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Today we're excited to welcome DVFiber to the growing community of fiber networks running on gaiia. GWI operates multiple community-owned fiber networks across Vermont and has chosen gaiia as the platform to run them. DVFiber is the latest provider to migrate to gaiia, with Northwest Fiberworx (NWFX) launching this summer.
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A Vermont fiber network with a public mission

DVFiber is a community-owned fiber broadband provider serving Vermont households and businesses through the state's Community Union District (CUD) model. CUDs are a unique structure for a CSP: they're public-purpose entities, governed by representatives from the towns they serve, with a mandate to bring high-speed fiber to every address in the district. That includes the rural and underserved corners that incumbent providers have skipped over for decades.

It's a business with a public-utility mindset and a startup's operating tempo. The platform that runs it has to keep up with both.

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Why DVFiber moved to gaiia

DVFiber, through its operator, GWI, had been running on Salesforce, a CRM that was holding the team back as the network grew. The pattern is familiar to anyone who's operated a CUD or a smaller community CSP: workflows are rigid, automation is limited, the customer portal feels dated, and small changes to product configurations or billing logic become tickets to the vendor instead of clicks in the platform.

DVFiber's team wanted three things their previous platform couldn't easily provide:

• Faster iteration on the customer-facing experience: Changes to the checkout flow, plan offerings, and portal branding needed to happen in days, not quarters.
• Native automation across operations: Provisioning, activations, suspensions, and product changes needed to run as automated workflows instead of manual handoffs.‍
• A modern API: As DVFiber's technical team built integrations with their fiber mapping, network provisioning, and accounting tools, they needed a platform with a modern API they could build on.
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What DVFiber got on day one with gaiia

• An online checkout that lets new subscribers qualify their address, pick a plan, and book installation in a single flow.
• A fully integrated customer portal so subscribers can manage their account, view bills, and update payment methods themselves.
• A modern billing engine with native support for recurring subscriptions, prorations, and integrated payment processing.
• Automated network provisioning through gaiia's integrations with the network equipment DVFiber runs in the field.
• Field service and workforce tools so technicians can be dispatched, routed, and tracked from one app.
• Native reporting, including the FCC reporting outputs DVFiber needs for compliance with broadband funding requirements.
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The migration itself moved customer accounts, subscriptions, and billing data from Salesforce into the gaiia production tenant over a single cutover window. DVFiber's team and gaiia's migration team validated data in real time, and the network was live and taking new orders the same day.

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Next up: Northwest Fiberworx

The Northwest Vermont Communications Union District, based in Saint Albans, is building an open-access fiber network reaching roughly 30,000 locations across 22 communities, backed by a $20.2M state broadband grant. GWI is designing, managing, and operating that network on behalf of NWFX, and it's launching service this summer on gaiia from day one.

NWFX will launch as a modern operator from day one: online checkout, billing, customer portal, and automated provisioning.