Client News
ELLETTSVILLE, Indiana – Want to improve online writing, research, and safety? To help communities and people more effectively and safely use online office productivity tools, social media, streaming services, and more, Smithville created and is offering a 10-part free “How-to Guide for Enhancing Digital Fluency.”
The Smithville Smart series supports members of the community who are looking to improve their digital fluency and use internet-based services to enhance their quality of life. The popular series offers both text and video, which can be accessed 24/7 when convenient.
The educational series is offered free to the public. Visitors do not have to be Smithville internet customers to view and use the series. For people in southern Indiana who do not have internet service, Smithville lists the eight public Wi-Fi access points in Bloomington, Ellettsville, French Lick, Gosport, Hymera, Jasper, and Solsberry that the company maintains for complimentary internet access.
Earlier this fall Knox County officials and I joined Gov. Eric Holcomb and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) for a week-long trade mission in Japan. Some may ask, why are focused visits like these vital to Indiana – and particularly southern Indiana?
CEO
Knox County Indiana Economic Development
Here’s a key fact: Indiana has the highest concentration of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States from Japanese companies. What does that mean? We took part in this mission to sustain sound and positive relationships with Japanese companies and executives who regard Indiana investments as important, even vital.
(By Chris Pfaff, CEO, Knox County Indiana Economic Development – Pfaff also discussed the direct impact of this Japan visit on Knox County and other regions in the Vincennes Sun-Commercial and other media).
Knox County, of course, directly benefits from that investment with Futaba Indiana of America Corporation, a Japanese entity that operates a major manufacturing center in Vincennes. Futaba directly supports manufacturing operations of Toyota in Princeton, Indiana, which gives you an idea of the critical connectivity inherent in FDI.
BEDFORD, Indiana – Building on its existing commercial presence, Smithville launched a new residential multi-gigabit-capable fiber project in the city of Bedford, Nov. 1, according to Darby A. McCarty, Smithville Chairman and CEO. The new project will feature Smithville’s new multi-gigabit capacity for homes.
(Content from this media brief appeared on Southern Indiana Business Report, Inside Indiana Business, and the Times-Mail).
“We’ve been pleased to support area businesses and healthcare – including the IU Health Bedford hospital with our high-speed fiber service for several years,” said Ms. McCarty. “Now we’re pleased to launch both our nationally recognized fiber broadband service for homes, together with our new multi-gigabit capacity.”
Smithville high-speed fiber services features symmetrical gigabit (1,000 Mbps) for both download and upload speeds. The new network being built will offer options for higher speeds.
“Smithville has been a strong supporter of Bedford and the region for many years with commercial fiber service for our manufacturing, healthcare, and other businesses in the region,” said Bedford Mayor Sam Craig. “It’s a good day when a top 100 broadband company initiates high-speed connectivity for Bedford residents.”
“Smithville has been a strong partner and provider of services to the East Gate Business and Technology Center and several other firms in the Bedford region,” said Shance Sizemore, CEO of the Lawrence County Economic Growth Council. “Smithville’s new symmetrical gigabit service for Bedford homes will help elevate the quality of life for Bedford residents.”
ELLETTSVILLE, Indiana – Over the past 10 months, Smithville leveraged upwards of $10 million in private investments to design and build new high-speed symmetrical gigabit-capable fiber networks in several rural areas of southern Indiana, according to Darby A. McCarty, Smithville Chairman and CEO.
The latest project features a 382-home expansion in the Stinesville area, where physical network design has been completed and fiber construction is getting underway. The town’s region will be built through private investments by Smithville in three phases, with the second and third phases – including the town of Stinesville – beginning in 2024.
“Over the past year we focused on upgrading legacy copper service to high-speed fiber in a number of our long-time rural service areas, which has been a continuing goal of Smithville,” Ms. McCarty explained. “By leveraging private investments, we can move faster and more efficiently to bring much-needed fiber capacity to these remote areas.”
The two words “breast cancer” can unfortunately strike fear into the hearts of some women. It is true that breast cancer is the most common cancer found in women, but it’s also true that you can do many things to lower breast cancer risks. The more you know, the better you can work to lower risks and have peace of mind (you may find the online tool at this link to be useful to help assess personal risk elements).
Here are some common myths we sometimes hear in our southern Indiana practice:
Myth No. 1 – Detecting a lump in your breast means you probably have cancer.
This is not true. While self-examination and checking your breasts for unusual lumps or changes (including sensitive or painful areas) is a good first line of defense, you should know that only a small number of lumps actually turn out to be cancerous. If you feel an unusual lump, it’s time to bring that to your medical provider’s attention. A lump or swelling can arise for different reasons and are often benign (non-cancerous). A medical examination and possible tests will provide good answers.
ELLETTSVILLE, Indiana – Recognized as “Indiana’s most prominent independent telecommunications firm,” Smithville received national attention in August as a leading broadband enterprise, being named a leader in “building a fiber-connected world”. The 101-year-old privately held company was named as one of America’s top 100 national broadband companies, according to Sean Buckley, editor-in-chief of Broadband Communities magazine.
“Smithville consistently has found and deployed creative and innovative solutions to expand broadband service, especially in underserved rural areas of Indiana,” said Buckley. “With an established reputation as an early fiber adopter and builder, Smithville continues to demonstrate quality leadership in bringing transformational fiber connectivity to residents, businesses and organizations in Indiana.”
Buckley noted that standards are high for selection in the top 100. Requirements to be selected in the intense annual competition include deploying networks, services and products intended to transform local economies or improve communities’ quality of life and introducing advanced technologies with “game-changing potential.”
ELLETTSVILLE – Beginning in March 2023, severe storms and tornadoes disrupted or even eliminated power infrastructure across southern Indiana on three separate occasions, temporarily isolating rural homes and businesses. Despite widespread damage and outages, Smithville crews tapped pre-positioned supplies and advance preparation to keep internet and phone service live in the storms’ aftermath, earning accolades from customers.
With several thousand customers on landlines because of cell-blocking hills in southern Indiana, physical restoration of service from an outage is always a high priority at Smithville, according to Darby A. McCarty, chairman and CEO of Smithville.
“We fully appreciate that broadband connectivity and telephone service represent critical essential services for residents and businesses,” she said. “We invest considerable resources to be prepared for storm-related damage to restore services quickly.”
Customers Express Appreciation
Just before the Fourth of July weekend, two senior citizens in their late 80s were understandably anxious when state-spanning derecho straight-line winds annihilated infrastructure across Indiana. They later wrote: “We lost our phone service on Saturday night, July 1, at about 9 p.m., when a vicious storm brought down a huge tree along with the phone line! Cell service in our area is unpredictable at best, so we were fraught with anxiety as we are 89 and 87 with serious heart conditions.”
Their justified anxiety was relieved when Smithville construction crews showed up “to rescue us. They were concerned, kind, courteous, patient, and efficient…We wanted you to know how much we appreciate all their efforts on our behalf.”
ODON, Indiana – Establishing a new “permanent presence of Purdue” in the WestGate tech park region, Purdue President Mung Chiang joined with senior officials from NSWC Crane, Purdue University, and the Purdue Applied Research Institute (PARI) September 5 to announce the creation of a Purdue@Crane initiative. In a WestGate Academy ceremony that included Angela Lewis, NSWC Crane technical director; Navy Captain Rex Boonyobhas, Naval Surface Warfare (NSWC) Crane Commander; Karen Plaut, Purdue Executive Vice President of Research; Congressman Jim Baird; and others, President Chiang outlined a far-reaching progressive plan that would begin with Purdue expanding to 3,000 sq. ft. of offices in the WestGate with an initial budget of $2 million.
“Today marks a momentous milestone and turns a new chapter in the collaboration between Purdue and Crane,” he said. “This new strategic partnership with the most important defense presence in our state brings excellence at scale to deliver solutions for national security research.”
Daviess County leaders present at the ceremony expressed excitement and anticipation over the new Purdue expansion. “This announcement holds great opportunity and continued transformation for Daviess County and the WestGate region,” said Bob Grewe, Executive Director of the Daviess County Economic Development Corporation (DCEDC). “Many people in Daviess County have worked together for many years to create the foundation and critical resources that have enabled a development like this.”