The $42 million AeroFarm investment (see previous post) isn’t the only cool thing happening in Danville… Amazon Web Services and Sumitomo Electric Lightwave collaborated with Danville Community College to create an innovative fiber-optic fusion splicing certificate. Approximately 30 individuals took part in the December 9-10 course.
Fusion splicing, according to a statement from the Governor’s Office, is the joining of two optical fibers to create a continuous light path that carries data in technologies such as phones, internet, and television. “Through lectures and hands-on lessons, students will become familiar with deploying a passive optical fiber network infrastructure. They will learn real-world deployment techniques with tools ranging from hand tools to state-of-the-art automated fusion splicing technology.”
Amazon Web Services, which is headquartered in Northern Virginia, is driving fiber-optic cable innovation, releasing new hyperscale products and solutions for the next generation of fiber-optic networks. The company needs to train workers to install and operate this state-of-the-art equipment, and has enlisted Sumitomo Electric Lightwave to host certificate courses at local community colleges across the U.S.
“Virginia is the home of many high-density data centers,” noted Nobuyuki Suzuki, President and CEO of Sumitomo Electric Lightwave. “Together with AWS and Danville Community College, SEL is committed to ensuring Virginia has a prepared workforce capable of creating and sustaining next-generation fiber optic infrastructures.”
Bacon’s bottom line: This is a great example of how Virginia corporations can collaborate with community colleges to train workers for technology-related occupations. I’d be curious to know how much the program costs, who’s coughing up the dough for it, and how much students are paying out of their own pockets. Governor Ralph Northam wants to budget $145 million in the next two-year budget to provide free tuition, fees and textbooks for lower-income students wanting to enter high-demand occupations. If an occupation is in high demand, why shouldn’t the businesses creating that demand foot the bill to train the workers they’ll end up hiring? Why stick that cost on the general taxpayer?
