Cardenas: Brownsville is ‘going to be the most connected city in the world’

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BROWNSVILLE, Texas – Because Brownsville, working with Lit Fiber, has installed 100 miles of fiber optic cable around the city, it will be able to provide lightning-fast internet in its parks and trails.

This will help make them a lot safer, says Jorge Cardenas, chief information officer for the City of Brownsville.

“As you know, we built 100 miles of fiber optic. But what else can we do? There’s a lot more that we can do with that fiber. We use our fiber to improve the safety of the city, improve the quality of life of our citizens,” Cardenas said.

“And then, also, we can use it to provide better service as a government entity in the City of Brownsville. We can actually deploy systems faster to help the community. For example, the parks. Right now, the parks and trails have no internet connection so it can become a safety problem.

“But what if we can do something to provide internet in the parks, internet in the trails, internet around libraries, internet around schools, where kids can actually go there and use the internet and have a good time around the school area with their teammates or schoolmates.”

Cardenas said that at its July 16 meeting, the City Commission approved a project worth $4 million that will “pretty much deploy a private 5G network that will help us achieve what I just mentioned. Safety, internet connectivity, improvement of quality of life for the citizens.”

Cardenas made his remarks from the podium at an event hosted by Lit Fiber at its downtown office. The company unveiled the first customer for its lightning-fast internet service.

Cardenas, a master certified instructor for fiber optics, used to work for the Department of Defense. I that capacity he ran fiber optics around the world for about ten years.

“My passion is fiber optics. So, I am really, really excited to be here,” he said.

On his LinkedIn page, Cardenas has penned these remarks:

“As the chief information officer for the City of Brownsville, my focus lies in transforming our IT landscape to foster innovation, efficiency, and robust cybersecurity.

“With a deep understanding of IT infrastructure and process improvement, my leadership has guided the city through significant enhancements, including a staggering reduction in network vulnerabilities and the initiation of a monumental fiber broadband project.

“The team and I have realized $1.2 million in savings through strategic vendor negotiations and sustained crucial services for over 1,200 employees within a $25 million budget.

“These efforts are part of my continuous commitment to ensuring exceptional technology services and infrastructure that serve our community’s growing needs with agility and foresight.”

Cardenas was the last of the speakers at the Lit Fiber event. He noted that the discussion earlier had focused on fast, reliable high-speed internet.

“So, did you know that by 2030… six years from now, the typical customer at home will need ten gigs of speed and businesses will need at least 50 gigs of speed?” Cardenas asked. “Why? Because of all the technology that requires a lot of speed, a lot of bandwidth in order to operate.”

Cardenas pointed out that five years ago, one gig was the norm. “Nowadays, ten gigs is the norm. And in six years it is going to be a lot faster.”

Cardenas concluded his remarks by saying the City of Brownsville is “using the backbone” of the 100 miles of fiber optic cable to improve the quality of life of residents in the city.

“We are using the fiber (optic cable) and we will use some of those strands that we have available to connect our private 5G radios and I think that’s a game changer. So, we talked about going from the least connected to the most connected in the state. With a private 5G we can say now we’re going to be the most connected city in the world. You can quote me on that.”

Editor’s Note: The Rio Grande Guardian secured a video interview with Cardenas at the conclusion of the Lit Fiber event. Here it is: