“We choose to go to the moon, not because [it is] easy, but because [it is] hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept and one which we intend to win.” – President John F. Kennedy
I’ve long admired President Kennedy’s address on space exploration, delivered at Rice University in September, 1962. In it, he outlines his vision for America’s response to the Soviet Union’s success with their space program. At a time when America was trailing (the Soviets had launched both the first unmanned and manned flights into orbit), Kennedy outlined an audacious goal: The United States would be first to put a man on the moon.
Kennedy’s address outlined a clear vision, fueled by a strong purpose. Space, he said, is a new frontier with “new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people.”
Likewise, we see our purpose at Intelligent Fiber Network to be one of ensuring that knowledge and technological advances should be available for the progress of all people, regardless of their geography. Today, we deploy more than 4,500 miles of fiber optic cables across the state of Indiana, which are capable of instantly transmitting more data than President Kennedy – or the Apollo astronauts he called to action – could have conceived. We currently reach into every corner of this great state and, with our industry partners, across the country and around the globe.
But our vision – our moonshot, if you will – is to double our impact in the next five years. We aim to have more fiber connectivity than anyone else in Indiana, reaching deep into our rural areas as well as our cities. We also intend to reach beyond the borders into neighboring states, working to provide the same intelligent networking solutions our customers have come to expect to a broad range of new enterprises.
To fulfill our purpose and vision, we’ll need to be laser focused on the goal, perfecting our delivery services and continually improving our “five nines” network performance. We’ll also need smart, driven people who will share the vision and work to improve the lives of the people they serve. Perhaps more than anything else, we’ll need the same sort of audacious certitude and tireless energy called upon by Kennedy on that warm day in Houston.
Certainly, our vision doesn’t compare to the magnitude of space travel, but we believe the impact on our constituents – our customers, our employees, and our stakeholders – will be commensurate with our effort. And I assure you, our effort will be immense.
Jim Turner, CEO
Intelligent Fiber Network