Northwest Indiana business and civic leaders unveiled the South Shore Fiber Link during a press conference today in Portage.

The fiber optic corridor, originally installed as part of a Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) upgrade to its signaling capacity, stretches 75 miles, from the NICTD Kensington station in Illinois to the South Bend Airport. It connects with the St. Joe Valley Metronet as well as the Chicago fiber optic grid.

The line “has been operating for two years, and what we have found is that we have a lot of excess [capacity],” said Boris Matakovic, CIO of NICTD. “So we wanted to use that to further economic development in Northwest Indiana.”

“’Dark’ fiber is hard to find and very expensive,” said Bryan Baker, Principal of ComControl, which will manage agreements and connect business users to the Fiber Link network, while NICTD maintains the line.

Combined with State Senate bill 448, which allows communities to exempt personal property tax on IT equipment, Fiber Link positions Northwest Indiana to attract hi-tech businesses, according to Vince Galbiati, President and CEO of the Northwest Indiana Forum.

“It’s the perfect complement to the NWI Computational Grid,” added Congressman Pete Visclosky (D-1st District), improving the ability of northern Indiana universities to communicate with each other, and universities and labs throughout the nation.

Through an arrangement with Norfolk Southern, the Link has already been extended to Elkhart, and talk has already begun about the possibility of extending it to Fort Wayne, said Congressman Joe Donnelly (D-2nd District). “There’s no reason that we shouldn’t become the data center of the United States,” he said.