Jeff Graves, IT manager for WK&T, continually monitors the amount of bandwidth used to keep the internet running fast for cooperative members.
WK&T SEES MASSIVE GROWTH IN INTERNET USAGE Cooperative’s all-fiber network provides speeds faster than that in many large cities By Patrick Smith
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or Jeff Graves, sometimes his most important work has to be done in the middle of the night. Graves, the IT manager for the cooperative, is part of the team of professionals tasked with monitoring and updating the network to keep the internet running smoothly for members. “There’s more to a user’s connection than plugging in a wireless router. A lot happens at our offices to make the connection work,” says Graves. “If we’re doing maintenance, we’re typically doing it between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. these days. Ten years ago, we used to be able to do it during a normal workday, and most people wouldn’t notice.” While many aspects of WK&T’s fiber project might be familiar — from burying cables to installing fiber connections to homes and businesses — what goes on behind the scenes is sometimes overlooked. Graves and his team are
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consistently doing more than just routine monitoring and maintenance. They protect WK&T members from cyber threats, such as potential security hacks, as well as make network connections happen and give users the fastest speed. Graves oversees network bandwidth usage to keep users’ internet running quickly. And he scans equipment to make sure the components, such as the lasers and cables of fiber optic systems, operate efficiently. But to really understand what Graves does every day, think about how you now use the internet.
INCREDIBLE GROWTH In Graves’ 18 years on the job, it’s hard to believe how much WK&T’s internet operations have changed. In 1998, WK&T’s internet backbone — the entire network that members were using to access the internet through the cooperative — operated off a 6 Mbps connection. Today, however, most WK&T customers have service in their homes or businesses that is faster than the one that served the whole cooperative less than 20 years ago. Now, WK&T relies on multiple 10 Gbps services to keep users’ connections operating without interruption. The growth between 6 Mbps and 10 Gbps is profound. Consider this: 10 Gbps is equal to 10,000 Mbps, so WK&T’s total internet backbone has multiplied by more than 1,666 times in just 18 years. To illustrate that change, imagine these two scenarios: WK&T Telecommunications Cooperative