Case Study: The City of Opelika

For Stephen Dawe, Chief Technology Officer at The City of Opelika, becoming a smart city means a lot more than piloting and implementing the latest technologies. It’s about improving quality of life, furthering economic development, increasing educational opportunities, being good stewards of citywide resources, cutting down on crime, and reducing the digital divide. It’s about using technology to benefit the entire community, help businesses succeed, and make government bodies more effective and efficient. However, before Dawe could even start thinking about making Opelika a smart city, he needed to determine a strategy for providing adequate network access in the areas that needed it most.