Rural Broadband Enablement Debuts This Weekend at the City of Harlan Headwater Arts Festival
Malvern, PA – May 17, 20204: Rajant Corporation, the pioneer of Kinetic Mesh® wireless networks, and Accelecom, a high-speed fiber optics provider, collaborated to bring downtown Wi-Fi to the City of Harlan in Eastern Kentucky. The community-enhancing technology will be debuted on Saturday, May 18th, at the opening ceremonies for the Headwaters Arts Festival. At noon, executives from Rajant and Accelecom, along with city, county, and state officials, will be making opening remarks at the Harlan Center Front Plaza located at 201 South Main Street in Harlan, Kentucky.
“In today’s digital age, connectivity is not just a luxury; it’s a necessity. We are thrilled to announce our partnership with The City of Harlan Tourist and Convention Commission, alongside the Harlan County Fiscal Court, in bringing free downtown Wi-Fi to our community thanks to funding provided by the Sociable Weaver Foundation,” shares Cole Raines Executive Director of One Harlan County. “By implementing free downtown Wi-Fi we’re opening up a world of possibilities for the City of Harlan, especially for our small businesses and the tourism sector. Small businesses will now have access to reliable internet connectivity, enabling them to process credit card transactions seamlessly and efficiently during festivals and events. For tourists, free downtown Wi-Fi means staying connected while exploring our vibrant city. Visitors can now easily navigate Harlan, whether they’re sharing their experiences on social media, finding local attractions and restaurants online, or accessing maps and transportation information. This initiative is not just about providing internet access; it’s about empowering our community, supporting our businesses, and enriching the experiences of both residents and visitors alike. Together, we’re laying the groundwork for a more connected and prosperous future for Harlan.”
Brandon Pennington, Executive Director at the City of Harlan Tourist and Convention Commission, states, “It seems appropriate that we are launching this service to our community during the inaugural Headwaters Arts Festival. Art is about connection, and our Wi-Fi project is about connectivity. Both endeavors highlight the importance of bringing people together and fostering community. It also demonstrates one of the driving forces behind Harlan Tourism being a fiscal partner in this project. It provides a service to our visitors looking to connect to our community, whether for authentic experiences, events, or world-class attractions. Still, it also allows our vendors at festivals and events the added benefit of reliable internet to process payments in our beautiful and rural area. My board and I at Harlan Tourism are excited to see how this project will continue to enhance our tourism product.”
On hand representing Rajant will be Alice DiSanto Vice President of Global Marketing, who adds, “Connecting the unconnected is the byproduct of teamwork with Accelecom. Together, we began the project in November 2023 and concluded in March 2024. Utilizing Accelecom’s internet provision via a fiber connection sourced from the local Harlan County Courthouse, the Wi-Fi network has been extended to encompass Harlan’s downtown. This development facilitates access to network services in the downtown vicinity and expands opportunities for Harlan County by providing event coordinators with reliable networking capabilities. Moreover, it paves the way for potential expansion into other areas of Harlan using Rajant Kinetic Mesh.”
According to Accelecom CEO Brad Kilbey, “Accelecom places a significant emphasis on supporting the public sector to include local and county government. We invest in the expansion of fiber networks into unserved and underserved communities, like Harlan, Kentucky, in great part due to our Kentucky heritage that provides an understanding of rural areas. Accelecom leveraged its next-gen fiber network to provide a bundled Internet and managed Wi-Fi solution which enabled the City of Harlan to offer its residents, government offices, and visitors wireless broadband across downtown Harlan. The Wi-Fi service enables enhanced constituent engagement, public safety, and city image. The variety of events held in downtown Harlan will benefit from the Wi-Fi access vendors, organizers, and attendees will have.”
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About Rajant Corporation
Rajant Corporation is the broadband communications technology company that invented Kinetic Mesh® networking, BreadCrumb® wireless nodes, and InstaMesh® networking software. With Rajant and its family of products, customers can rapidly deploy a highly adaptable and scalable network that leverages the power of real-time data to deliver on-demand, mission-critical business intelligence. A low-latency, high-throughput, and secure solution for a variety of data, voice, video, and autonomous applications, Rajant’s Kinetic Mesh networks provide industrial customers with full mobility, allowing them to take their private network applications and data anywhere. With successful deployments in more than 80 countries for customers in military, mining, ports, rail, energy, manufacturing and logistics, municipalities, agriculture, and more, Rajant is headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, with additional facilities and offices in Arizona and Kentucky. For more information, visit Rajant.com or follow Rajant on LinkedIn and YouTube.