Qwest Runs DNC Fiber

After more than a year of careful planning to accommodate the Democratic National Convention at Denver’s Pepsi Center, Qwest Communications found itself scrambling at the last minute to also wire up Invesco Field at Mile High, when Barack Obama’s campaign decided he would make his acceptance speech there, reports Telephony Magazine.

Invesco Field, home of the Denver Broncos, is not already a Qwest customer, and Qwest is facing considerable complications getting fiber optic connections in place to accommodate the anticipated media coverage.

While the two sites are only about a half-mile apart on the outskirts of Denver’s downtown business district, they are separated by a major freight rail line, a major interstate highway and the South Platt River, said Chuck Ward, president of Qwest’s Colorado operations.

But Qwest is not providing wireless service to the DNC. Wireless networks were deemed not secure and robust enough. “The DNC are viewing this much the same way as we are – as a very sophisticated enterprise level network they are running for this convention“, said Ward. They did not want to put any mission-critical type applications in the wireless environment.