You’ve probably heard all the buzz about Santa Cruz vying for Google’s fiber (kudos to Network Santa Cruz for the snazzy “Think Big about a Gig” title).

All of us here at Cruzio are stoked about the possibility of Google bringing fiber to Santa Cruz (especially the open access part). We’d love it if everyone had incredible connections to the Internet.

We’re also excited about what might come out of the FCC’s broadband plan. A lot of the details are sketchy at best (e.g. how does it foster competition?) but the push to extend broadband to more homes is a good thing.

In light of all of this great discussion, we thought we’d share some recent developments that are going on right now in downtown Santa Cruz. Whether or not our community is selected by Google, Cruzio is working on 100 Mbps plus connections to homes and offices all around Santa Cruz County. We will make it happen, and you can be a part of it.

1. Cruzio’s involvement with the CCBC
Cruzio has kept a close eye on the broadband stimulus funds that are being made available. We applied during round 1 and didn’t get it, and now we’re going again in round 2 as part of the Central Coast Broadband Consortium. This group includes local ISPs and government groups like Santa Cruz City, Santa Cruz County, City of Watsonville, and others. Cruzio is applying for a grant that would bring a fiber loop down to Monterey that would connect all of the communities in between. We’re excited to be a part of the project!

2. Cruzio pulling fiber to our new location in the Sentinel building
Even if the CCBC grant doesn’t get funded, we’re bringing fiber (up to 24 Gbps!) to our new location at 207 Church St. We’ll use this to provide connectivity to ourselves, the tenants, and to our data center (with colocation). This is happening this September—soon!

3. Cruzio can run fiber to your location
Once fiber has come to our new home, it will open up new ways to distribute bandwidth like never seen before. We’re investigating running fiber to those that are interested. We’re also pursuing distributing fiber over high-speed, point to point wireless links (we can already create 100 Mbps and up wireless connections right now).

In any case we believe that bringing fiber to Santa Cruz can open up all sorts of good things for this community—more jobs, less commuting, and new opportunities.

Give us your comments

We’d like to hear from you! Are you interested in bringing fiber to our community? Represent a group or business interested in fiber? Let us know!