viNGN’s 100% Fiber Optic Network Helps Bring 65th Crucian Christmas Festival To The World

The Virgin Islands Next Generation (viNGN) said on Tuesday that it was pleased to play a part in bringing St. Croix Christmas Festival activities to the world through partnerships with the Virgin Islands Consortium, and WTJX, the Virgin Islands Public Broadcasting System.

“What a complete success,” stated viNGN President and CEO Dr. Mark McGibbon. “It was a collaborative effort between our St. Croix and St. Thomas technology specialists.”

Echoing McGibbon, viNGN Network Technician Kevin Maynard credited excellent design and layout, outside plant personnel, and the additional services of local ISP FiberNet, with a superb install. “We had a total of four hotspots set up in the Frederiksted Festival area, three in the Festival Village, and one along the Parade route,” he said. “We worked alongside the VI Consortium to present live streaming to hundreds of thousands of viewers nightly. We also supported WTJX to present live streaming of the Festival Parade to online viewers worldwide.”

Senior VP Daryl Wade and viNGN’s lead Network Engineer Abed Hussein, spearheaded the initiative with the help of Network Technician Benaiah Nicholson on St. Thomas. On St. Croix, viNGN’s Enterprise Architect Warren Spencer worked closely with Network Technician Kevin Maynard to design the network. Lead Field Technician Keithly Heath and members of his team, Tim Bonit, Ellisha Williams, Nalan Francis and Desmond Phillip, Jr. and logistical support was provided by Material Coordinator Alexander Adams and Document Control Manager Linda Camacho. These were just the major players, but the entire viNGN family was part of the whole process that allowed St. Croix culture to shine brilliantly to the world, the company said.

Importantly, viNGN’s service never failed, and the bandwidth provided to The Consortium facilitated seamless and buffer-free streaming. The service was appreciated by viewers around the world, with views coming from Japan to Canada and, of course, all across the U.S. mainland — and even from the Korean Peninsula — for a total of over a 1 million video views and over 1.9 million minutes of watch time from Dec. 26, 2017 to Jan 6, 2018, according to analytics provided by Facebook.

As a wholesale provider of broadband Internet and other services, viNGN only sells bandwidth to local Internet Service Providers, or ISPs. viNGN’s 100% fiber optic network interconnects St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas and Water Island; multiple undersea fiber optic cables connect the territory to New York and Florida for built-in redundancy. Fiber optic technology provides the fastest wired service available, with gigabit and higher speeds possible. For reference, 1,000 megabits (Mb) = 1 gigabit (Gb).

viNGN continues its ongoing recovery efforts, restoring network connectivity to benefit several local ISPs, while maintaining more than twenty (20) free public Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the U.S. Virgin Islands. To find hotspots, follow our restoration progress and discover partner ISPs, visit www.viNGN.com.