World Trade Park to install fiber-optic lines
LEETONIA -- Fiber-optic service offered through the Columbiana County Port Authority will make the port authority's World Trade Park highly desirable to prospective tenants, said Tracy Drake, port authority executive director.
Drake said a fiber-optics contractor will begin in about two weeks to install fiber-optics lines from Leetonia Schools on Walnut Street to the port authority's industrial park on state Route 344 on the southwest side of the village.
Drake said the port authority has acquired 110 fiber-optic lines with two strands each, and "each line can carry a city's worth of information, increasing the county's technology capability by about 500,000 percent."
The port authority will manage the commercial use of the lines and fiber-optic space to companies such as banks that handle large amounts of data and need secure data backup systems.
He said the site could then be expanded to include data storage facilities or call centers.
Tom Inchak, Leetonia schools superintendent, said the district switched from data transmission via telephone lines to fiber-optic capability last year. School districts are required by the state to send data such as financial reports, payroll information and student data to Columbus, he said.