Florida Trend | Florida's Business Authority

Aboard the LambdaRail

The University of West Florida is among 10 Florida universities participating in Florida LambdaRail (FLR), part of a national internet network that is 7,000 times faster than a T-1 standard business line and boosts university bandwidth 200-fold. The network has been operating since 2005. UWF President John Cavanaugh says the network is northwest Florida’s most important economic development tool.

Florida Trend: How is FLR capability advancing economic development?


Cavanaugh

John Cavanaugh: Plans are in motion to bring FLR to proposed technology parks at UWF and in downtown Pensacola and to the new technology park being developed at Eglin Air Force Base, as well as to the military at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Eglin AFB and Hurlburt AFB. Okaloosa and Escambia fiber loops now being developed also will serve research centers such as the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, regional medical centers and educational institutions in Okaloosa and Escambia counties.

FT: What’s the timeline for these regional loops?

JC: The $550,000 Defense Infrastructure Grant received by the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce from the governor’s office in September is helping to initiate the Pensacola loop; the first connection to an NAS (Naval Air Station) tenant command could be functioning by June. Okaloosa County is working on plans to build an FLR spur from Interstate Highway 10 to the coast along an existing water line conduit.

FT: What’s the significance of FLR for private-sector and military users?

JC: Healthcare institutions will be able to send complex medical images in real time. FLR can enable defense and technology businesses to test products and exchange data and gives educational institutions the ability to conduct research and instruction in multiple remote sites.