FirstLight’s robust, fiber-based network services interconnect one of the Northeast’s largest community colleges, empowering students and faculty

Albany, NY – May 5, 2015 – FirstLight Fiber, a facilities-based telecommunications service provider operating in Upstate New York and Northern New England, announced today that Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC), the second-largest institution of higher learning in the Capital Region of New York State, has selected FirstLight’s fiber-based Internet and Ethernet Private Line (EPL) services to support its growing bandwidth needs. FirstLight provides Internet connectivity to HVCC’s 120-acre main campus, while its Ethernet service provides dedicated, point-to-point, scalable connectivity from two of the college’s satellite campuses and two Educational Opportunity Centers (EOC) campuses back to the main campus.

Hudson Valley Community College first tapped FirstLight in 2013, when FirstLight installed a dedicated fiber link between the HVCC and University at Albany college campuses, allowing the schools to share data center services.

“In response to the increasing and redundant Internet demands and future needs of the College, it was crucial for us to find a service provider who could offer exceptional products as well as a higher level of service from a quality and responsiveness perspective,” commented Sarah Garrand, Interim Chief Information Officer for Hudson Valley Community College. “FirstLight met all of those requirements, including providing the campus with a redundant Internet solution. The infrastructure, the quality and the speed we are observing now is vastly improved in comparison to our previous connection. The whole experience with FirstLight has been a very positive one, and I would recommend their services to other institutions.”

Hudson Valley Community College serves approximately 12,000 students each semester, and employs more than 650 full- and part-time faculty members. The institution offers more than 75 degree and certificate programs through its four schools: Business; Engineering & Industrial Technologies; Health Sciences; and Liberal Arts and Sciences.

“Serving the communications needs of an institution as highly accredited as Hudson Valley Community College is a great privilege for FirstLight and is consistent with our mission to improve connectivity options for businesses and enhance the learning environments of educational institutions throughout the Capital Region and Northern New England,” stated Kurt Van Wagenen, President and CEO of FirstLight.     

FirstLight provides a comprehensive portfolio of secure, scalable telecommunications solutions and knowledgeable staff experienced in working with K-12 districts, colleges and universities to support advanced voice/VoIP, multicast, video and distance learning applications for single and multisite institutions.

To learn more about FirstLight, visit www.firstlight.net.

About FirstLight Fiber

FirstLight Fiber headquartered in Albany, NY, provides fiber optic data, Internet, colocation and voice services to enterprise and carrier customers in Upstate New York and Northern New England with connectivity to Canada utilizing its own fiber optic network, which spans over 215,000 fiber miles connecting in excess of 1,600 lit locations.  FirstLight offers a robust suite of advanced telecommunications products, including dedicated Internet access, Ethernet, traditional TDM solutions, SIP trunks, virtual PBX and audio-conferencing, managed commercial wireless systems, and Data Center Colocation.  FirstLight’s clientele includes national cellular providers and CLECs and many leading enterprises, spanning high tech manufacturing and research, hospitals and healthcare, banking and financial, secondary education, colleges and universities, and local and state governments.  FirstLight is a portfolio company of Boston-based private equity firm Riverside Partners. 

To learn more about FirstLight, visit www.firstlight.net, or follow the company on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC)

Founded in 1953, Hudson Valley Community College offers more than 75 associate degree and certificate programs in four schools: Business; Engineering and Industrial Technologies; Health Sciences; and Liberal Arts and Sciences; and an Educational Opportunity Center for academic and career training. One of 30 community colleges in the State University of New York system, it has an enrollment of more than 12,000 students, and is known as a leader in distance learning initiatives and workforce training. Hudson Valley has more than 75,000 alumni. Learn more at www.hvcc.edu.