What to Do with 10 Gig? Ask a Chattanooga Doctor

Dr. Jim Busch, a radiologist and entrepreneur in Chattanooga, TN, is the first person to get a 10 Gbps residential Internet connection from EPB, a municipal utility and fiber-based broadband provider in the city. Busch, who is president of Diagnostic Radiology Consultants, has a frequent need to download and upload large diagnostic image files whether at home or the office.

EPB announced the availability of its 10 Gig Internet service on Oct. 15. EPB says its 10 Gig service is now available to every home and business in a 600 square mile area through Alcatel-Lucent's (NASDAQ:ALU) TWDM-PON broadband technology. The service costs $299 a month. In 2010, EPB got the residential gigabit ball rolling with the activation of 1 Gbps service.

Busch has developed software designed to make it easier for radiologists to read and annotate images from wherever they are.

"In my field, fiber-optic speeds save lives," Busch said. "Instead of waiting as much as a week or more to get results because radiologists would have to physically go to each location, our patients can get their results in hours or even minutes. When something is seriously wrong, catching it as early as possible can be the difference between life and death."