Aerial Photo of Cleveland

An aerial view of Euclid Avenue through University Circle, at the east end of Cleveland's Health-Tech Corridor. University Hospital's red enblem can be seen near the top right.

(Thomas Ondrey/ The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio--Already threaded by the HealthLine and anchored by world-class hospitals, Cleveland's Health-Tech Corridor is about to receive a powerful new piece of infrastructure that could attract new investment and jobs.

The city and OneCommunity, the non-profit broadband provider, will soon announce a new fiber optic network bringing lightning-fast Internet connections to Euclid Avenue.

The new fiber pipe is being compared to Chattanooga Gig, a network offering one-gigabit-per-second Internet speeds to homes and businesses in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Such speed allows uploads and downloads of information 200 times faster than the national average, meaning businesses and hospitals can use the Internet in powerful new ways.

OneCommunity is aiming for a 100-gigabit-per-second system, which would be one of the fastest in the world, according to sources familiar with the project.

Details of the new communications network are to be presented at a press conference Friday. City officials and OneCommunity executives were not commenting Tuesday, but sources said the city will announce a major federal grant that will allow the project to go forward.

Jay Williams, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce of Economic Development, is scheduled to speak at the press conference.

An advanced fiber optic/digital network connecting downtown and University Circle along the 3-mile Health-Tech Corridor has been a dream of many. It would enhance one of the region's fastest growing research corridors.

Fiber-optic lines use lasers to send pulses of light down thin strands of optically pure glass. At homes and offices, the light pulses are converted into digital information that computers can read. Fiber systems with a single laser can transmit billions of bits per second. So-called "fiber Internet" connections are prized by businesses that deal in massive amounts of data.

Friday's press conference will be held at the offices of Explorys in the former Cleveland Play House complex. Explorys, a growing healthcare IT company that spun out of the Cleveland Clinic, uses big data to explore medical treatments and solutions.

Company President Charlie Lougheed said he welcomes the proposed speed boost, not just for his company but also for the neighborhood.

"It does make us world class," he said. "It's one of the many things Cleveland offers."

Also scheduled to speak Friday is John Foley, the chief information officer for University Hospitals. Crystal clear doctor-to-patient conferencing is one example of how faster connectivity can change his industry.

Some see a new economic catalyst emerging as well.

Leveraging the "eds and meds" power of University Circle, developers have been renovating buildings and warehouses along Euclid Avenue and marketing modern offices to businesses focused on healthcare and technology. They may soon see new interest in their spaces.

Ray Leach, the chief executive officer of JumpStart, expects the neighborhood to loom more attractive to technology entrepreneurs around the country.

"This gigabit pipe is a great asset to have," he said. "We'll be one of maybe a half dozen cities in the U.S. with this kind of speed."

Gig speed is fast becoming the state of the art. On Monday, Huntsville, Alabama, announced that it intended to become a "gig city" in 2015 with a new fiber optic network.

Thanks to OneCommunity, Cleveland would appear to have a head start in the Internet drag race.

OneCommunity owns and operates a broadband regional network spanning nearly 2,000 miles. The non-profit foundation has already laid more than 100 miles of fiber cable in Cuyahoga County and has eyed installing 100 gigabit service for several years.

By lacing the corridor with fiber, OneCommunity may be leading Cleveland into a new league, some say.

"The new dimension of infrastructure in cities is not what we see," said Chris Ronayne, the president of University Circle Inc. and a city planner. "It's digital. Location matters, but the logistics matter just as much. On the logistics side, this should put us first in class in the nation and the world."