A 2007 recipient of the Urban Land Institute’s prestigious “Awards for Excellence”, Daniel Island is a national model of smart growth. In the above interview, Daniel Island Company president, Matthew Sloan, describes their vision to create a distinct community, while serving as an extension of Charleston, South Carolina. Twenty years later, with some 3,000 residences, scores of businesses, and 8,000+ people, Daniel Island is delivering on its promise to Charleston.

Sloan, who is part of the Daniel Island Company’s founding team, describes the importance of its fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) communications infrastructure in attracting residents and new businesses to this master-planned community. As an FTTH pioneer, Sloan, explains that they initially had implemented their own infrastructure, but found it challenging to stay current with technology and provide the service level necessary for businesses and residences alike.

“We entered into it with our own small technology company. It quickly became clear that it needed 100% focus and energy and that the world was changing and technology was changing and if was just a sideline business for us, we would not be able to keep up.”

He discusses how having a local provider, Home Telecom, provides a state-of-the-art service helps Daniel Island achieve its goals while making the process, “incredibly easy.” Sloan says that,

“This is an upscale community and they [Home Telecom] provide an upscale service.”

Beyond residences, Sloan points out the importance of bandwidth and responsive customer support in enabling businesses and telework opportunities. With two of the largest Charleston technology companies headquartered on Daniel Island, reliable, high-speed bandwidth is an important asset to the community. He cites an example of a company that won’t look anywhere else for expansion unless it is on the Home Telecom network.

Another, somewhat subtle, benefit to the fiber network is the improvement in reliability, thanks to its resistance to corrosion and lightning strikes as compared to copper and coaxial solutions.  This robust communications infrastructure has been and will continue to be an essential element in the balanced business and residential growth of Daniel Island and its transformation from a master plan to a model community.

[Note: Thank you to Home Telecom for their commercial support of Viodi in the production of this video].