Dan-Gilbert owned ISP startup Rocket Fiber announced plans today for its new commercial and residential optical fiber Internet service. The new network of fiber lines will offer 10-gigabit speeds (residential) and up to 100-gig speeds (commercial). According to a statement, the service will place Detroit among early adopters of super-fast Internet, with speeds 1,000 times faster than currently offered by other Detroit ISPs.
Two Capitol Park residential buildings, The Albert and the Malcomson, will serve as beta test sites for the new service. The First National Building and One Kennedy Square are among 19 businesses connected to the network. Rocket Fiber plans a wide scale rollout for both business and residential early next year.
Rocket Fiber Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder Randy Foster said in a statement that the speeds will help Detroit become an elite center for tech business. "Ten-gigabit Internet will put Detroit in an elite category in which technology start-ups and growth companies will naturally and quickly emerge inside its borders," he explained.
In addition to offering a new service, Rocket Fiber now has 30 full-time employees, and will open a new HQ downtown at 1505 Woodward, a Bedrock building designed by Albert Kahn. Early plans for the space also called for a training center to "help bridge the digital divide by teaching computer and Internet literacy."
·Rocket Fiber Timeline [Quicken Loans]
·Rocket Fiber [Rocket Fiber]
·Rocket Fiber to Open Electronics Store Downtown [Curbed Detroit]
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