City of Brownsville
What to Know:
- Anh Selissen of TxDOT was recognized for advancing AI use cases tied to agency operations, including automation and traffic incident detection.
- Jorge Cardenas was recognized for Brownsville’s broadband expansion, digital inclusion work and smart city infrastructure.
- Lin Zhou of Texas Tech was recognized for improving IT project delivery and building the university’s AI and quantum computing work.
What to Know:
- Brownsville received nearly $22 million from the Texas Middle Mile Program to expand its broadband fiber network by an estimated 138 miles.
- The project is expected to benefit about 50,000 residents across Brownsville and nearby communities.
- The grant builds on Brownsville’s broader technology strategy, including municipal fiber, private 5G, smart city systems and its AI Factory.
As part of Industry Insider — Texas’ ongoing efforts to educate readers on state and local government, their IT plans and initiatives, here’s the latest in our periodic series of interviews with departmental IT leaders.
What to Know:
- The city-operated AI Factory processes real-time data from cameras, sensors and connected systems to enhance public safety, traffic control and emergency response, according to CIO Jorge Cardenas.
- The platform is powered by the city’s own fiber network and private 5G infrastructure, allowing for secure, high-speed data processing without relying on third-party cloud providers.
- Brownsville plans to offer compute capacity to neighboring cities that lack similar capabilities.
What to Know:
- A panel at the Texas IT Leadership Forum emphasized that successful vendor relationships depend on collaboration, not commodity-style transactions.
- Brownsville CIO Jorge Cardenas and state courts CIO Casey Kennedy highlighted key differences in how cities and state agencies manage procurement, especially around pricing flexibility and vendor capacity.
- Speakers urged vendors to invest in long-term partnerships through effective communication.
The city of Brownsville was given that designation in 2014. Since then, officials have made investments to change its status, including supporting the deployment of a fiber network.
The city is seeking a service with an online banking portal that allows for digital reporting, fraud protection services and collections.
The years since the COVID-19 shutdowns have seen multiple implementations get off the ground ahead of funding announcements such as this week’s $3.3 billion announcement.
The telecommunications leader will relocate to take on a multimillion-dollar connectivity project.
The announcement comes four years after the city was named the least connected in the nation.
