Greater Muscatine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GMCCI) member businesses, community leaders and invited guests gathered with Utility employees, February 19th, to officially open the Reinforced Network Operations Center, or NOC for short. GMCCI Ambassadors and Mayor Diana Broderson were on hand to assist with the ribbon cutting ceremony, which highlighted the various stages of the construction through photos and other visual aids.
MP&W’s Core Value of Reliability was the driving force behind the project. The NOC houses key communications equipment that receives and helps MP&W deliver TV, internet and phone services to its customers. The new hardened shell provides protection from winds up to 250 mph. Additionally, the overhead power supply to the NOC was bored underground to provide a seamless, uninterruptible power supply for critical communications gear in the event of an emergency and air conditioning units were upgraded to accommodate additional equipment housed in the NOC.
MP&W’s General Manager, Sal LoBianco, notes “In 1999, when the original NOC was completed, we certainly did not anticipate how essential Municipal Area Network services and broadband internet and email services would become. Because those services have become essential to our customer owners, MP&W has invested over $1.0M to ensure that the facility that houses much of the equipment critical to delivery of the Communication Services is housed in a facility that can withstand a significant weather event.”
The project, to structurally strengthen the NOC, began in 2018 with minor aesthetic finishing work still being completed.