiber-optic project, finally giving Logan two of the high-capacity lines so critical to telecommunications services ranging from digital television and telephones to broadband Internet and highspeed business data transfers.
The fiber cable, strung roughly 20 miles from the west, over the Wellsville Mountains, to Logan, is a public-private collaboration. Comcast spent more than $1 million, while the state's Board of Business and Economic Development and Logan city and community sources split the remaining $500,000.
The Comcast fiber optics join existing lines installed by competitor Qwest Communications in the early 1990s through Sardine Canyon, south of Logan. While not truly redundant - the lines are separate entities, and will not automatically switch to each other - the new project does provide users with a second, backup option.
That, Thompson says, should boost renewed efforts to lure good-paying, high-tech jobs to northern Utah's Cache Valley. It also could mean potentially millions of dollars in grants for Utah State University researchers, who can now be assured of backup service if their primary line fails at the height of an experiment or data processing run.
"It's critical for us," said M.K. Jeppesen, USU's vice president for information technology. "Our Innovations Campus [a research park] is very dependent upon that [backup] ability in attracting new tenants. We have lost one or two potential occupants due to not having a redundancy of fiber optic cable."
Lack of a second fiber-optic system reportedly was a factor in hundreds of jobs lost when Sorenson Vision closed down in 2001 and, in May of this year, Spillman Technologies announced it was moving its headquarters to Salt Lake City.
Sandra Emile, president and CEO of the Cache Chamber of Commerce, said completion of the Comcast fiber line likely saved another 500 jobs for Logan, She added that two other companies - which she declined to identify - had considered relocating if a second system was not put in place.
"This was one of the principle things we identified as holding back development and growth of technologically-based businesses in our community," Emile said.
Comcast, pointing to a news conference planned for this afternoon, would only confirm completion of the new line. Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. and Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, were expected to join community leaders in today's official launch.
Spokeswoman Tami Kikuchi said the governor threw his support behind the state's contribution to the project because it is essential to helping Cache Valley - and by extension, Utah - remain competitive in today's global economic environment.
Added Bishop: "Cache County has so many things going for it . . . . This new fiber optic line will be a great addition to that growing list. Plus, its a good example of how public-private partnerships are supposed to work."
While luring tech jobs and research to Logan is expected to be the new line's biggest payoff, proponents also say the project addresses an important public safety issue. A few years ago, Logan's 911 emergency operations were interrupted when the Qwest fiber cable was accidentally severed.
Qwest spokesman Vince Hancock declined comment on Comcast's additions to Logan's fiber optics capacity. Instead, he underscored that the Denver-based telecommunications giant was the first to bring the technology to the Cache Valley.
"We've had facilities in the ground there since the early '90s and we're proud of the suite of business services we offer in northern Utah," Hancock said.
bmims@sltrib.com
