Gigabit Nation: Recent Episodes
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Craig Settles, president of CJ Speaks (www.cjspeaks.com), and guests discuss business strategies for putting broadband networks and telehealth into place, as well as policy issues that affect community broadband and telehealth.
Gigabit Nation’s mission is threefold: 1) inform listeners how to get meaningful broadband and telehealth into communities everywhere, 2) help communities increase broadband and telehealth adoption and 3) provide a vehicle for people to work together – and with organizations – to advance digital technologies.
The telehealth wave is making its mark in rural communities as well. When you live two and three hours away from the nearest doctor or healthcare facility, telehealth can be a godsend.
Matt Larsen, owner of 20-year-old Wireless ISP (WISP) Vistabeam in Nebraska, says you can’t just lay down some fiber and routers, and call this a broadband success. You need leading-edge applications as well. Rural areas often lack the human and tech resources necessary for broadband to thrive. So Vistabeam is designing Community Empowerment Centers to offer communities: private Telehealth Consultation rooms;full-time Digital Navigators and reception area;digital skills and telehealth training; andInventory Rooms with shared computing devices and equipment. Socia and Larsen will give our Gigabit Nation audience tips and recommendations you can use right away.
[Here are the complete interviews of Deb and Matt that were interrupted by a system crash]
Two long-time broadband experts explain how to boost broadband adoption in their communities by integrating telehealth in their digital strategy. These are early pioneers of broadband-telehealth integration.
first the trash is Chattanooga. This city was the first to have border-to-border gigabit service available to everyone. Now they're setting the pace with telehealth.
1,000 free telehealth appointments are coming to one of the lowest income communities in Chattanooga, TN, plus home Internet access, new Chromebooks, and training. President and CEO Deb Socia of The Enterprise Center discusses the city’s digital intervention that will help residents who are susceptible to high incidences of stroke, heart disease, diabetes, and asthma. Chattanooga’s public gigabit network plays a key role in the telehealth delivery.
Get more impact from your communities broadband planning, listen to tips for increasing Affordability Connectivity Program (ACP) adoption, and meet winners who are making a difference in their digital communities.
Two digital justice warriors share with Gigabit Nation secrets of their success at getting residents connected to broadband, digital inclusion, and telehealth.
Rebecca F. Kauma is Digital Equity & Inclusion Officer for the City of Long Beach, CA. She is having great success making sure that everyone has a voice in the needs assessments and planning activities. Elizabeth Ramirez is the Community Digital Navigator for ACP in Waukegan, IL. In the last 60 days she engaged 230 households. 33% completing enrollment, while another 34% are approved for ACP and choosing their ISP.
Kauma uses a “collective impact approach” in which her team goes deep inside of communities, engages groups within communities, and once everyone is convened, Kauma ensures everyone has an equal voice. Ramirez and ConnectWaukegan do extensive data analysis of their outreach efforts, who they connect with, and measure time and money saved.
Today’s Gigabit Nation questions broadband marketing tactics, leading up to the question, “What does it mean to use telehealth as a marketing tool?”
It’s starting to dawn on people hold that broadband and telehealth are quite symbiotic technologies. Telehealth will drive broadband adoption while broadband networks offer telehealth a great marketing vehicle. Of course, communities have to look at marketing different before you can start changing the way they market.
Today’s digital warrior is:
Kim McKinley is the Chief Marketing Officer. Day-to-day, Kim actively leads UTOPIA’s marketing, sales, order fulfillment, and customer service teams. In addition to being one of the industry’s most recognizable leaders, she serves as co-Chair of the Public Officials Committee of the Fiber Broadband Association in Washington, D.C.
Today’s Gigabit Nation helps you build winning partnerships for the long-haul. Whether it’s a wireless infrastructure covering miles or digital inclusion projects involving anchors institutions, communities are best served by suppliers who view the relationship has a partnership not a “get it and go” transaction.
What question has you stumped? How do you find partnerships that are right for your community? Ask the right questions from the beginning. How do you know if it’s time to “cut bait” and move on? Understand why a pilot project can be the best thing for communities and suppliers.
Are digital warriors for today are:
JJ McGrath is CEO (“Chief Everything Officer”) of TekWav, a wireless ISP (WISP). He has has more than 20 years of experience in Information Technology. TexWav has deep roots in the community and operates under the philosophy of, offer the quality of a larger company and deliver personalized service and support of a locally-owned business.
Diane Connery is Director of the Pottsboro Public Library and who’s motto is, “Opportunity Out of Adversity.” Connery raised grant money to build one of the first library telehealth centers. She and the community started a community garden, got cargo bicycles so patrons could get to the grocery store and started 100 individual garden beds.
Get info about telehealth deployservices that help save lives, reduce cost, and improve efficiency of public health.
Gigabit Nation today explores how broadband can impact the Black Rural South. 38% of African Americans in this area lack broadband because the barriers to the technology are significant and deserve attention. Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies’ recent report lays out opportunities and policy changes that can turned around these residents’ broadband situation.
And as billions flow, urban communities should scope out the tech that drives healthcare delivery! Particularly exciting are telehealth,Internet of Things (IoT) and smart home automation platforms. These technologies can make a difference for the 14 million homes that lack Internet access and digital tools, 75% of which are African Americans and people of color.
Today's digital equity warriors are:
Dominique Harrison, PhD, the Director of Technology Policy at the Joint Center’s Technology Policy Program. She recently published “Affordability & Availability: Expanding Broadband In the Black Rural South”. Dr. Harrison details how broadband can increase economic, educational, and healthcare opportunities in these 152 rural counties with populations that are at least 35 percent Black.
Brigitte Daniel CEO of Wilco Electronic Systems, had a family emergency and wasn't able to participate in today's interview . We are re-scheduling her for an interview in maybe 2-3 weeks.
Get info about telehealth deployservices that help save lives, reduce cost, and improve efficiency of public health.
Today's episode salutes those communities that have taken the reins of their broadband or digital inclusion efforts! When leading local pols are disinterested or the state or federal governments are too restrictive, that’s when unofficial leaders rise up and lead successful projects. Here’s how you do it.
And you don’t have to be Dr. “Bones” McCoy to launch winning telehealth in support of public effort either, but you do have to be good at developing partnerships that include competent healthcare talent. Libraries, barbershops, churches or other community organizations can lay the ground work for teams. Telehealth means more than just video chats with doctors.
Today’s digital equity warriors are:
Peter Caplan is Managing Consultant at the eHealth Systems & Solutions firm where he designs and manages telemedicine projects as well as conduct health IT and sustainable business planning for hospitals and physician group practices. Created a comprehensive telemedicine master plan for the Department of Internal Medicine at Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY
A quarter of Detroit residents has no Internet through home computers, laptops or mobile devices. Joshua Edmonds is the City’s Director of Digital Inclusion and creator of Connect 313 – the city’s sustainable digital inclusion strategy to bridge the digital divide. Forbes, the FCC, Next Century Cities, and Government Technology have recognized Edmonds for his contributions.
Get info about telehealth deployservices that help save lives, reduce cost, and improve efficiency of public health.
The pandemic displayed for us the genius of telehealth - but also its Achilles’ Heel. As millions of workers, students, and others went into lockdown, people everywhere from the comfort of their homes were able to see doctors. But over 14 million urban and 4 million rural homes have ZERO broadband and are left out of this digital miracle.
The episode of Gigabit Nation explores strategies to ensure that these billions of dollars the federal government plans to spend on broadband are used smartly, equitably, and with better accountability. We’ll talk broadband planning, needs assessment, and accountability.
And talk about genius, nothing says "pulse of a community" like laundromats! It’s a block party, gossip fest, kids’ playground and now, telehealth. Local libraries and volunteer groups are turning laundromats across the country into centers of learning and engagement.
Today’s digital equity warriors are:
Drew Clark's day job is telecom attorney at the CommLaw Group. But his a long-standing rep in the broadband world is: Editor and Publisher of Broadband Breakfast, a digital newsletter and a weekly Webinar. His on-point analysis is bringing us through this unprecedented government funding of broadband and digital technologies
Katherine Trujillo is Director of Education and Deputy Director of Libraries without Borders, a nonprofit that develops unique library services into low-income communities. She creates pop-up library and digital literacy programs internationally. In the U.S., Ms Trujillo oversees the Wash & Learn program in laundromats. She served on the White House Domestic Policy Council.
Get info about telehealth deployment services that help save lives, reduce cost, and improve efficiency of public health.
Another $10 billion from the Treasury Department for broadband! But will urban broadband flourish as a result?
It depends. Lobbying forces tend to swing to rural, so city leaders must insist on urban equity in government's broadband funding, and community stakeholders must keep local and state politicians' feet to the fire. This Gigabit Nation session explores ways to bring accountability into the broadband buildout processes.
The 800-pound gorilla in the room is accountability in rural broadband funding. For nearly a decade $5 billion a year has been spent on rural broadband, but where's the beef!? More importantly, what can communities do to bring accountability for all of these billion of dollars in both rural and urban areas?
Today's digital equity warriors are:
Lori Sherwood is Director of Commercial & Market Development at Render Networks, and her managerial experience covers the both the client and the vendor side. Besides managing and facilitating broadband deployments, Ms Sherwood has also worked for county government as a broadband program director and cable administrator.
Dr. Christopher Ali is an Associate Professor in Department of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. Ali's latest book, Farm Fresh Broadband: The politics of rural connectivity, examines the complicated rural broadband policies in the U. S., and analyzes the politics surrounding these policies.
Get info about telehealth deployservices that help save lives, reduce cost, and improve efficiency of public health.
NTIA’s $285-million CMC pilot program provides grants to eligible Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges or Universities (TCUs), and minority serving institutions (MSIs).
NTIA is funding not only broadband for anchor institutions but digital programs that drive adoption (some agencies mostly fund network infrastructure). NTIA also is encouraging pilots to create 15-mile broadband umbrella around the institutions.
Nationwide, broadband and telehealth deployments are only as good as the maps that guide them. LightBox create maps by combining granular location data with information from 2 billion Wi-Fi access points. Communities get a more detailed, accurate picture of broadband connectivity.
Today’s digital equity warriors are:
A graduate of HBCU undergrad and law schools, Scott Woods currently leads the Connecting Minority Communities (CMC) Pilot Program, and serves as a principal liaison between the CMC and BroadbandUSA program. Mr. Wood’s career of government service includes a 4-year stint at the US Department of Justice.
At LightBox, Bill Price is responsible for providing government organizations with consulting services, valuable information, and data to plan and implement broadband programs. As a senior strategy analyst at the Georgia Technology Authority, Price was the lead architect and manager of the state’s broadband plan and mapping.
Get info about telehealth services that help save lives, reduce cost, and improve efficiency of public health.
$65 billion for broadband! Mission accomplished? Not hardly! You can’t just throw money over the fence and declare victory over digital inequity. This session explores ways to make broadband legislation more effective for everyone, how to beat down anti-muni bills, and tactics for increasing community support. And should we expect even more federal money?
Also, pay attention to essential infrastructure that comprises telehealth deployment. Telehealth kiosks are going to be critical when in come to deploying public health deep into communities, such as in libraries, K-12 schools, churches, public housing, even maybe laundromats.
Today’s digital equity warriors are:
Christopher Mitchell, a leading national expert on community networks and Internet access, is the Director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR). His MuniNetworks.org is a clearinghouse local government policies to improve Internet acces, and his interactive map tracks 600 community networks.
Andrew Flynn is General Manager of TalkBox Booth, a leading privacy pod enclosures for business and home use. His team in the last year created a HIPPA-compliant telehealth kiosk to ensure privacy and comfort by those receiving healthcare and telehealth various of settings, including libraries, medical centers and other institutions.
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Call if you want services to help your community save lives, reduce cost, and improve efficiency of public health.
Currently there are 14 million people of color who cannot get telehealth while the FCC & USDA spends nearly $5 billion dollars/year to get telehealth & broadband for 4 million rural households.
Where is the parity in funding? Where is the justice?
Francella Ochillo, our guest today on Gigabit Nation talk show, is the Executive Director of the broadband advocacy group Next Century Cities. She is definitely ready to fight the good fight for fast, affordable and reliable broadband access for all.
Ms Ochillo lays out in real terms the costs facing urban America if we don’t get parity in broadband spending.
People are marching in the streets saying how important it is that Black people have an even playing field. Maybe they can detour for a few days to bring this message to Federal agencies that fund the good health of rural communities while missing the mark in their funding of urban health.
11,944,370 urban residents have no access to telehealth but Federal agencies earmark billions for broadband and telehealth grants targeted to 3,829,802 rural communities. Urban communities want grant parity with rural.
No broadband, no telehealth! Yet FCC finances broadband through the $20 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund but no urban fund. They award $4.15 billion for broadband in schools that's weighted to rural. Their Rural Heath Care Program has over $1 billion, while the Senate wants to add another $2 billion. Where‘s the urban healthcar parity?
Angela Seifer, Executive Director for the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, joins us to discuss strategies for reaching parity in broadband and telehealth spending: identifying disparity in current broadband and telehealth new funding coming from US House and Senate expected benefits from funding parity
Learn how Partners Healthcare, the City of Boston, and the state of Massachusetts created Boston Hope, a 1,000-bed field hospital with a telehealth-driven hybrid wired/wireless infrastructure – in just seven days!
Listen to best practices for transforming your local healthcare capabilities with telehealth and community broadband, regardless of your city’s or county’s size. Our guest, John Campbell, serves as the Chief Information Officer for C, a division of not-for-profit Partner’s Healthcare.
Campbell describes how the team: implemented a fully technology-enabled hospital, including a testing lab and pharmacy;deployed broadband, regular computers, and mobile devices; andthe massive push to get 10,000 physicians set up to do telehealth in just a few weeks; andsuccessfully herded cats. Boston Hope was created to treat patients on the road to recovery, while easing pressure on the others hospitalsproviding acute, ICU treatment for COVID-19 patients. Boston Hope likely will close when Boston has “flatten the curve.”
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Gigabit Nation is sponsored this month by Ready.net. Ready.net helps community broadband networks add subscribers and increase revenue through the premium telehealth services Ready.net makes possible by connecting home to hospital.
TECHNICAL GLITCH! Show start at 2 min, 30 sec.
Free telehealth service until the pandemic is over, thanks to the power of broadband and cloud computing.
Doug Tate, CEO of Alpha Technologies, realized that his data center technology for businesses is capable of linking indivuals with healthcare providers regardless of the computing device in either end. The key is a HIPAA-compliant cloud connection. He'll describe how it all works on my show today.
Dr. R. Michael Greiwe is an broadband-savvy orthopedic surgeon and also CEO for telehealth firm OrthoLive. During this Coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Greiwe is making healthcare specialists, general practitioners and folks in general aware of benefit telehealth.
In addition to their major projects, we will discuss: deployment challenges iPhones, Androids; deploying platforms that support provider-to-provider communication; andtools of the Telehealth trade. Gigabit Nation is sponsored this month by Ready.net. Ready.net helps community broadband networks add subscribers and increase revenue through the premium telehealth services Ready.net makes possible by connecting home to hospital.
The Feds threw off the handcuff that cripple telehealth. Patients now can be treated in hotels, dormitories, and other alternative facilities using telehealth.
But there’s not much time for celebrating. Communities slammed hard by COVID-19 foresee treating non-COVID patients using in telehealth in alternate facilities. Is your community ready?
Rena Brewer coaches our audience with tips to prepare their communities for a telehealth world, including site selection and and training local healthcare workers. Brewer is CEO of nonprofit telehealth vendor, Global Partnership for Telehealth, and oversees the Southeast Telehealth Resource Center.
Creating alternative healthcare facilities demands quality broadband to power the telehealth. Ron Deus, CEO of wireless IPS (WISP) NetX Internet, helps our audience prepare a strategy for broadband coverage in underserved urban and rural communities.
Gigabit Nation is sponsored this month by Ready.net. Ready.net helps community broadband networks add subscribers and increase revenue through the premium telehealth services Ready.net makes possible by connecting home to hospital.Thanks
Telehealth is important for monitoring coronavirus patients' condition while minimizing healthcare workers' exposure to the disease. But today's show discusses the greater value of using telehealth to offload a sizeable share of non-COVID-19 patients from hospitals and doctors: accidentsmental health treatmentstraumas - strokes & heart attacks post-surgery monitoringelderly care COVID-19 also exposed the faultlines that is inherent in this country's broadband infrastructure. It has made networks groan under the stress of quickly shifting business, schools, and healthcare data to homes. What's the short- and long-term impact of this shift, especially as it pertains to telehealth?
Kim Almkuist, the nurse practitioner overseeing telehealth initialives for the Wilson County [NC] Department of Health, describes how telehealth is improving healthcare. She also explains potential impacts on home healthcare of the feds relaxing restrictions on telehealth. Almkuist has the Wilson Greenlight public broadband nerwork backing her up.
Chrisopher Mitchell, Director of Community Broadband Network at ILSR, advises how to deal short-term with our broadband faultlines. But also, what can we do in the long-term to address broadband infrastructure? Many grass-roots activities have sprung up after the pandemic hit. Are groups such as these and the Institute of Local Self Reliance the greatest chance for resolving these shortcoming?
Last year, the Tennessee governor and legislature freed co-ops of restrictions on delivering broadband to its members. Last month, the first co-op out of the gate announced its partnership with a local ISP to provide gigabit service to its members.
Smart grid, public safety, and consumer and business services are some of the benefits middle Tennesseans will reap from the partnership. Chris Jones, President and CEO of Middle Tennessee Electric Member Corporation, William Bradford, president and CEO of United Communications and Fire Lieutenant Fritz Haimberger of the Peytonsville Volunteer Fire Department lay out the details.
There are several important lessons that co-ops nationwide as well as municipalities can learn from our guests.
Craig Settles hosts Gigabit Nation. He also assists communities with the business and marketing planning of their broadband networks.
Arkansas used to lead the US in stroke deaths. Less then 1% of stroke patients statewide received the de-clotting drug alteplase (TPA). Renee Joiner, (BSN, RN) Director of Arkansas SAVES Stroke Telemedicine Program and Tina Benton, (BSN, RN) Oversight Director of the Center for Distance Health explain how telehealth turned around the state's stroke recovery in the state.
Arkansas's state healthcare broadband network, the Center for Distance Health at the UAMS and the Arkansas Department of Human Services formed Arkansas Stroke Assistance through Virtual Emergency Support (ARSAVES). This telehealth service connects 54 of the state’s 80 hospital.
Now 33% of the patients in those hospitals who qualify for the stroke program to receive TPA. The state’s healthcare fiber ring supports several additional health and telehealth programs throughout the Arkansas hospital systems, including a huge trauma care program. You can read this about this and other stories in the report, “Broadband and Telehealth: In Sickness and In Health.
Craig Settles hosts Gigabit Nation. He also assists communities with the business and marketing planning of their broadband networks.
Chattanooga soon will reach 100,000 subscribers for its public broadband network. And the telco/cable incumbents would love nothing better than to crush the life out of the city’s network. Telehealth could keep EPB, the city public network, a step or two ahead of competitors.
Dr. Laurie Davis and her medical practice (In Good Health) were part of a pilot test for a telehealth product and service and conducted by EPB. She recounts her experiences with telemedicine and how it has improve the healthcare her practice delivers. But the product also enables her doctors to do house calls for elderly patients who can't easily get from their homes to the office because of difficult travel logistics.
Chattanooga’s gig network and EPB are incredibly popular, and their commitment to telehealth reflects the their devotion to innovation on behalf of subscribers. Dr. Davis and her staff use EPB broadband in their homes as well as in the office. In Good Health started in 2006 and built its reputation on the long-term patients relationships. They expect telehealth to bring additional value to those relationships.
Craig Settles hosts Gigabit Nation. He also assists communities with the business and marketing planning of their broadband networks.
We could lower the nation’s collective healthcare bill if we leveraged telehealth. The FCC apparently got the message and plans to launch the Connected Care $100 million grant program. But some worry that the grant will become one more taxpayer-financed giveaway to giant telco/cableco.
Former Commissioner Mignon Clyburn discusses the importance of community broadband to telehealth delivery. People who are the most vulnerable economically are affected most by FCC broadband and telehealth policy. Will decisions of the FCC majority - especially regarding Lifeline - widen the digital divide? Ms Clyburn lays out steps that broadband stakeholders can take to encourage effective FCC telehealth policy.
John Windhausen, Excutive Director of the Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband coalition, simplifies for listeners the FCC's public comment process for the telehealth grant. He explains: the FCC's broadband funding mechanisms; the Noticice of Inquiry process and how regular citizens can participate; and how community broadband networks can participate in the grant. Craig Settles hosts Gigabit Nation. He also assists communities with the business and marketing planning of their broadband networks.
Just up the highway from Silicon Valley, the Bay Area’s first gigabit city is transforming a former manufacturing powerhouse into a test bed of technology and other innovations. San Leandro joins Chattanooga and Kansas City with broadband-inspired economic development, government efficiency, education and telemedicine. City Hall, the Police Department, and all City facilities are connected to a 10-gigabit port via Lit San Leandro, which has increased the facilities City Hall bandwidth by 2,500% while lowering monthly Internet access costs;the San Leandro School District connected all the schools to Lit San Leandro over a 10-gig backbone, and modernized all IT infrastructure (including WiFi) to help students have virtually unlimited bandwidth for school projects; anda public private partnership installed of a microgrid on the network in the San Leandro Tech Campus that will be the heart of an ecosystem of small businesses to help area cities meet the demand for advanced renewable energy systems. San Leandro Chief Innovation Officer Deb Acosta and San Leandro IT Director Tony Batalla explain details on current and future broadband projects.
The Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition developed not one but 10 policy proposals to address broadband. Called the “Connecting Anchor Institutions: A Broadband Action Plan”, these documents provide ideas and actionable policy recommendations for government leaders at the federal, state, and local levels to address the broadband needs of anchor institutions.
John Windhausen, SHLB Executive Director, explains our audience how these policy directives are part of the organization’s bigger Grow2Gig+: Anchors Advance Communities Campaign. This far-reaching drive hopes to make gigabit speeds the standard for anchor institutions a national priority.
SHLB’s policy actions, combined with grassroots efforts of community stakeholders working in the trenches, create the best broadband adoption solutions that shrink the digital divide.
Digital inclusion – bridging the divide between the technology haves and have-nots. 15% and 30% of our urban citizens are shut out of the digital economy, while that and maybe more in our rural lack Internet access. Input and participation must come from the communities themselves for digital inclusion to work.
Executive Vice President Brigitte Daniel at Wilco Electronic Systems, Inc. in Philadelphia and Bruce Montgomery, CEO of Chicago-based Technology Access Television gives listeners some insights to how to execute plans that leverage broadband for personal economic development. This interview tackles several digital inclusion challenges that face community advocates and stakeholders: How do we strengthen ISP competition in urban areasIs there enough broadband infrastructure in Tier 1 and 2 citiesWhat type of assistance bridges the digital divideHow do we build a self-sustaining digital economy low income neighborhoods This is a moral imperative and an economic necessity.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently turned down big telecom companies’ efforts to derail the FCC “net-neutrality” rules. It took 14 years of fighting, wrangling, enduring short-term defeats and a certain amount of uncertainty, but led by a former lobbyists the FCC prevailed prevailed in the public interest. But after the sounds of popping champagne corks have faded, we have to ask “What’s next?” Was this a victory over corporate lobbies?Are there any implications for community broadband, specifically muni networks?What does the net neutrality ruling say about public activism?With the threat of incumbents becoming gatekeepers of the Internet removed, what will lobbyists do next?What will/should “We the People” do with our new found freedom? Harold Feld, Senior Vice President at Public Knowledge joins us to help sort out these and other questions. Public Knowledge promotes freedom of expression, an open Internet, and access to affordable communications tools and creative works.
One of the fading myths of our time is that large metro areas don’t need a gig, and another myth is that you can’t make a business case for delivering a gig to low-income communities, even if they need it. A wireless ISP (WISP) located in Cleveland, Ohio has been providing homes and businesses there with a gig wirelessly, and is getting ready to extend services to New York City.
Ron Deus, CEO of regional WISP NetX, describes his formula for success. It starts with an understanding that a lot of people don’t care what the infrastructure is that delivers their Internet access as long as it is fast, reliable and affordable. Deus also believes technology, including wireless, is rapidly evolving and providers that keep pace with the evolution will have business success.
NetX has always treated Cleveland's low-income communities as a market on par with every other market: 1) build them an infrastructure that delivers and 2) give them a variety of service packages suited to their needs, the market will reward you. NetX is now ready to test its formula in the Big Apple – New York, New York.
People say, “broadband is just like electricity in the 1920s. That’s why electric co-ops were formed, and why they need to build community broadband.” But why not build a co-op specifically for broadband? In Minnesota several communities recently started a broadband co-op. Are more on the way?
Chris Mitchell, Director of Community Broadband Networks at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), makes the case that more rural communities need to create broadband co-ops to address the lack of sufficient highspeed Internet access. ILSR and Next Century Cities just released a report that examines Minnesota’s broadband co-op, “RS Fiber: Fertile Fields for New Rural Internet Cooperative.”
Mitchell delves into why: The co-op model makes sense for communities;Hybrid wired and wireless infrastructure makes financial sense;Broadband co-ops blends the best of public and private worlds;We should expect more broadband co-op to form.
It could be time for communities to re-think the feasibility study process. They can spend up to $150,000 to complete a study, but are communities really resolving the questions they need to pursue? Some feel that a process with its roots in the 1970s needs an upgrade to keep pace with 21st-Century infrastructure.
Richard Frank created custom GIS and other technologies to streamline the engineering-planning and design phase. He feels the typical feasibility study for a public network adds costs and time to address questions already answered, while failing in other areas because “communities don’t know what they don’t know.”
Frank explains how to use available data to get many of the answers needed to do appropriate engineering design, better use existing technology assets, use best business practices to plan the network and address the common good. Communities need to understand better the applications and databases that can improve network planning, think more like a business and adopt sound marketing principles.
With all the hype about fiber, we sometimes forget wireless still has an important role to play. Fairlawn, Ohio supports over 22,000 people every day in addition to its 7,400 residents, so they had to have guaranteed super-fast, reliable and flexible Internet access. Their infrastructure solution made them one of the highlights of the recent Broadband Communities Summit.
Ernie Staten, Dep. Director of Fairlawn’s Public Service Department, and Mitch Drake, Fujitsu Network Communications’ Executive Engagement Leader, throw back some covers and show off best practices that made their network leading edge. Fujitsu is the lead private sector partner in this public-private partnership.
Fairlawn set an ambitious agenda to meet a number of goals including: promote commercial and residential growth;stimulate economic development in the City;provide a carrier-grade wireless network;draw in entrepreneurs and high tech ventures; andimprove City services and public safety communications.
Many people think broadband benefits local governments by making PCs, apps and systems run faster. But what happens when the process of governing accelerates into gig speed? In two months, Next Century Cities expects to find out.
At the Broadband Communities Summit, cities were offered a $30,000 prize as a reward for creative thinking on using broadband to tackle local challenges. Next Century Cities announced their “Next Generation Engagement Awards” for three cities (up to $30,000 each) that propose projects or partnerships that enhance government operations.
Next Century Cities’ Executive Director Deb Socia and Deputy Director Todd O’Boyle joined us to explain their program and what they hope to achieve. Beside cash, winning communities will also receive hands-on technical assistance from Next Century Cities to implement their plans and peer-to-peer connections with other innovative municipalities.
Communities applying will be expected to demonstrate how, in addition to the award funding, they will contribute funds or use in-kind support, partner support, or a combination to ensure the project’s success. Applications will be accepted through June 15, 2016 and winners will be announced in late summer. Apply here.
We are at the point where we have scores of public highspeed networks delivering an array of benefits for businesses and consumers. Kansas City, the original Google Fiber network, weighs in their accomplishments and challenges as they push the gig envelope.
Our Gigabit Nation guest is Aaron Deacon, Managing Director of KC Digital Drive, and a panelist on one of the Broadband Communities Summit sessions entitled “What can you do with a gig?” He believes many cities have answered this question with an array of applications and uses for highspeed Internet access, which leads to maybe a better question of "What are we going to do with a gig next?"
Deacon delineates the difference between gigabit speed and gigabit capacity, a difference many communities need to understand early in there broadband planning. It’s also important that planners understand how to encourage a “highspeed environment” that enables community networks to transform the delivery of healthcare, energy, city services and more.
(Photo credit: Rachel Ellner, courtesy of Broadband Communities magazine)
With this week’s modernization of the FCC’s Lifeline, the impact of libraries in this program is a crucial discussion, though I’m still trying to understand how community broadband can be used in the program.
Don Means, Director of the library advocacy group Gigabit Libraries Network, explains how libraries can facilitate broadband planning, financing and the marketing of the networks once they are build. Looking at the public networks that have been built, some communities could have improved the impact of some of these investments if they had utilized the existing network of libraries.
Libraries and their staff probably are one of the most under-appreciated and underused resources in the community broadband movement. Libraries reach out and touch virtually everyone in their communities across the entire economic spectrum, they know a lot about planning community projects and quite a few have overseen the buildouts of the fastest broadband infrastructure in their communities.
Healthcare and medical service delivery are the future killer apps of the community broadband networks. Possibly even than economic development, the potential to use these networks to impact practically every injured, sick and even healthy constituent is mind-boggling.
Nizan Friedman, Ph.D., President of Flint Rehabilitation Devices, manufactures and markets technology that helps people affected by strokes, injuries and surgeries progress faster through the rehabilitation process. Internet access is a key element for patients, doctors and rehab specialists that use Flint’s products.
Dr. Friedman discusses the various ways in which broadband and telemedicine enables healthcare professionals, caregivers and patients themselves contribute to communities getting and staying healthy. In rural areas in particular, the lack of access to these technologies poses grave dangers, and is a great motivator behind public officials’ and co-ops’ efforts to build community broadband infrastructure.
National Community Development Services (NCDS) leads multimillion-dollar economic development fundraising drives, and the firm is partnering with Craig Settles to bring NCDS’ success to broadband. Both believe that there are more people and organizations than communities realize that are able and willing to financially support broadband deployments to their communities.
NCDS President Tom DiFiore presents highlights of the firm’s methodology that has raised over $1.6 billons for 500 communities in 46 states. Mr. Settles consulting expertise, philosophy and thought leadership in broadband strategy dovetails with NDCS in a four-step service that opens broadband funding opportunities as well as helps networks’ long-term financial successes.
Many communities let the “lack” of money stymie their broadband dreams. Mr. Settles’ and NCDS’ lead communities through a creation orientation to produce an asset that boosts the economy, increases local government efficiency, improves healthcare delivery and transforms education. In addition, NCDS leaves a system in place to facilitate other community economic development fundraising projects.
These combined services draw their origins from “Show Me the (Hidden) Money for Community Broadband,” Mr. Settles’ recent Community Broadband Snapshot Report.
The Obama Administration was deadly serious in September when they called for all Federal hands on deck to meet the challenges of deploying broadband everywhere. The EPA – yes, that EPA – along with the USDA’s Rural Utilities Services is rolling out a pilot program to offer communities broadband strategy planning assistance.
Ed Fendley lays out plans for Cool & Connected, the service he heads for the EPA. The program targets communities interested in using broadband to help revitalize small-town promote economic development. Cool & Connected is recruiting experts to assist communities with network buildouts and tactics that enable networks to deliver their promised benefits.
In today’s interview, Fendley provides details on eligibility requirements, rules and due dates. Participants also are encouraged to bring partnership to the table.
With the heavy focus on helping communities afford the cost of building broadband networks, we sometimes forget about the cost of planning for networks, particularly in small and midsize towns. The EPA believes its resources can be best brought to bear by pursuing this planning role.
In the 1860s, the progressive thinkers of the time felt that giving newly freed people their own land and leading edge technology – in this case, a mule – would jump start the poor on a journey to a better life. 150 years later, we are dealing with similar issues as we try to bridge the economic gap with the leading edge technology of our time – broadband. Will we find our way this time?
Colin Rhinesmith, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at University of Oklahoma, and Brian Whitacre, Associate Professor of Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University conducted excessive research on how to get better broadband adoption rates within low-income, seniors and youth populations. They join us to discuss their findings and explore options for getting these populations on board with broadband.
Rhinesmith and Whitacre describe one category of people who don’t use broadband as the Un-Adopters, and present why policymakers and federal agencies that fund broadband must develop strategies for addressing Un-Adopters. They address this category in the context of non-adopters, and the country overall.
We also will explore the downside of leaving Un-Adopters un-served. Could the cost of getting these constituents on board with broadband be better spent in other ways given how small the segments is? Given the effort of getting un-adopters and non- doctors to use broadband, what are some of the downsides and upsides if we are successful? Our guests present compelling reasons why policymakers must not leave these constituents out in the cold.
There is a huge need to put our urban broadband house in order. ConnectHome is the Obama administration’s latest salvo to narrow the gap between the digital have’s and the have not’s, particularly in urban areas.
Michael Liimatta, newly appointed Manager of ConnectHome by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, lays out the goals and strategies for the agency in the upcoming months. ConnectHome works with ISPs, non-profits and the private sector to offer broadband access, technical training, digital literacy programs, and devices for residents in assisted housing units in 28 communities across the nation.
The media focuses coverage on rural broadband network issues, but there is an equal need in urban areas for improved broadband infrastructure and aggressive broadband adoption activities. Liimatta brings valuable some of the lessons from his broadband adoption experience in Kansas City as co-founder and CEO of Connecting for Good.
Our discussion will include suggestions for how communities can partner with HUD so that ConnectHome gets the most impact possible for its broadband efforts. Liimatta also highlights state and federal grant programs, foundations and communities’ broadband efforts can facilitate urban broadband deployment. I have sent you, in order, the title, pitch and the description
If there ever was a sign that the floodgates on community broadband have fully opened, it's this Election Day as 46 Colorado communities vote on taking back their right to build public networks. Get election results here on Gigabit Nation's special in 90-minute broadcast. Is this going to be a clean sweep?
Ken Fellman, general counsel with the Colorado Communications and Utility Alliance, joins us with summary analysis of how the communities voted and what do these results mean for broadband in the state. Fellman and host Craig Settles also will call on some of the towns and counties to get first-hand observations, and thoughts on how the communities will proceed.
Another topic of discussion is the impact that the election results will have on the competitive landscape of the state. The day after last year's election, Comcast announced a statewide increase of their broadband speed. What might incumbents do this year in the face of what is expected to be an unanimous consensus for public broadband by the electorate? Will the winds of change blow over into other states with restrictions on municipal broadband?
My latest book on broadband strategy goes into depth about how to deal with states that have restrictions on public broadband.
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There’s a lot going on in broadband in Oregon. Communities such as Sandy are upgrading their infrastructure significantly, or planning their initial networks. Co-op are energized and several of them are planning to launch broadband initiatives. The rural telephone companies are providing creative solutions that are getting communities connected.
Joseph Franell, General Manager and CEO of Eastern Oregon Telecom, discusses some of the opportunities and the challenges that communities face here in the state. Gigabit Nation is broadcasting live from the Oregon Connections Telecommunications Conference, which draws statewide attendees to share ideas, experiences and knowledge about telecommunications.
Franell and Gigabit Nation host Craig Settles highlight: some of the challenges with bridging the broadband divide in education;addressing the urban/rural divide;what is the "right" model to deploy gigabit networks in rural markets;how has the USF/ICC reform impacted rural carriers and how are they moving forward;what are the pluses and minuses of the Google Fiber model. Sandy, OR’s move to gigabit broadband is one of the many case stories in Settles’ new book, Building the Gigabit City, Vol. 2.
“We might push a gig, but we have plans to heavily promote 10 Mbps and 20 Mbps services,” states Bob Hance, President and CEO of Midwest Energy Cooperative. He has learned that communities’ diverse needs benefit from flexible approaches to technology.
Despite the hype and political pressure to deliver a gig everywhere, co-ops have to be realistic with the technology they invest in because members expect the their management teams to spend customers’ money wisely. Co-ops are finding that flexibility is the watchword when determining broadband tech strategy.
Several members of Midwest’s management team met with Gigabit Nation to talk about the team’s various perspectives on the broadband lessons they have learned. For now, being just being connected to faster broadband is members’ biggest reward;As the co-op upgrades to smart grid, businesses and residents are learning they need online energy management capabilities;Some municipalities are hesitant to get onboard with broadband and will wait for co-ops to take the lead; andCo-ops give communities a path around Michigan’s muni broadband restrictions. Craig Settles new book, Building the Gigabit City, Vol. 2, focuses attention to the role of co-ops in the broadband movement. Midwest is interveiwed in the book.
Are we entering a digital arms race? First Salisbury, NC announces its 10-gigabit network last month. Then Chattanooga announced its 10-gigabit network last week. Should the dozens of communities planning or starting to build gig infrastructure just go ahead and launch 10-gig networks instead? 20 gigs?
John Pless, a spokesperson for the public utility (EPB) that operates the Chattanooga network, joins us to discuss this latest broadband infrastructure development. EPB’s10-gig service is available to every home and business in its 600 square mile service area for $299 per month, and comes with free installation, no contracts and no cancellation fees.
People have a lot of questions for Chattanooga: How big of a deal is it to move from 1 gigabit to 10 gigabits?What kind of pressure does a 10-gig network put on your competitors?What type of businesses will be enticed by 10-gig nets to move to Chattanooga? Will medical facilities and professionals in particular find this new super-highspeed capability the reason for coming to town?How will low-income communities keep pace with these gigabit announcements? It’s a good thing Craig Settles’ new book, Building the Gigabit City, Vol 2, has the flexibility of a digital format.
The connecting of communities with gigabit networks is only half the battle. The full value of this technology will not be reached until we develop applications that harness the power of the networks.
15 gigabit cities or cities with gigabit-equiped facilities will participate in a three-year project to develop some of the best and most innovative applications that exploit the capabilities of super highspeed networks. Under the guidance US Ignite, a nonprofit organization that facilitates next-generation Internet creations, these products and services will impact how some Americans work, live, learn and play.
US Ignite’s COO Joe Kochan discusses the various features and the goals of the program. Kochan expects the respective projects to have their own objectives, but these 15 communities represent an experiment in national gigabit collaboration in which the outcomes are greater in the sum of each community’s efforts.
Communities participating include: Burlington, VT; Chattanooga, TN; Cleveland, OH; Flint, MI; Kansas City, KS MO; Madison, WI; the North Carolina Next Generation Network (NCNGN); Richardson, TX; Utah Wasatch Front cities including Salt Lake City and Provo, UT; Lafayette, LA; Urbana-Champaign, IL; and Austin, TX. Their projects involve an array of software, hardware and services.
In 2014, the leadership of Salisbury decided that it was time to expand marketing of their Fibrant fiber network up a few notches, that there were still lots of local businesses and individuals yet to take advantage of the network. These marketing efforts culminated with September's national announcement of their 10-gigabit municipal fiber-to-the-premise network.
Kent Winrich, Director of Broadband Infrastructure for Fibrant, describes the rollout of the network and the expected impact within the community. Though the City may not expect a groundswell of subscribers for the 10-gig service, Winrich expects their current customers will appreciates the digital security blanket of knowing they have long term security against Technology obsolescence. More importantly, the new service gives Salisbury a powerful leg up as it market's itself as both a business hub and an education computing center within the state and beyond.
Winrich discuss: challenges of upgrading the network to this new capacity;aligning current and future customer needs with broadband technology;maintaining competitive advantage; andmarketing Fibrant as a community asset versus a high tech toy. Salisbury is one of the many communities highlighted in my new book, Building the Gigabit City, Vol. 2. If you missed our interview with Salisbury's Mayor and Mayor pro tem discussing the cities marketing efforts, you can listen to the archive.
Some creative thinking saved the broadband dreams of 10 cities in two Minnesota counties. Could cooperatives (co-ops) provide the magic bullet for municipalities encumbered with funding and political hurdles?
Communities in Renville and Sibley Counties created the RS Fiber Cooperative to address rural communication needs. Recently the communities decided to lend the co-op funds they need to build a fiber and wireless infrastructure to cover the towns and farmlands in the co-op's service area. The arrangement resolves several challenges that a number of communities face: it was easier for cities to pass a bond to pay the co-op to build the network rather then have the cities build it;co-ops’ existing community relationships translate into faster network take rates;Minnesota is one of the 21 states with a law restricting public broadband. Mark Erickson, Winthrop, MN EDA Director and a key contributor to the project joins us to talk us through the complexities of the financial arrangement and the benefits of having the co-op take the lead on the network buildout. He also discusses the role of co-ops in the bigger broadband picture as they take aggressive action in deploying networks.
My new book, Building the Gigabit City, Vol 2, devotes significant coverage to co-ops and their increasing impact on broadband.
It's full steam ahead as dozens of Colorado communities prepare to pass referenda to take back their rights to build public broadband networks. Top of the planning list is determining how to finance these infrastructure projects.
Virgil Turner, Director of Innovation and Citizen Engagement for the City of Montrose, joins us to discuss "Show Me the (Hidden) Money for Community Broadband." This new report from host Craig Settles instructs communities how to use different and effective ways to raise money that are triggered by the needs assessment process, a process that every community should be doing.
Listeners will get great advice about: sound financial planningdeveloping partnerships with state agenciesthe role of local businesses in broadband fundraising effortsenlisting co-ops to enable region wide broadband fundinglocal bipartisanship's impact on raising funds While it is great to have a single source of funding, communities need financing options because broadband projects are complex and can be expensive. Now is the time for creative communities that believe in thinking outside of the box.
This newest Community Broadban Snapshot Report is sponsored by Corning and SiFi Network. Some of the tips and advice presented in this broadcast are you just in more detail in Settles' new book, Building the Gigabit City, Vol 2.
It’s good to take a step back, gauge the ways broadband has advanced as a community asset, and get a sense how these networks are moving cities forward. As Gigabit Nation celebrates its 4th anniversary, this is a good opportunity to hear from some people working in the trenches and take stock of where we are headed.
A panel of doers from across they nation, including the mayor of Chattanooga, weigh in on several important issues. Broadband is improving and enhancing local governments of all sizes. Communities have discovered the art of marketing as broadband defines 21th century cities. Medical and healthcare delivery it is becoming the “sleeper” killer app. A different type of planning needs to take over as communities grapple with broadband adoption challenges.
Our guests today are:
Andy Berke – Mayor, Chattanooga, TN
Aaron Deacon – Managing Director, KC Digital Drive
Mark Erickson – City Winthrop, MN EDA Director
Anne Schwieger – City planner and member City of Cambridge (MA) Broadband Task Force
From a regulatory perspective, the FCC is the lead agency shaping this Administration’s broadband legacy, both for its aggressive policymaking and its program funding. This interview looks at how far the FCC has come, and how much further some feel the agency should go to facilitate broadband advancement in the U.S.
Gigi Sohn, Counselor to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, gives listeners insights to the agency’s efforts to promote fast, fair and open broadband networks. She’ll discuss issues such as community broadband, Lifeline and E-Rate modernization, net neutrality and the FCC’s role as a consumer protection agency. As broadband networks become ever more essential to full participation in our society and our economy, the FCC's role will become even more critical.
Among Sohn’s roles at the FCC is ensuring that the public has an opportunity to participate in FCC’s proceedings that will determine the future of broadband networks. Sohn discusses how consumers and small businesses can make their voice heard at the Commission. As former CEO of the public advocacy group Public Knowledge, Sohn is well-positioned to give listeners a perspective on what it is like to go from outside advocate to inside bureaucrat.
A sure bet for recouping you broadband investment? Follow Columbus, Ohio’s game plan of marrying wired and wireless broadband so your local government’s Internet of Things and their Internet of People to form a truly smart city.
Columbus uses broadband and information technology to innovate, collaborate, attract investment, improve government services delivery and raise the quality of life for its citizens, winning it the 2015 Intelligent Community of the Year award. The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) gives this award to highlight communities’ best practices for adapting to the demands of the broadband economy.
Gary Cavin, City of Columbus, decribe some of the projects that contributed to his city’s winning its prestigious honor. Researchers at Ohio State University won a two-year $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create a safe and resilient network architecture dubbed the “Science DMZ.”
New gigabit networking and application support tools are being developed that will foster broadband adoption. High-definition video supporting public safety, law enforcement and first responders. The city’s Comprehensive Traffic Signaling System (CTSS) program is building a backbone of fiber optic cable and wireless communications technologies.
Cavin informs listeners how other cities can use the power of the gigabit to transform government services and create new applications. Several of Columbus’ best practices will be included in the new version Craig Settles’ book, Building the Gigabit City.
Look at every successful Community network and you will find good marketing that begins months before a network actually launches. Longmont, CO has marketed its network for several years, and has the take-rates (new subscribers) many communities hope to achieve.
Tom Roiniotis, General Manager of Longmont Power & Communications, shares some of public utility’s secrets for success, including: built bi-partisan support among local elected officialscreated consensus among the various constituenciesmanaged expectationsbuilt strong word of mouth supportlaunched creative and effective marketing communicationsuse success to build greater success Roiniotis has explains how their nextLight network has how a lot of local enthusiasm that translates into sales, and excellent customer support that keeps subscribers loyal. He envisions in an endless series of applications and new innovations enabled by nextLight as a marketing advantage that will keep it ahead of competitors.
Developing relationships with elected officials and city government staff is critical to any muni network marketing plan, both locally and at the state level. For many communities, public networks are bipartisan efforts. At the state level, however, getting both sides of the aisle to come together behind these networks produces mixed results.
The city of Sandy Oregon has a very stellar relationship between City staff, elected officials and constituents. City IT Director Joe Knapp and Sandy Council President Jeremy Peitzold tell us what works for them while offering other communities some perspectives to consider. how do city staff and city council form consensus defining the goals, getting funding and planning marketing;everybody wants the network built in their area first, and but political tensions can build because somebody has to be last;what do you do when one or two opponents of the network are one city council;is public networks’ role in economic development the key to legislative good will.
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Sometimes the obvious solution to a broadband challenge is right there in front of a community. Like money. Waverly, IA realized that not just one but THREE local banks held the key to the city's fundraising success. While some communities are stressing out over funding sources, financial institutions could be the linchpin that get many public networks off the ground.
Who better than local banks and credit unions are served by the economic impact of broadband? New employers moving in, existing companies hiring, increasing property values, people staying in town - when economies thrive, banks prosper. Darrel Wenzel, General Manager of Waverly Utilities, explains how their financial institutions came to be partners in the city's broadband development. He also gives tips to communities that see this strategy potentially playing out well for their constituents.
Iowa is a hub of excitement these days, with Waverly being the third gigabit city in the state to move forward. The city is hot on the trail of high-speed Internet, cable and phone services for both residents and businesses. Waverly Utilities and city officials are pleased that general taxpayers and ratepayers are not at risk as revenue bonds have been secured and will be paid back by broadband subscribers.
Forward-thinking people in five U.S. cities hit the bleeding-edge of innovation this past weekend while answering the question, “what can we do with a gig?” The future of gig apps looks particularly bright according to French telecom company, Orange, which hosted this first-ever multi-city hackathon.
Will Barkis, Technologist for Orange Silicon Valley, gives us a rundown of some of the interesting applications and inventive solutions that can impact education, healthcare, entertainment and business. Those participating in GigHacks represent communities with citywide gigagit networks and those with plans on the drawing board.
San Francisco, CA
Orange GigaStudio paired with several Bay Area firm to leverage gig technology with a focus on online music collaboration, 360 video, VR use cases and video chat.
Kansas City, MO & KS
Teams formed to build pilots in virtual and augmented reality for the classroom, Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems for public safety and civic engagement, digital health and other technologies.
Chattanooga, TN
Orange partnered with several local businesses and the Chattanooga Public Library to leverage municipal broadband, GENI and a group of talented UT Chattanooga-GIGTANK Fellowship applicants
Burlington, VT
Advanced teams formed to leverage Burlington Telecom's fiber network in the areas of smart grid energy management, cyber-security, edu-gaming, food systems, and secure mobile health.
Charlotte, NC
Charlotte projects included cancer genome analysis, unstructured data analysis and visualization, video collaboration, energy innovation and civic engagement.
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Munis are in the infrastructure business, a.k.a. municipal broadband networks, and doing rather well at it. Indianola Municipal Utilities (IMU) in Iowa is a great example of a city-built asset that is busy creating innovative solutions to meet Indianola’s needs. IMU's network facilitates STEM projects in high schools and colleges, brings students and tech entrepreneurs into startup ventures, and hosts an advertising network that drives new sales for businesses.
Todd Keilkopf, General Manager of IMU, joins us to describe some of the many benefits of the network, as well as future plans for the network. Similar to Cedar Falls, the other gigabit network in the state, there is a lot of emphasis on economic development. Clearly things are jumping in this part of Iowa. The key to success for IMU has been the creative and extensive use of partnerships, as Keilkopf as keen to point out.
It's all hands on deck as several Obama Administration agencies and departments spring into action implementing components of the Obama Broadband Doctrine announced recently in Cedar Falls, IA. Today learn how your community can get vital assistance executing network deployment and adoption efforts.
The BroadbandUSA initiative, a program of the Dept. of Commerce's National Telecommunications and information Administration (NTIA) will: provide expertise, tools and information to benefit communities that are developing or improving broadband services and broadband adoption;offer online and in-person technical assistance to help communities mprove broadband access and bring more Americans online;host a series of regional workshops around the country to instruct decision-makers on best practices and lessons learned from local communities;distribute guides and tools that provide communities with proven solutions to problems in planning, financing, construction and operations; andthrough collaboration with other federal agencies and broadband stakeholder groups, promote interagency coordination to ensure that information and resources get to communities quickly and effectively. Laura Breeden, Director of External Affairs for BroadbandUSA, and Lynn Chadwick, Federal Program Officer with the NTIA State Broadband Initiative, offer tips and guidelines for maximizing this newest program. Their primary mission is to make it as convenient as possible for communities to get assistance making broadband work for their constituents.
Tennessee, along with North Carolina, has become Ground Zero in the Obama Administration’s drive to roll back state laws restricting public-owned broadband networks. But what about on the ground? How do consumers, businesses and state legislators feel about these laws?
Tennessee State Senator Janice Bowling discusses her views on why it’s time to question the value of her state’s restrictions. Sen. Bowling believes in the free market system. But she also believes from first-hand experience that the public-owned fiber network in her hometown of Tullahoma successfully meets a vital economic need that the market can’t or won’t address.
The Senator describes her constituency’s progress in economic advancement, education, healthcare since launching their own network. Some Tennessee townsfolk can look across the bridge and see citizens in cities such as Chattanooga benefitting from gigabit networks. Sen. Bowling feels this is an injustice to communities, and last year led efforts eliminate the restriction on public utilities to expand their broadband services to nearby communities.
Craig
Cedar Falls, IA became Ground Zero for launching a Presidential drive for gigabit community-owned broadband throughout the U.S. Learn how this 20-year old network took center stage last week as the latest beacon leading cities nationwide on the path to faster, better public-owned broadband.
Broadband is driving Cedar Fall's economic activities. Listeners get a detailed breakdown of the city's progress since upgrading to a gigabit network a year ago from Bob Seymour, Planner III/Economic Development. Curtis Dean, Broadband Services Coordinator for the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities provides insights to expected developments in the state's broadband future.
President Obama held up Cedar Falls as a great example of the value of public braodband networks in helping to meet America's highspeed Internet needs, and why we need giant service providers to stop blocking communities' ability to become the next gigabit success story. Our guests offer listeners advice on how their communities can overcome the challenges of these statutes.
A big majority of the hundreds of citywide and partial-reach broadband networks are celebrated successes by their stakeholders, businesses and residential subscribers, disproving critics who wrongly claim all public-owned networks are failures. Interviews live from the Kansas City Gigabit Summit reveal what it means to have a winning community broadband network.
Delegates from eight of the communities sharing their success stories with Summit attendees join us to give listeners insights to setting and meeting broadband goals. It is important to understand that, unlike private service providers, "return on investment" (ROI) is very different for communities focused on using broadband to improve economic development, transform healthcare delivery and otherwise serve the public good.
Guests, including those representing Winthrop, MN, Chattanooga and Jackson, TN, Monmouth, OR and Salisbury, NC, also discuss how they funded their networks, and offer advice for meeting the money challenge as opportunities and financing options evolve. One of the several strengths public entities have over private companies is the ability to repay debt over 20 or 25 years rather than being driven to meet stockholder needs for quick returns.
The Gigabit Summit is a national gathering of cities with broadband networks that are educating, helping and encouraging cities just beginning their broadband journeys. Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri are the proud hosts and gigabit showcase cities kicking off 2015 with the first big broadband educational conference of the year.
There are 20 are about states with restrictions on muni- and public utility-owned broadband. More states may try to join them in 2015. But communities across America are gearing up to push back. Learn how the Coalition for Local Internet Choice (CLIC) is supporting them and how you can help.
Local Internet choice directly impacts economic development and job creation, innovation, investment, and competition. Jim Baller, President of CLIC, and Joanne Hovis, CEO of CLIC, discuss why local communities, through their elected officials, must have the right and opportunity to play a critical role in choosing the best broadband infrastructure for their businesses, institutions, and residents.
Listeners gather insights to working with willing incumbents, developing public-private partnerships, establishing their own networks when necessary, or creating other inventive approaches that work for their communities. Both guests share their many years of experience in helping communities obtain the many benefits of advanced communications capabilities. Baller and Hovis formed CLIC to give voice to the wide range of public and private interests that support local choice and to provide communities practical advice and the tools necessary to prevent new state barriers from being enacted and to remove existing barriers.
A large majority of municipal and public utility broadband networks are successes. Next Century Cities lays out several paths to help your community to reach this winner's circle.
NCC Executive Director Deb Socia describes for listeners a range of business and funding models for community broadband that are creating success stories around the country. Communities such as Santa Monica, CA and Mount Vernon, WA built success by using their networks for replace T1 lines and other old communications infrastructure. Others such as Monticello, MN formed public private partnerships. Jackson, TN and Cedar Falls, IA sell services direct to subscribers.
Socia's organization has assembled quite the brain trust of communities and she is happy to share some of that knowledge. Listeners will get insights into: preventing critics from defining your success;defining parameters and goals for success based on constituents' broadband needs;helping non-technical people understand and become excited about how the network will impact them; andpromoting your successes. Next Century Cities is a membership organization providing knowledge and peer- support for communities and their elected leaders, including mayors and other officials, as they seek to ensure that all have access to fast, affordable, and reliable Internet.
State laws mandating these public-owned broadband networks get voter approval through referendum campaigns used to mean near-certain death for any project. Kiss those days goodbye! Meet the winners who have turned the tide.
November 4, EIGHT towns and counties all passed ballot initiatives to return the authority to pursue broadband to their constituents. With 70% or more of the vote. Predominately Democrat or Republican didn’t matter. How did they do that!? Representatives of Boulder, Rio Blanco, San Miguel, Yuma County and other communities give us the scoop on how they pulled off these big wins.
We’re going to find out: Are the political winds blowing heavily community broadband’s way?At the local level, is broadband now a bipartisan issue?What tactics were effective getting these referenda passed?What happened to the giant telcos and cable companies?What comes next for these communities?Will there be a flood of communities rolling out their own ballot initiatives?
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The pride of the pack when it comes to community broadband business models is the open-access model in which the local government or public utility owns the physical network and private-sector ISPs deliver services to subscribers. It looks like a relatively easy model to pursue, and dozens of communities say this is their preferred option. In reality, making open access work is a monster challenge requiring intense, constant effort.
Mt. Vernon, WA has built a small cadre of ISPs for its open-access fiber network. Information Services Director Kim Kleppe details how they overcame obstacles and seized opportunities to build a successful network that is financially sustainable. Listeners will learn: why getting the second ISP is the hardest job in the world;how to set pricing structuretips for creating win-win situationsmarketing tactics that attract ISPs and subscribershow to keep everyone on the same page Kleppe and his colleagues have 12 years experience building and refining their open access model. Communities just getting their networks off the ground can really benefit from the lessons of those who've been in the trenches a while.
If someone owed you $400 BILLION, would you really trust them to look out for your best interests? Currently, Comcast is trying to convince regulators that it's in consumers' best interest if they swallow up Time Warner, AT&T apparently wants to broker a grand compromise on net neutrality and several giant incumbents are arguing that public-run networks are the scourge of Satan. A just released book provides a mountain of data that suggests regulators should take great caution in assessing any potential deals and policies incumbents are advocating.
“The Book of Broken Promises: $400 Billion Broadband Scandal & Free the Net” exposes the broken promises of the telcos such as AT&T, Verizon and Centurylink, as well as some of the major cable companies. Bruce Kushnick, industry analyst and Exec. Dir. of New Networks Institute, examines incumbents' ‘commitments’ to rewire America's business and residential customers, and explains what we can expect as far as these key pending policy decisions are concerned.
A major challenge for community broadband advocates is to understand what all the jargon and legalese means to the folks working trying to get better broadband. What is net neutrality and how can advocates influence decisions about it? What's Title II, or Title I and why should they care? If the proposed Comcast-Time Warner merger is bad for broadband, how can we stop this train? Kushnick helps non-policy wonks understand some of the complexities of these key policy discussions.
Congressional reps, in their annual pique over the abuses of a couple of wireless companies, are attempting to once again throw out the broadband baby with the water of a corrupted few. Atty. Anthony Veach, from telecom industry law firm Bennet & Bennet PLLC joins us to discuss House bill 5376's threat to broadband usage in underserved communities.
Veach describes how the current FCC has made reforming its telecom industry-funded Lifeline grant program a priority, and discusses whether Congress's action threatens rather than helps create meaningful changes. Lifeline originally funded basic telephone service for low-income urban and rural households so no citizens would be economically forced to do without phone service. The Bush Administration expanded Lifeline to include wireless phone service as this was quickly displacing landlines. As smartphones become a primary device for accessing broadband, particularly in communities of color, Congress' action threatens to hit them particularly hard.
Listeners get an inside peek at Lifeline reforms to date, and what additional reforms are in the works. They also pick up some valuable insights into the Lifeline program, its main accomplishments over the years and some of the challenges the program faces as it tries to keep pace with technology changes not envisioned by Lifeline's original architects.
Many communities must understand that, without a well-crafted and executed creative marketing strategy, their broadband networks will have limited success. This is particularly true in states such as North Carolina that have a hostile political climate for public networks. Salisbury, NC has held their own for four years, but plans to turn on the marketing afterburners to accelerate their growth and impact on the community.
Salisbury Mayor Paul Woodson and Mayor Pro Tem Maggie Blackwell present constituents and listeners with details on some of their marketing ideas. The city launched its Fibrant fiber network in 2010 and has steadily increased its subscriber base in the face of stiff incumbent opposition. They recently upgraded Fibrant to 1 gigabit per second service, which they expect will improve economic development, healthcare service delivery, education and government services.
City leaders see their marketing efforts moving forward on two fronts: 1) increasing marketing messages that educate various constituencies about the benefits of gigabit services, and 2) raising Salisbury's national profile as a forward-looking gig city that is a center of innovation. The Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem describe several of Fibrant's past marketing successes, and provide other community broadband teams with advice on how to market effectively against well-financed adversaries.
As the many middle-mile networks built by federal broadband stimulus, state and some private-sector efforts light up, broadband is not magically appearing on residential and business doorsteps as some local broadband champions mistakenly expected to happen. There's a lot of finger pointing, wailing and gnashing of teeth in communities as they subsequently try to figure out how to move last-mile projects forward.
OneCommunity announced a $2 million Big Gig Challenge grant to help public and private entities build community fiber networks in the nonprofit's 2,000-mile, 11-county coverage area. Their middle-mile fiber network is dedicated to propelling northeastern Ohio to the forefront of broadband innovation.
Listeners who want to move the last-mile ball forward despite the challenges to finding money and other resources will learn much from OneCommunity's COO Brent Lindsay and Economic Development Manager Liz Forester. They discuss the grant program and offer recommendations for other entities that want to create similar programs to drive last-mile buildouts to connect with middle mile infrastructure. Money is important, but Lindsay and Forester also describe the types of programs that must be in place so communities can maximize grants and other funding.
As the endless stream of RFPs for community broadband feasibility studies widens, are these communities considering the intersect between broadband and cloud computing? It's important to have quality infrastructure that reaches all constituents, but it's equally important to build an infrastructure that supports applications that make the network financially sustainable. Learn how to create a role for cloud computing in your broadband planning.
Bernie Arnason, publisher and editor of Telecompetitor, keeps his finger on the pulse as he covers developments important to the broadband ecosystem through his analysis and commentary. Arnason is particularly focused on how network operators, including community broadband project teams, monetize the infrastructure while serving communities' needs.
Listeners get a solid grounding in how targeting local enterprises and small businesses with cloud computing services has a payback both in generating high-end, big dollar subscribers with low churn rates, and increasing the economic strength of community businesses. Arnason describes how to design the network buildout and subsequent marketing of cloud and other services to capture this low-hanging fruit. He also discusses the "Internet if things," which is an important element of cloud computing strategy.
Feetz don't fail me now! Chattanooga this week unveiled several awe-inspiring 3D applications that development teams created this summer on the city's gig network. As broadband champions get their brains wrapped around 3D printing and the technology's potential benefits, it's immediately clear why your broadband plan should include 3D printing apps. Two companies from Demo Day give you an eye-opening peek at the future.
Feetz
This is is a 3D printing manufacturer and retailer that creates custom-fit footwear for consumers of all shoe sizes. Using patented algorithms and snapshots from the customer’s phone, Feetz integrates custom sizing measurements with individual design preferences to bring comfort, fit and style into each pair of hyper-customized shoes.
3DOps
These folks have created a 3D printing manufacturer that provides contract medical devices for pre-surgical planning. Using patient-specific data, the company creates anatomical 3D models that enable surgeons to plan procedures before operating on patients.
Three years ago, July 27, 2011, Gigabit Nation launched to help public, private and nonprofit organizations get better broadband everywhere it needs to be. Chattanooga's gig network was my first feature. Join the show's 3rd Anniversary broadcast live from EPB, Chattanooga's public utility and operator of the first U.S. citywide gigabit network.
Chattanooga is one of the rock stars of U.S. broadband. Meet key players from center stage and behind the scenes driving innovation, economic development and a better quality of life for the city's diverse constituents. An all-star cast of stakeholders are stopping by to help Gigabit Nation celebrate, and also share some of the inside scoop on three years of network milestones, marketing wins and plans for future successes. Learn about Chattanooga's fight against states' intrusion on communities' broadband decisions, and other ways in which the gig city is influence national discussion on broadband.
Joining the show are: Chattanooga Mayor Andy BerkeEPB CEO Harold DePriestJim Ingraham, EPB VP Strategic Research, Gigabit Nation's first guestKatie Espeseth, EPB VP New ProductsJ.Ed Marston, VP Marketing & Communications, Chamber of CommerceDr. Steve Angle, Chancellor, University of Tennessee ChattanoogaJack Studer, LampPost, Chattanooga Venture CapitalistBentley Cook, Senvery, GigTANK graduateSheldon Grizzle, Managing Partner, Spartan Partners Mike Bradshaw, Executive Director, The Company Lab
As an increasing number of communities begin seriously exploring options for a community broadband network, it seems municipal bonds are once again being considered as a serious funding option. This year's survey of economic development pros reveals that just over half feel their communities could successfully launch a bond measure, or that their chances for success are 50/50.
Three factors lead to the success of issuing muni bonds to fund community broadband networks: the political willsuccessful navigation of the legal processesassembling the right financial resources David Shaw, Chief of the Government & Utilities industry section of Kirton-McConkie law firm and Laura Lewis, Principal at municipal financial advisory firm Lewis, Young, Robertson & Burningham, Inc., walks listeners through these three criteria in layperson's language to help stakeholders navigate these tricky waters. Both have experience working with bond efforts for cities across the U.S.
Helping Iowa and Colorado communities better assess all of their funding options for network projects, including a bond strategy, is a main component of the special 5-week broadband strategy Webinar series led by Gigabit Nation host Craig Settles.
There's a point in the planning process when your community broadband project team and main stakeholders need an education in the basics of broadband technology. The city CIO or IT manager probably understands the tech choices you face. However, it's important the city manager, economic development team, Chamber president, steering committee and others know how those choices facilitate or hinder the outcomes they want broadband to achieve.
Dave Russell, Solutions Marketing Director for FTTH equipment vendor Calix, brings clarity to common tech terms and terminology by explaining them in the context of key broadband business decisions. He helps listeners understand issues such as speed vs. capacity, the relationship between fiber and fixed wireless, technology options' and their impact on costs or deployment time, and matching needs with speeds and feeds.
There are also business issues within the community that tech staff, providers, vendors and potential partners need to know in order for them to deliver products or services that best meet community needs. Russell offers some tips for helping communities develop a good RFP as well as an effective process for evaluating RFP respondents. This show is great preparation Craig Settles' Webinar for Iowa and Colorado communities that begins Wednesday.
While people in the broadband industry and journalists may salivate at the mention of a gigabit, the average person on the street probably gets that "deer in the headlights" look on their face when they hear the word. But these are the people in homes, businesses, school districts, doctors' office and elsewhere who you need to buy services on the network. How do the 300 + cities such as Chattanooga, Longmont, CO, and Danville, VA make broadband an exciting project for their constituents?
Robert Henry, CIO for the City of Davenport, IA, is leading an RFP (Request for Proposal) effort to find someone to lead a needs assessment effort. He speaks from the heart about the challenges of getting constituents and stakeholders to understand the basics of broadband, and then become active supporters of the project. The media attention gets people interested, but the network's price tag can throw cold water on that interest.
Henry discusses various tactics communities can use to educate constituents. It's not just what you say, it's how you say it. Listeners get valuable tips on making broadband relevant, promoting change without triggering some people's fear of change, effectively using analogies and engaging stories, and promoting technology without "selling" technology. Henry also explores the role of the stakeholders in driving up the excitement level within the community. Building the level of excitement about broadband we see in some communities is an ongoing process, and one that requires continuous attention.
This discussion comes a week before a Webinar series conducted by Gigabit Nation host Craig Settles launches to give broadband project teams in Iowa training for managing related community broadband issues.
How do you know when a public or community broadband project presents a serious threat to telco and cable incumbent providers? The flood of lies, half-truths and outlandish distortion of relevant issues. The only cure for the dark clouds that opponents try to cast over public-owned networks is to shine the bright light of fact-checked truth over errant anti-muni network statements.
In Utah, a group of cities in the UTOPIA fiber project are evaluating a potential deal with infrastructure-building giant Macquarie that plans to build a strong pro-community network. Longmont, CO passed a second referendum measure last November that paved the way for the city to accelerate deployment of its muni-owned network. FreeUTOPIA Editor Jesse Harris and City of Longmont Asst. City Manager Sandi Seader dissect the most persistent of the mischaracterizations of community broadband.
Beginning with the charge that "all muni networks are failures, and working through such gems as "municipal networks will cause firefighters and police officers to lose their job" and "these networks are unfair competition" to giant telcos, Harris and Seader set the record straight. The discussion presents facts and details community broadband project teams need to hear so they can better assess their business model options, be prepared for the inevitable pushback they face from incumbents and astroturf groups.
Though occasionally the butt of political humor, Toronto is no joke when it comes of using technology to improve Canada's largest city's economic future, Toronto began serious efforts to capitalize on Internet networks when Muni WiFi was all the rage in 2005, and WiFi emerged again in 2013 as a key technology for the city as they tackle digital inclusion issues. However, its plans to use a gigabit network as part of an aggressive economic development project on the waterfront helped catapult the city to the coveted title of Intelligent Community of the Year.
After an exhaustive survey of over 400 communities worldwide, the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) staff determined Toronto to be the leader of the pack. Waterfront Toronto President and CEO John Campbell discusses the role of broadband in its $35 billion revitalization project. An estimated 12,000 new residents are targeted to receive a 100 Mpbs service, while local businesses should see 10 gigabit services.
ICF is a think tank that studies the economic and social development of the 21st Century community. It's Intelligent Community awards salute the accomplishments of communities in developing inclusive prosperity on a foundation of information and communications technology,
Every time you read about some city or county announcing plans to build a highspeed Internet network, it is almost certain you will read that the broadband network is expected to improve the local economy by bringing more innovation and jobs to town. But is this a guaranteed conclusion? Is it enough just to get a gig to every business, or do communities need to wire every home as well? How much innovation is needed before you see new jobs? And how many jobs equal success?
To answer these and related questions, Intelligent Community Fourm (ICF) Co-Founder Robert Bell joins us to discuss what our realistic expectations should be when addressing this economic development trifecta. Bell just wrote "Brain Gain: How innovative cities create job growth in an age of disruption," which becomes available June 23.
ICF last week anointed Toronto, Canada the Intelligent Community of the Year after analyzing over 400 communities from around the world. Bell offers listeners a rich array of real-world examples of constituents harnessing the power and potential of broadband to transform their communities. It is hard to predict what innovation will look like exactly, as each community is different, but Bell explains how to set the stage so that a community facilitates innovation.
Community broadband project teams and stakeholders always hear that these network services are the new utility, they improve economic development and people use broadband to find jobs. But what's missing? After the news stories, conferences, Webinars and calls to colleagues, what do those folks driving broadband deployments still need to know?
Jeffrey Gavlinski, one of the two primary people behind this year's successful Mountain Connect rural broadband conference, shares what he finds are the questions, answers and information that still elude individuals, many of whom don't even know what they don't know. Do we really understand what these networks should be producing? Are project teams being taught the a-b-c's of building good networks, and how to market them effectively before and after deployment?
Knowledge is power, but what you don't know can kill even the most promising broadband plans. Gavlinski has attended plenty of conference, talks frequently with lots of people and stays on top of broadband news in preparation for his own conference. The industry is marketing a lot of sizzle these days, but is it giving those who need more news they can use enough steak and side dishes? This interview gives listeners an overview of the kinds of details required to fill in the knowledge gaps and where these details may be found. The role of consultants in filling these gaps is also examined.
A recent survey of economic development pros reveals that 43% believe broadband-driven telemedicine will have a significant impact on local economies. Maybe it’s time communities move that needle well north of 50%.
The Illinois Medical District in Chicago is betting a 100-gig network covering 560 acres and digitally integrating over 40 medical facilities will reduce costs, score major research projects and attract new businesses. District Executive Director Warren Ribley explains the details of this ambitious project, and why other communities should consider something similar. Fujitsu Network Communications is a key private-sector partner in this project.
Though many people mistakenly assume large metropolitan areas to be the land of broadband abundance, Ribley describes the area as currently “a broadband desert.” Telemedicine, when powered by Internet at light speed, promises to be an economic accelerant to lift up urban and rural communities that have vision, creatively and seriously good planning.
Community highspeed Internet networks really started to become prominent in the media during 2011 - 2012, but broadband has been playing key roles in some communities for a decade or more. It is good to occasionally stop and take stock of what this technology is accomplishing.
Norm Jacknis, Senior Fellow at the think tank Intelligent Communities Forum (ICF), studies the economic and social development of 21st Century communities. He offers detailed analysis on what uses of broadband networks are proving successful and which tactics require re-tooling. We discuss: what determines success, particularly in rural communities;examples of communities impacting education and economic development;what types of jobs created by broadband are best for long-term community growth; andwhere are communities finding money to move broadband projects forward. Jacknis provides some background on ICF’s Top 7 Intelligent Communities of the Year. These are chosen from hundreds of communities worldwide, and broadband plays a prominent role in their selection. Starting June 3 they will meet in New York City for the final selection of the Intelligent Community of the Year.
Sure, everyone knows Chattanooga's public utility-owned rocks. But 11 years before EPB launched Chattanooga to fame, Springfield, MO was way ahead of the curve with its Springnet fiber network. Their Manager of Network Architecture/Support shares a lot of valuable knowledge and insights for communities that want their public utilities to get into the act.
Todd Christell gives an overview of Springnet's successes, including the introduction of a 1-gig service, and details on how they continue to capture new opportunities while fending off various challenges. He also discusses progress public utilities in general are making in broadband, and possible reasons private utilities continue to shun offering this service.
Christell reveals a novel way Springnet maintains its marketing edge - teenagers. He brought teens into the earlier planning process and took their input very seriously because, "they are the future. They understand this stuff better than we old folks do." Springnet widend its youth lens by teaming with 1Million Cups, Mid-America Technology Alliance and its City2City Connecting Gigabit Cities Hackathon to reach young entrepreneurs. Communities need to listen carefully to this because it's hard to argue with success.
In 2009, the Dept. of Commerce's BTOP agency, and the Dept. of Agriculture's RUS agency committed $7.5 billion to organizations and companies to deliver broadband infrastructure, adoption programs and computing centers to communities in need across the U.S. This week many of the BTOP grant recipients gather in Washington, DC to compare notes and progress at the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition's annual conference.
SHLB Executive Director John Windhausen gives us an overview of some of the successes and challenges of this year's attendees, as well as those of FCC broadband grant recipients. Patricia Campbell, Director of External Relations of the Keystone Initiative for Network Based Education (KINBER) recently completed a 1600-mile middle mile network throughout Pennsylvania. KINBER is raising community awareness of broadband and economic development.
There have been good strides as middle mile projects concluded and focus shifts to community last mile efforts. Support programs are transitioning into self-sufficiency models, and FCC programs such as eRate are expanding infrastructure buildouts.
Digital inclusion - closing the technology gap between the have's and have not's - may be a priority for some federal and state agencies, but the delivery of measurable results happens mostly at the local level. This is particularly true for broadband. Too many variations between cultures, geography, economic priorities, languages and other factors exist for cookie cutter attempts to get underserved constituents online AND maximizing broadband technology.
A Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program (BTOP) grant to the City of Chicago launched activities to educate and motivate constituents within nine Smart Communities to use the Net. Karen Mossberger, Ph.D., School of Public Affairs, Arizona State University, describes the impacts of programs that included workshops, advertising, skills training, and community portals. Dr. Mossberger's team conducted surveys in 2008, 2011 and 2013 to compare adoption and usage between the Smart Communities and the rest of Chicago.
Listeners learn some of the how-to's for creating and implementing effective digital inclusion programs. In addition, Dr. Mossberger reveals some of the trendsetting methods she used to measure the results that adoption programs produce, as well as upcoming research that will shed more light on how to create successful programs.
Those who’ve felt that cities are being asked to give up too much for their broadband dance with Google and other companies should take a close look at Macquarie's deal with UTOPIA. These cities are getting a pretty good deal here from their partner: a guaranteed open access network, revenue sharing, cities retaining ownership of the fiber assets when the agreement period ends, and both businesses and individuals get wired.
Can cities considering deals with private-sector companies use the Macquarie deal to establish new negotiating parameters? Wayne Pyle, UTOPIA's Chairman of the Board, and Jesse Harris, Editor of FreeUTOPIA and Utah broadband analyst, dissect elements of the deal being struck with UTOPIA cities, analyzes how they were able to negotiate from a position of strength and discusses why other communities may want to re-think their approach to partnerships.
Pyle and Harris provide details on how UTOPIA overcame its early challenges, and thoughts on how cities may proceed over the next 12 months. There are several valuable lessons for communities to take away. Listeners also get an overview of the broadband developments in other Utah cities.
Gigabit broadband is going to expand the digital divide in some areas, at least in the short term, because gigs go where the money is. Wireless enjoys some advantages in costs and quick deployment that make it a valuable digital inclusion tool for underserved communities today and a backup solution for tomorrow.
Tony Schloss, Director of Community Initiatives for the Red Hook Initiative in Brooklyn, NY, is using a wireless mesh network as a job creator and a tool for economic development. Nearly half of economic development pros in a recent survey believe broadband networks can be used to encourage individual entrepreneurship among underserved constituents. Schloss tells listeners how they can achieve these objectives in their communities.
Listeners get an overview of how to raise money and deploy wireless technology, mobilize people to organize and participate in digital programs, help develop basic applications, create community-centric content and keep operations going. Schloss also discusses some of Red Hook's successes working with youths and what steps communities can take to replicate these.
It is accepted in economic development and public policy circles that a strong K-12 education system attracts and retains businesses, while contributing some of the local workforce. What may be less understood is how to maximize broadband networks to drive the economic outcomes that education promises.
EducationSuperHighway is a nonprofit that provides services, staff and public policy advocacy to help schools maximize their use of broadband and lower the technology's cost. Of particular significance is the organization's efforts to help reform the $2.5 billion FCC eRate program that funds schools' broadband networks nationwide.
Evan Marwell, CEO and Founder of EducationSuperHighway, describes his team's unique approach, current successes and future plans. He also discusses some of the complex processes necessary to leverage broadband and education technologies to influence economic outcomes including funding. A recent survey of economic development professionals reveals that 40% value eRate, but another 45% feel the program is hard to implement even though it ultimately benefits schools.
Every community needs a hackerspace or two. This hot trend can easily add a low-cost, high-impact spark to a struggling neighborhood, or accelerate the economic impact of your broadband network. The hackerspace movement can even provide a pathway to affordable health insurance.
Gina Lujan, Founder of HackerLab in Sacramento, CA, explains how to easily start and maintain a viable hackerspace. You don't need much: an empty building or office space, electricity, some paint, a few tables and chairs - and a decent Internet connection, the faster the better. Invite people with good ideas, a dream and basic tech skills to bring their laptops.
Gina outlines the key to success, some do's and don't's, strategies for funding and why letting the members run the show is the secret sauce that's making hackerspaces a winner across the U.S. She also lays out the basics for making hackerspaces a major element of broadband adoption strategies, and lets listeners know about a program that enables hackerspace participants to get lop-of-the-line healthcare at affordable rates.
Community broadband success usually does not ride solely on one person's shoulders. However, there is a type of person who is critical to a network project's success - the broadband champion, that local person(s) who figuratively carries the flag and supports the project to friends, neighbors, colleagues and even strangers.
Mark Latham, City Manager for Highland, IL, recently finished overseeing a broadband stimulus-funded gig network project for his community of 10,000 citizens after 78% of voters approved a bond measure to move the project forward. He describes the best tactics for identifying, educating, motivating and managing the small band of champions who will become the often-unofficial public face of your broadband project.
Look at any successful project and a common thread is a band of vocal broadband champions. With the right preparation, these individuals are critical to generating initial network subscribers, building political support, influencing potential investors and attracting general public support.
In March, in partnership with the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), host Craig Settles conducted a national survey of IEDC members. The primary goal was to better understand how broadband as a community asset impacts economic outcomes. A secondary goal was to provide a reality check to errant claims about broadband and those outcomes.
IEDC President/CEO Jeff Finkle (CEcD) joins us to discuss the results of this year's survey. The survey addressed the state of current broadband in respondents' jurisdictions, communities' plans to get faster, better broadband, and how the technology is impacting local businesses, education and healthcare services delivery.
Finkle explains to listeners the role of economic development professionals in addressing the issues reviewed in the survey. In addition, the discussion also examines common assumptions about broadband's impact on local economies.
36% of economic development pros say "it's quite likely" broadband can encourage entrepreneurship among underserved urban or rural individuals. Craig Settles' survey report cites another 14% have witnessed this personally. And over half say mentorships maximize broadband's benefits to startups and home-based businesses. Good news for Nashville, TN and other cities vying for Google Fiber.
Marcus Whitney, Co-Founder and CTO of the leading tech startup accelerator in the southeast, gives listeners his views on how Google Fiber can make a difference in the local economic scene. His Nashville-based Jumpstart Foundry has graduated 30 companies over the past five years. Whitney offers details on what specific steps local government and business leaders must take to ensure a broadband network leads to measurable success.
Training in business management and using technology also are addressed. Communities cannot expect that merely having a network improves economies. Whitney and Settles explore how some of his other findings relate to Nashville and its broadband needs. Settles will release the full survey report April 9 during a keynote presentation at the Broadband Communities Summit along with Bill Sproull, Chair of the Board of Directors of the International Economic Development Council, sponsor of the report.
With developments of the past two months, we have to wonder if there is a new trend of public broadband network advocates becoming more powerful in state legislatures. We've seen three bills to introduce or increase restrictions going down to defeat in conservative legislatures, and Tennessee saw serious efforts in their legislature to roll back restrictions on public networks.
Veteran telecom attorney Atty. Jim Baller, President the Baller Herbst Group and strong advocate for informed local choice in broadband matters, helps us decipher what these recent events that go counter to state legislative action that gave 19 states restrictive anti-muni network laws. What do these developments tell us about the power of lobbyist or the political attitude of legislators? Have the pro-muni net forces become better organized?
Tennessee is of particular interest since previously conservative legislators have held fast in their antagonism towards public entities' involvement in broadband. Atty. Baller also discusses currently unfolding developments in some Democrat-controlled legislatures. The interview is coming live from the annual conference of the Southeastern Association of Telecommunications Officers & Advisors, which focuses heavily on broadband and telecom issues important to city and county governments in S. and N. Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.
Three entrepreneurial friends quietly started RST and began laying the foundation for a super fiber network that can deliver a gig to both rural and urban communities throughout N. Carolina. They announced it yesterday. BOOM! Competition in this state just got real.
Co-founder Dan Limerick joins us to describe their epic journey from vision to execution, and how they caught the giant incumbents napping with the company’s plan to deliver a 1-gig wireless last-mile service that gives them extra deployment agility and quickness. This week culminates a two-year under-the-radar campaign to acquire un-used fiber until they had 3100 miles, enough to cover the entire state with a 100-gig network infrastructure.
RST also discusses their competitive advantages. Google, after all, has a couple of N. Carolina cities on its short list of next cities they will offer Google Fiber. Besides triple play services of TV, Internet and phone, RST serve both residential and business subscribers with an array of specialized services such as surveillance, à la carte video, smart grid technology, telemedicine and online education.
Creating a nonprofit or tapping into an existing one has enabled dozens of communities to launch successful broadband networks and digital inclusion programs. Cleveland, OH's OneCommunity nonprofit organization just announced a for-profit arm that's bringing 100 gigs to businesses in 24 counties in northeast Ohio, and subsequently raising services and benefits to a whole new level.
Financial sustainability of efforts to close the digital divide as well as deliver broadband services is often a challenge, particularly when serving low-income and sparsely populated communities. OneCommunity's for-profit, Everstream, promises sizeable revenue streams by serving pent up demand from businesses. Communities everywhere should closely evaluate this strategy to determine if a similar approach can benefit their constituents.
Brett Lindsey, President of Everstream and COO of OneCommunity, explains how their strategy evolved, what benefits it brings to the nonprofit and subscribers, and what steps stakeholders should take to determine if this strategy is appropriate for their particular needs. The Everstream story is highly relevant because urban communities' broadband needs are overlooked in national policymaking because some assume metropolitan areas have plenty of access to superfast Internet access.
Last week Kansas citizens revolted fiercely against a proposed state legislation that would have nuked broadband competition from municipalities in that state. All forms of media exploded with public advocates railing against the Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger's threat to competition. Many consumers decry the lack of competition. But what's the private sector's take?
Executives from two companies that provide highspeed services offer private-sector perspectives on the state of U.S. broadband competition. Large telecom and cable companies tell us all is well. Many rural communities say they barely have dial-up services. What's the real deal? And if the source of problems is lack of competition, what can or should the private sector do about it?
Jerry Cady, the Director of Sales and Marketing at LS Networks, and Mark Scully, President of Comspan Communications tackle serious issues on the topic. in communities where broadband is lacking, is the private sector alone capable of resolving the problem;what role do state and local governments have in increasing competition;are the FCC's potential actions regarding net neutrality, easing restrictions on municipalities and expanding the Connect America Fund (CAF) likely to impact competition; and will a transition from traditional network to IP technologies add to or reduce competitors in various markets?
"Are you a small business that wants high speed broadband in New York City? You're in luck! There's a competition available to get you just what you need. To compete, you must: Swim across the Hudson River in freezing water, chanting "I want my fiber", holding onto your laptop at all times,Pray to the gods to shine their light so you can beg to get some broadband. Offer them a goat as a sacrifice (Vegans can use turnips),You must show why you really, really, really, need a broadband connection and demonstrate what the "potential impact of fiber on your business and the feasibility of fiber construction to your building." This bit of sarcastic wit from guest Bruce Kushnick, Exec. Dir. of New Networks Institute, highlights a deadly serious problem: true highspeed Internet access that meets the needs of businesses and residences doesn't exist in many urban centers. Kushnick explains to listeners how they can meet and overcome this challenge, even if Katniss is too busy to help at the moment.
Beginning with his take on new Mayor Bill de Blasio's initial steps to attack the problem in New York, Kushnick discusses how constituents there and elsewhere can leverage existing cable franchise agreements to try to counter some of the negative aspects of the announced Comcast/Time Warner merger. He also presents tactics for influencing local broadband policy, using incumbents cross-subsidization practices against them, and ultimately, doing whatever's possible to facilitate additional competitors with highspeed broadband into urban markets.
Utah State House Bill 60 will cripple one of the biggest multi-jurisdiction, public-owned networks in the U.S. Rather than directly attack UTOPIA communities' freedom to buy or build their best broadband solutions, HB60 flat out prohibits businesses from buying services from UTOPIA. In case there was any doubt of the bill's beneficiary, hot on the heels of HB60 was CenturyLink's announcement that they now will offer gigabit services to those same companies.
Utah community broadband advocate and FreeUTOPIA Senior Editor Jesse Harris discusses how HB60 makes no pretense of creating a level playing field and is really an anti-competition campaign. He also advises how broadband supporters can fight back effectively against incumbents' lobbying might at the state level in Utah and elsewhere.
Harris shares his observations of legislative procedures and broadband politics, including the sleight of hand that removed the bill from Death's doorstep in the committee, only to raise it from the dead with only 24 hours notice of a public hearing. Businesses and free market advocates need to pay attention to the threat HB60 poses to both.
The Kansas rural and urban broadband market - the people, businesses and organizations that pay for services - is demanding state government get out of the way and let the market get faster better Internet access. This market response is setting the stage for legislative battles in other states.
A statewide community petition drive demands legislators "bring NO broadband bill forward until you visit our communities and learn about our inadequate broadband." Topeka, KS entrepreneur Lazone Grays addresses the negative impact on small businesses of the ALEC-inspired, lobbyist-written bill that threatens communities' ability to implement their own best solutions to meet broadband needs.
From his vantage point in the state capital, and being actively engaged professionally in increasing communities' access to technology that prepares individuals for the work world, Grays discusses why and how constituents in all states must get into the broadband political game: there's a disconnect between constituents and legislators who believe they only answer to industry lobbyists;inadequate broadband infrastructure is an urban as well as rural problem; andsmall business must be the core of counterattacks on bad broadband bills.
The FCC just gave the green light to a broadband funding program to reward communities, utilities, co-ops, ISPs and others who can push the envelope to produce creative broadband solutions. Learn how you can develop a proposal that puts you in the running to capture some of these funds.
Alyssa Clemsen-Roberts, Industry Affairs Manager at the Utilities Telecom Council, has worked closely with FCC staff as they developed a process for a diverse set of experiments and data collection initiatives that allow the FCC to evaluate how broadband impacts communities. She shares her insights with listeners to help them understand and navigate the FCC's two-part program of 1) submitting Expressions of Interest (EOI), and 2) applying for the resulting grant program.
The program will award Connect America Fund (CAF) money in one-time grants to fund broadband pilot projects and general network projects. Any entity is eligible to compete for these funds. Clemsen- offers advice on issues such as presenting financial and technical viability of your project, elements of a sound long-term business plan, and garnering local support for the project. Gigabit Nation host Craig Settles has pointers for an effective needs analysis, which will be critical for your pilot's success and the ultimate success of your broadband project.
Imagine there was no Google Fiber in Kansas City! The Kansas state legislature is poised to not only prohibit municipalities from owning broadband networks, it will prevent even private companies and nonprofits from delivering faster, better Internet access (sign this petition to kill the bill). This bill effectively can block Google or any other competitor to existing incumbents from serving most of the state.
Chanute, KS City Finance Director Rebecca Wood joins us to describe a development that threatens other states as well. AT&T and Cable ONE wouldn't deliver the broadband Chanute needed, so the city built its own. But an ALEC-inspired draconian bill introduced this week threatens to destroy communities' home rule, and the ability to invest in their own citizens.
Wood discusses how this bill will kill Kansas towns' hopes to replicate Chanute's successes in economic development, advanced healthcare, education and government service delivery. Given how ALEC operates, it is likely that this bill's passing would lead to similar legislation in other states. Listeners get valuable advice on how they can join with Chanute and various organizations in the state to kill Bill 304.
There are many challenges to getting better broadband connectivity and choice in the U.S. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is championing competition as a means of ensuring Americans have access to advanced services. The question is, how do we outside the D.C. Beltway play an effective role in facilitating better policies at the FCC and other Federal agencies that lead to more communities getting faster affordable broadband?
Representing private-sector companies devoted to bringing better broadband solutions everywhere, Comptel Chief Advocate and General Counsel Angie Kronenberg lays out strategies for listeners to join this good fight for a competitive communications marketplace. She addresses issues such as: what are some short-range local tactics that we can engage in this year to begin blunting the effect of anemic competition;how can communities create partnerships with private companies to level the playing field;what are the top two or three issues in D.C. that the grassroots should attempt to influence? Kronenberg, who previously worked five years at the FCC, provides our audience with valuable insights to some of the inner workings of the agency so proponents of vigorous competition can align with FCC and Congressional efforts in this area. Of particular interest to communities are the changes happening as the FCC reviews ongoing technology changes, Congress reviews the nation's telecom laws, and the Commission continues implementing reforms in its Lifeline and E-Rate programs.
The intersect between culture, broadband and economic development is important, and about to become more so as the Top 7 Intelligent Communities in the world are unveiled today by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF). This international cast offers best practices in creating competitive local economies capable of excelling in a global broadband economy.
Arlington County, VA and Columbus, OH made it to the Top 7 this year, and will attend ICF's June conference where the Intelligent Community of the Year (the best ofthe best) will be selected after special presentations from the seven communities.
If you are harnessing broadband to boost economic development, the community's culture forms the launch pad for every program and project. Learn how culture provides intangible assets needed for success, determines how readily new ideas are accepted, educates constituents about their role in the new economy, and enables constituents to persuasively articulate the broadband vision.
ICF Co-Founder Robert Bell joins us to describe some of the broadband best practices that raised the Top 7 above hundreds of other communities worldwide. He also gives listeners tips on how they can assess and leverage their local cultures to help make broadband an economic engine.
Some critics like to bad mouth muni-owned broadband networks by spinning half-truths about cities they claim are failing. Loma Linda, CA, similar to other successes in the state such as Santa Monica and Burbank, is a winner on many levels when you assess the full scope of its network.
Loma Linda Asst. City Manager Konrad Bolowich joins us to describe the City network's impact as a business venture. "The network based just on revenues we generate is a breakeven effort," states Bolowich, "but the city government wouldn't be able to run without the network." He explains to listeners how the Loma Linda Connected Community Program: led to Loma Linda becoming the Disneyland of Healthcare, which by itself has a huge impact on local economic development;enabled the City to totally revamp and improve how it serves citizens while reducing its operating costs by 20%; andcontinually closes sales to local businesses for a range of telecom and data services. Bolowich discusses the City's effective strategy of partnering with developers to ensure new properties expand the network into residential communities, while scoping out tactics to bring broadband to other residences. He also weighs in on whether offering triple play (data, voice, video) services are vital to the network's success. There's a lot in this 60 minutes for communities to learn about how to win at broadband.
There's a potential new channel for FCC broadband money, and you want a shot at getting some. If you're planning a pilot project for your broadband buildout, don't miss this interview.
On January 30, the FCC is likely to approve an order for an Expression of Interest in a program that will award Connect America Fund (CAF) money in one-time grants to fund pilot projects. How much money your project potentially can get depends on several factors including financial and technical viability of the project, soundness of the long-term business plan, strength of local support, community impact and overall creativity of the project.
Public utilities, community-owned networks and other "nontraditional" organizations will be eligible to receive grants. Get insights to how you can prepare a pilot project proposal that puts you in the running for this program. Alyssa Clemsen-Roberts, Industry Affairs Manager at the Utilities Telecom Council, gives listeners insights on pilot project development, planning and writing the proposal for the FCC. The interview also addresses how to tie effective needs analysis into your planning and establishing benchmarks to measure your pilot's success.
You can't discuss the digital divide and access to broadband without also addressing the lack of access to media: TV, radio, print. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler took a bold step and visited Oakland, CA to engage citizens directly in a conversation about media access. But what resulting action should communities on the wrong side of this digital divide expect?
Three of the public advocates who organized Oakland's town hall meeting (hosted by Voices for Internet Freedom) analyze Chairman Wheeler's comments as well as his recent policy statements to help listeners understand: what actual impact can we expect Chairman Wheeler to have on the public advocacy issues these organizations care about;why better broadband and greater media access go hand in hand;how do we enable people on the margins of society to use these technologies and resources effectively once they do get access;is it really possible for average citizens to compete with high-priced lobbyists and influence meaningful FCC public policy. Center for Media Justice Ex. Director Malkia Cyril, Free Press Associate Policy Director Chancellar Williams and Free Press Sr. External Affairs Director Joseph Torres join us to offer their "in the trenches" experiences and insights. Each has spent many years in public advocacy.
No matter how you tackle community broadband, every project becomes political at some point. Are you prepared?
This past election saw the victory of two pro-municipal broadband ballot referendums, both in Colorado. These are as political as it gets. Longmont passed a bond measure 2:1 that enables the public utility to reduce their broadband buildout from 10 to three years. Centennial passed a referendum 3:1 to take back authority for its broadband infrastructure.
Vince Jordan, a key player moving Longmont’s network along, joins us to offer insights on preparing your stakeholders so they minimize or avoid political challenges, and create maximum good will at the local and state political levels. He’ll describe the tactics Longmont used to leverage $5,000 to beat Comcast’s $350,000 drive in 2011 to squash that city’s ballot measure, and outline how others can do the same. Vince also comments on Comcast’s absence from this year’s referendum campaigns.
Vince’s remarks were recorded at Craig Settles’ training session, Building the Gigabit City in Colorado. Officials from various Colorado towns and counties, including Longmont, met to learn valuable skills, exchange tips and collaborate on their respective broadband efforts.
Go big or go home! That's the broadband gauntlet Los Angeles threw down in a big way last week. All eyes are turning to the West Coast to see what this bold entry means in the drive for Gigabit Cities. Angelenos are looking at a potential $3 - $5 billion fiber network spread across the entire 470 square mile urban sprawl, 5 Mbps of free Internet access, affordable faster access for 1/3 of the city's 3.7 million people and services to businesses as well as residences. But instead of the fawning "take me, I'm yours" posture of typical Google Fiber suitors, L.A. officials expect a winning bidder to front the entire buildout investment, operate an open access infrastructure and not plan on the City to make things like permitting easy. Sound familiar? Think 2006, muni WiFi and free service. "However, don't expect this to be deja vu all over again," says Gigabit Nation guest Steve Reneker, Los Angeles' General Mgr. of the Information Technology Agency. Reneker is the former CIO of Riverside, CA, and while there he ran an impressive city wireless network and digital inclusion program that paid their full overhead every year. Listeners will get a detailed briefing on the project and answers to key questions such as: is this approach different from 2006 efforts that spawned shaky startups and bad business plans? does the city really expect private companies will front billions while the City won't even grease the wheels of the permitting process why are't the L. A. Dept of Water and Power fiber assets off the table will the City aggregate demand as an enticement to bidders what's the City's leverage to ensure the successful bidder's network produces the desired economic and other outcomes Don't miss this interview of the year!
Across the U.S. an increasing number of public-owned electric and other utilities are building or planning to build highspeed Internet access networks. In many ways these entities are well suited for the task. Is yours? Curtis Dean, Broadband Services Coordinator for the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities joins us to discuss why public utilities are making a difference in the drive for faster, better networks. Dean, who was part of a team that built a successful public utility network in 2001, offers listeners a lot of valuable advice. We explore critical issues that help ensure a public utility leads an effective broadband initiative, including: * determining what your public utility must do to effectively launch a broadband network; * addressing challenges and tapping the benefits utilities can deliver with broadband services; * managing time and monetary costs of operating a network infrastructure; and * effectively marketing the services after launching a network. Don't miss Craig Settles' workshop in Ottumwa, IA that will tackle these and other issues.
eRate, as envisioned when it was created in 1997, is a fund the FCC manages that helps public schools and libraries get discounted Internet services and computing devices. But has it done enough? Many, including FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and President Obama, believe more can be done. Comm Rosenworcel's Legal Advisor Priscilla Argeris joins us to present an informative break down of the reforms that the FCC is pursuing. Argeris explains how these changes, enhancements, and so forth will or could have an impact on communities pushing for better broadband networks. Whether communities own their infrastructure or are building out infrastructure in partnership with private-sector companies, they need to follow these reform developments closely. Argeris leaves the audience with clear ideas about how they can participate in and influence the reform process.
You know you have a winner when big telcos give your community network grief. UTOPIA, the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency, is a 11-city fiber network that has become a clear winner despite incumbents' worst efforts to stop them.
UTOPIA rolled out a user-financing business model in which residents and businesses pay $2,750 to get fiber infrastructure built to their doorstep, either in one up-front payment or through monthly installment. UTOPIA experiences an initial take rate of over 20% with this approach, and some areas exceed over 50% over time.
Learn how your community can effectively use this model to share the buildout cost of your infrastructure. How do you structure fees? How do you promote the model? Get valuable tips for how to leverage early commitments to get future subscribers.
Many cities want to replicate the success of Chattanooga's gig network. But every community wanting to drive innovation should also replicate the success of Chattanooga's GIGTANK. This summer GIGTANK turned the entire city into a test lab for the research, development AND marketing for startups from around the world. GIGTANK's director Sheldon Gizzle and the startups discuss their experiences and innovations. GIGTANK's design, structure and execution provide valuable lessons for other communities. Our guests describe: * how GIGTANK is structured and run; * changes from last year; * benefits of developing apps in a gig environment; and * how Chattanooga individuals and businesses participated with the startups.
FwdHealth uses available APIs to integrate popular wellness apps and trackers into one, simple UI to manage preventative healthcare activities.
HutGrip is a cloud based SaaS that helps manufacturers reduce production downtime and improve their processes.
Tidbit.co makes it easy to publish training content for employees, customers and partners via mobile devices.
Mira Designs enables retailers to collect actionable data and improve the in-store shopping experience.
Sensevery's Fitbit® wireless sensing platform lets care providers to monitor the daily activities and health of loved ones at home or senior care facility.
Sisasa bridges the gap between community financial institutions and young adults by reinventing the mobile banking experience.
WeCounsel's HIPAA compliant, cloud based platform connects mental health professionals to their clients and colleagues online.
"The silent market" is a phrase some might use to describe machine-to-machine (M2M), which is the group of technologies that enables sensors, meters and a whole range of inanimate objects to communicate with each other. While broadband project teams typically look to economic development, education and medical services applications to justify the cost of building networks, they may be overlooking M2M as one of the killer broadband apps. Josh Broder, President of Tilson Tech gives listeners a breakdown on the importance of M2M in community broadband needs assessment and strategy planning. Tilson Tech has led several massive broadband deployment projects in the U.S., including the Maine Three-Ring Binder project. Broder addresses some of the pressing concerns about M2M, including: * what does the "Internet of things" really means; * the extent to which inanimate objects will be hooked up to the Net, and what this means for broadband capacity; * what kind of wireless and wired broadband coverage is needed to address M2M; and * the role of cellular wireless vs other forms of wireless technology.
Oregon has the highlest level of broadband adoption in the U.S. and the lowest percentage of unserved constituents. This did not happen by accident, but through deliberate policymaking that reach to the highest level of state government.
Chris Tamarin, Telecom Strategist for the Oregon Business Development Dept., joins us to talk about how his state became the leader of the pack. Of particular interest is how Oregon has established policies that overcome barriers to greater telemedicine advancement, such as: * encouraging and supporting the rapid deployment of telemedicine services where they currently do not exist; * requiring health benefit plans to provide coverage of medically necessary telemedical health services; and * requiring Oregon Health Authority to adopt uniform credentialing and privileging standards for telemedicine service providers (pending governor's signature. Tamarin also gives listeners an overview of how local communities can build more effective relationships with state government that bring more businesses to town. Oregon's broadband policymakers have forged such relationships since 1991.
One antidote to corporate network TV news and brain-numbing programming may be community-owned TV that is driven by gigabit networks. Explore how the power of new video production tools, social networks and superfast Internet access can create better TV that delivers significant community benefits. Bruce Montgomery, CEO and Founder of Technology Access Television, explains for listeners the imperative and the potential benefits of taking back what used to be the "public" airwaves. Since 1999, his digital media production organization has covered tech solutions in education, business, government, community development and non-profit organizations. Montgomery presents an outline for using gigabit connectively and digital media to change how constituents do business, increase digital literacy, improve their health, pursue justice and contribute to an overall better quality of life. He includes some perspectives on urban broadband adoption that mainstream media sometimes overlooks.
As the pace of network buildouts increases, communities sooner or later must face the reality that these networks succeed or fail largely on the strength of broadband adoption, a.k.a. marketing and sales. Either you have enough subscribers (paying or otherwise) for the network, or the network is not financially sustainable. NTIA Program Director for Public Computing and Broadband Adoption Laura Breeden informs listeners about a new, detailed guide book the agency developed to help you create and implement successful adoption programs. She also presents practical tips for producing making broadband relevant for hard-to-reach constituents. Ms. Breeden addresses: * developing the right elements of an adoption program; * effective awareness and outreach activities; * getting affordable computers and Internet access to constituents; and * designing digital literacy training that works.
When Gigabit Nation launched two years ago to help organizations bring faster, better broadband to communities, Chattanooga and its first-in-the-nation gigabit network was the topic of the day. Both the network and the show have come a long way since then. Jim Ingraham, VP of Strategic Planning at EPB, the Chattanooga public utility that owns the infrastructure, highlights some of their major wins since his appearance on that initial show in July, 2011. Ingraham also talks about upcoming plans as the customer base grows and Chattanooga aggressively leverages various benefits that having the network makes possible. As more communities put gigabit Internet access into place, Chattanooga has to step up its game in order to maintain its leadership position. Some of the developments of particular interest to listeners are: how Chattanooga continues to use the network to attract a steady flow of new businesses; the city's marketing savvy positions itself as the hightech mecca of the south; K - 12 and higher education's evolution since gigabit service launched; Chattanooga's efforts to achieve its goals in telemedicine; and staying ahead of the competition.
GIGTANK 2013 is a poster child for Chattanooga's gigabit success, a three-month app development boot camp that leverages the city's network to produce exciting next-generation software and services. Gigabit Nation provides a peek behind the digital curtain to see what some of these teams are creating. Seven development teams of startup entrepreneurs plus 11 technology specialists from around the world are working furiously toward Demo Day, August 6, when they get to showcase their creativity. Three of the startups take a break to present their contenders for Killer App. Cody Bowen - Tidbit: Their application makes it easy for anyone within an organization to publish training content for employees, customers and partners via mobile devices. Detelin Yordanov - Hutgrip: This team aims to enhance product feedback and automation in manufacturing processes as well as facility management for small and medium-sized businesses. Bentley Cook - Sensevery: They are developing a wireless sensing platform for care providers and their loved ones to monitor daily activities (motion/sleep) and accidental falls of individuals in home or senior care facility.
Could Silicon Valley be replaced as center of the tech universe by the only gigabit city in northern California and its surrounding communities? Lit San Leandro is a gig network launched by a local successful software entrepreneur who could not get the broadband speeds he needed, even in the Valley. The City is now energized to aggressively expand the network to usher in a new era of innovation in the region. San Leandro Chief Innovation Officer Deb Acosta shares some of the City's vision as it prepares to host a regional workshop to give communities' stakeholders hands-on training in bringing highspeed broadband to constituents. The communities on the east side of the San Francisco Bay see the Lit San Leandro initiative : cultivating a new generation of technology and bio tech entrepreneurs to take root; uniting East Bay state, local and community colleges into a major center of academic research; creating a nucleus of medical research and telemedicine advancement; and upgrading the overall quality of life of residential and business constituents.
The elusive Holy Grail for broadband is proof. Specifically, useful and accurate data that proves to some extent how broadband impacts local economies. But this could be changing as data-gathering efforts started several years ago in various communities are starting to bear fruit. The Minnesota Rural Intelligent Communities (MIRC) was one such project that provides valuable lessons. MIRC involved extensive research to determine if and how broadband impacted personal economic advancement, continuing education and business performance in 11 communities. Bernadine Joselyn, Dir. of Public Policy and Engagement for the Blandin Foundation, and Robert Bell, co-founder of the Intelligent Communities Forum (ICF) present the MIRC report's key findings, and discuss what these mean for rural communities in Minnesota and throughout the U.S. The Foundation administered the project on behalf of the initiative's partners, including ICF which established measurement criteria. Listeners also get tips on effective techniques for assessing broadband's economic impact.
Many discussions about improving broadband access fail urban America and low-income communities because policymakers assume the primary need is for marketing campaigns to convince individuals to get online. The real demons are poor network infrastructure, low speeds and affordability. Silicon Harlem (http://siliconharlem.net) hopes to upend some of these barriers to digital inclusion through its mission to drive technology adoption, entrepreneurship, arts and culture, and social innovation. Executive Producer Bruce Lincoln (bruce.lincoln@urbancyberspace.com), the first Ford Fellow in Educational Technology, describes the organization's blueprint for success and how communities can replicate its progress. Mr. Lincoln has spent many years as a design scientist and highspeed network developer. He calls on his experience and offers some advice for overcoming challenges such as: disparities in eRate funding for urban schools; inadequate infrastructure in inner city communities; economic shortcomings; and digital illiteracy.
A 4,000-mile broadband network represents a huge capital investment for an electric co-op - or any community organization for that matter. When done right, a comprehensive pilot project can save you a ton of money and a lot of time. Learn how Co-Mo Cooperative in central Missouri ran a year-long pilot that removed a great deal of uncertainty, and paved the way to a very confident launch of a 4-year buildout. Co-Mo determined that buildout costs could be notably less that projected, and they achieved a take rate of about 46 percent, which is considerably more than expected. General Manager Randy Klindt offers listeners details on how to plan, establish measurement criteria for and execute pilots. He also provides community stakeholders with useful advice on how to maximize the strengths of electric co-ops as part of an effective broadband strategy.
Your public library may be where the promise and the reality of TV white space wireless broadband meet, thanks to the Gigabit Libraries Network (GLN). Don Means, GLN Coordinator, joins us to invite your community libraries to participate in a national pilot project to create applications for this newly available unlicensed spectrum. For over 25 years, the public library has been the one place adults and kids in urban and rural communities can access the Internet. In fact, approximately 80 million people in the US get free wireless there, thanks to unlicensed wireless technology. Learn how GLN is igniting a movement nationwide to turn libraries into TV White Space testbeds that show communities how to get greater broadband capacity deployed over wider areas, even in rural regions. Shouldn't your library be on this leading edge?
Host Craig Settles returns to his childhood hometown of Johnstown, PA in rural Cambria County to take a close look at an area where terrain makes fiber prohibitively expensive, but broadband is a necessity. This county-owned wireless infrastructure is notable because 1) Cambria County played by Verizon's anti muni-net state law and were able to build and operate the network, and 2) this is a public safety network that also enlists ISPs to provide services to residents and businesses. Steve Ettien, Dir. of the County Technology Department, explains how their 100 Mbps network accomplished both. Ettien also discusses how they implemented a wireless network that faced significant terrain challenges, and why those challenges make it highly unlikely county residents will ever experience fiber in their area. This story provides valuable lessons for other communities that need to rely on wireless to help them keep up with the digital Jones.
The New York State Broadband Program Office is on a mission to see that all citizens and businesses in the state receive universal broadband access. At the first New York broadband summit, Program Director David Salway presents the 2012-2013 annual report on progress toward this goal. Salway gives listeners several high points of the report and describes how other states might replicate some of these successes. He explains the role the ARRA stimulus played in New York's campaign for better broadband, and what the state plans to do to keep their efforts moving forward as the grant money runs out. This interview also addresses how the state overcame some of the challenges it faced, particularly in the areas of broadband planning and financing highspeed networks. Salway offers practical advice for others who are responsible for building infrastructure to serve diverse constituencies.
"It is important for cities to realize that this [broadband] is the way forward and, if used correctly, it can have a lasting impact on their economic, environmental and special development," says Julia Pulidindi, National League of Cities Senior Associate in their City Solutions and Applied Research Department. Pulidindi joins Gigabit Nation to present steps that communities should take to get constituents on the same page and moving forward to getting better broadband. She highlights creative ideas that have enabled communities to build highspeed Internet infrastructure, and drive various constituents to use the networks. Pulidindi gives listeners insights to the type of national broadband policy issues that the NLC is advocating for in D.C., and invites comments from the audience on these issues. NLC also has state affiliates, we explore how these provide cities and towns with valuable access to information and communication channels that can help local broadband efforts.
Communities may be leaving an awful lot of money on the table for funding broadband because they're not going to the most logical money source on the planet - the bank. Stearns Brothers & Co Senior VP Aaron Gadouas explains that approaching banks and other tradition financial institutions is a viable option that more communities should explore. Critiquing the nine business models presented in Craig Settles' Building the Gigabit City (Chapter 5), Gadouas lays out tactics for preparing your community to take it to the bank and get financing: * securing credible memoranda of understanding * pre-selling network service subscriptions * leveraging support from local banks and credit unions * avoiding obvious and not so obvious pitfalls Mr. Gadouas, with 15 years experience in corporate finance and new product development, is widely recognized for his track record of innovation that includes creating a public-private financing program for healthcare organizations. At a recent Kansas City conference, he presented government and private sector organizations with a game plan for financing broadband infrastructure.
Blacksburg, VA raised $91,000 to build a 1 gig network downtown using crowdfunding (bit.ly/ZVsVIz). A Kansas City neighborhood crowdfunded a wireless network buildout. Have we found the key to unlocking a big increase in broadband networks? As interest in this tactic builds, two community broadband veterans are rolling out a Web tool to crowdfund, aggregate demand and coordinate stakeholders. The design of this service reflects a belief that funding is just one of the challenges communities must address. Crowdfiber co-founders Greg Richardson and Bailey White advocate an integrated approach to broadband deployment that builds a pre-launch subscriber base while simultaneously raising money to fund the network. In addition, communities must be adept at organizing and project management. Listeners come away from this interview with a better understanding of: * crowdfunding best practices; * using the Google “fiberhoods” tactic to map demand; and * organizing stakeholders (a.k.a. herding cats).
This session helps state officials and project teams involved with broadband more effectively capture and manage broadband mapping data. Equally important, we explore how the apparatus for gathering coverage and availability data can be put to greater use for economic development and other useful policymaking. Angela Bailey, Director of NC Broadband, a division of the North Carolina Dept of Commerce, and Jennie Stapp, Montana State Librarian and Montana GIS Coordinator Stu Kirkpatrick discuss lessons learned from their respective states’ mapping projects. They also explain how they turned this, combined with other state data, into policies and action.
As we come to grips with the fact that stimulus money for mapping runs out in 2014, and some begin taking appropriate action, it is important that other states quickly follow suite. Our
As part of the broadband stimulus program, a sizable amount of grant money enabled states to create broadband coverage maps. Gigabit Nation listeners get a progress briefing from the NTIA's point person on broadband mapping and availability, Anne Neville, Director, State Broadband Initiative. Some of the topics covered are: * what have we learned from these mapping efforts * what progress is being made in U.S. broadband availability * are there challenges that remain * besides determining broadband coverage, can these maps serve other purposes As the funding for mapping projects expire at the end of 2014, states and local communities need to begin preparing now for the transition. This interview explores how states can get ahead of the curve and take some steps to ensure they continue to gather the data necessary to make good broadband decisions.
So, what do the average resident or business owner in Kansas City think about Google Fiber? A lot of pundits and politicians and media folks, of course, have weighed in with lots of excited commentary. Join us for an hour of thought provoking discussion with those who stand to be impacted the most by Google coming to town. Call in number is 323-679-0845. * How do John and Jane Q. Public expect their daily lives to be improved by gigabit Internet service? * Are business owners feeling left out and maybe left behind by Google’s focus (for now) on residential subscribers? * What kind of improvements do parents feel gigabit service will bring the schools? * Will a gigabit network increase digital inclusion, or just make the digital divide wider? * Do small business owners believe their companies can capitalize on gigabit speed? If you’re serious about broadband, check out what constituents have to say as we check the pulse of the community in Kansas City.
Could Google’s heavy initial focus on residential subscribers, while putting the business community on the backburner, shortchange KCK’s and KCMO’s economic development hopes? Cultivating startups is a plus. But mid-size and large cities boost local economies by making existing companies of all sizes stronger, as well as attracting larger companies to town. Learn how a Kansas City, MO ISP is filling in the gaps with a combination of gigabit wireless (yes, wireless), back-end infrastructure and a business market focus. Computers & Tele-comm CTO Graeme Gibson lays out a game plan for delivering gigabit services that go to the heart of economic development, and in a way that increases odds for financial sustainability.
Gibson breaks it down for listeners: * The right service offerings increase business adoption rates; * Segmenting your business market and communicating effectively matters; * Why it makes sense marketing wireless services to businesses; * Decisions about infrastructure such as Network Access Points (NAPs), data centers and backup sites directly impact the bottom line.
One of broadband's promised benefits is to dramatically change the process of educating children and adults. This broadcast explores how Kansas City can expect the new Google Fiber network to impact learning and knowledge retention while preparing students to live and work in the digital economy. Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Cynthia Lane joins us to discuss: * what KC should expect when local schools tap into a gigabit network; * how broadband-based education apps alter or enhance teacher-student-parent interaction; * outcomes when KC schools collaborate via broadband networks with schools nationwide or worldwide; and * tactics communities can use to prevent a widening digital divide as gigabit networks advance education. As KC and the Fiber to the Home Council begins its conference, "From Gigabit Envy to Gigabit Deployed," education is sure to be a hot topic. This interview with Dr. Lane is broadcasting live from the conference.
63% of participants in a national survey have seen communities use broadband to harness home-based businesses into a economic engine, or believe strongly that communities can do this. Gigabit Nation goes to Kansas City to spotlight this dynamic at work. Kansas City Startup Village (KCSV) participants give listeners first-hand details on how a booming entrepreneurial movement has taken root and is expanding thanks to Google Fiber. They offer valuable lessons to other communities that want to do likewise. Today's guests are: * Adam Arredondo and Matthew Marcus, co-founders of Local Ruckus and KCSV Co-Leaders; * Mike Demarais, Co-Founder, Handprint * Ben Barreth, founder of the Homes for Hackers program * Brittain Kovac, staff member of startup Leap2 and Event Manager for KCSV; and * Jonny Kot, community leader and founder of Tech-Pointer. Our guests have complementary and contrasting viewpoints on: * the role of Google Fiber in driving entrepreneurship in Kansas City * how communities can encourage and support startups * sustaining and expanding entrepreneur support programs. Listeners can download a copy of the survey analysis report that addresses the increase of home-based businesses and other economic outcomes broadband influences.
In March this year, in partnership with Broadband Communities Magazine, host Craig Settles conducted a survey of local government administrators and staff, service providers, consultants and others involved with broadband projects. What they have to say in Craig Settles' report, The Gigabit city & Economic Development, could directly influence your community’s efforts. Magazine Editor Masha Zager joins us to analyze what survey results mean to your community. 60% of respondents say fiber networks attract business, 54% say it increases home-based businesses. Nearly half feel 20 – 120 Mbps is minimum needed to impact certain economic outcomes. Only 7% see “searching for a job” as the greatest benefit broadband offers individuals. The survey explored broadband’s impact on six local economic outcomes in particular: attracting new businesses to town reviving depressed communitiesm making local companies more successful improving individuals’ income-earning potential increasing home-based businesses improving depressed business districts The survey also looks at the potential for broadband-enabled telemedicine to impact economic development, and probed how respondents view certain national broadband policies. We solicited feedback on possible broadband funding models. If economic development is important to you, listen to this show.
Google Fiber is mighty nice, but they aren’t the only fish in the digital sea. Communities actually have many options for getting better, faster broadband, they just need to understand where and how to look. Building the Gigabit City, Craig Settles latest book, helps rural and urban communities: 1) navigate past the hype surrounding gigabit networks; 2) understand what super-fast access can and cannot do to improve communities; 3) conduct effective needs assessment; and 4) plan effective broadband strategy to leverage their options. CEO Mark Ansboury of Gigabit Squared, Settles’ partner in this e-book project, joins the show to discuss several key issues the book addresses such as broadband’s impact on economic development. Ansboury and Settles also offer tips for consensus building to form partnerships between various stakeholders that move network projects forward. Building the Gigabit City is Settles’ ninth book about developing strategies and tactics for using Internet, wireless and broadband technologies. This is his first e-book.
The Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB) Annual Conference has become a yearly confab that draws many of the key players in broadband stimulus-funded projects. Our listeners hear from four of those who give us highlights of how far we've come since these projects launched: 2:00 Maria Alvarez Stroud - Director, Center for Community Technology Services, University of Wisconsin - Extension 2:15 Kevin Hughes - VP Sales & Marketing, Virgin Islands Next Generation Network 2:30 Tara Thue - Manager, Utah Broadband Project 2:45 Jane Patterson - President, Rural Telecom Congress America We get some of the inside details on several high-profile broadband deployment and adoption initiatives made possible by NTIA and RUS grant awards. Our guests discuss what they have found to be effective making better broadband and adoption a reality. They also talk about what's next for their projects.
Is this the other shoe dropping that incumbents fear and advocates cheer? Austin is the second major city selected to receive Google fiber. Are we about to see a trickle turn into a cascade of inspired cities and towns answering the FCC’s Gigabit City Challenge? Learn the secret to Austin's success. Two key leaders of Austin’s drive to snag the brass ring offer valuable insights. Austin Council Member Laura Morrison and Rondella Hawkins, Telcommunications and Regulatory Affairs Officer for the City of Austin, discuss how they planned and executed their campaign to bring Google to town. Both officials have extensive experience implementing broadband projects in Austin beyond the Google effort, so they have a running start on the myriad of programs constituents can expect from the network. We discuss the potential education, economic development, digital inclusion and telemedicine goals that have stakeholders excited.
Want to see local economies grow nationwide? Get the giant telecom and cable companies out of the way! David Cay Johnston, nationally acclaimed investigative journalist and author of THE FINE PRINT, lays out in stark detail how communities’ economic development is crippled by incumbents’ obstruction and anti-competitive practices. He also discusses how communities, small telephone companies, local providers and WISPs can fight back. Mr. Johnston is well known for shining a bright light on monopoly conditions in broadband and other industries that constantly rip off consumers. He explains for listeners the latest state legislative (and FCC) efforts that AT&T and other big incumbents are waging to get released from their responsibility to serve rural areas. He offers steps to counter this new twist on shortchanging those communities.
Though it requires dedicated effort to track and report on the economic impact of community broadband networks, there are plenty of ways in which these networks directly and indirectly produce economic benefits for constituents. Cedar Falls Utilities (CFU) in Iowa has been providing broadband services since 1996, and shares with listeners some great insights to using the technology as an economic engine. CFU’s Internet services impacts their local economy in several ways, including being a key contributor to CFU’s transfer of more than $1.6 million annually to the City's general fund, which reduces local property taxes. Betty Zeman, Marketing Manager for CFU, and Network Manager Rob Houlihan describe some of their many successes, and offer some tactics for measuring these successes. This year CFU completes the rebuild of its fiber network infrastructure, as well as extends their service to about 90 square miles of rural land outside the Cedar Falls city limits where the utility provides electric service. CFU recently announced that they have increased customer Internet access speeds across the board, but with no increase in price.
Delaware, the second smallest state in the union, is rated #1 in the U.S. in Internet connection speed by the Akamai’s State of the Internet Report. The state is ranked third by the TechNet State Broadband Index based on broadband adoption, network quality and economic support. And the hits keep coming. James Sills, Secretary of Delaware’s Department of Technology and Information, gives listeners a peek at the secret of Delaware’s broadband success, and also some of the state’s challenges. Serving in the office since 2009, Sills has been on a mission to put Delaware on the leading edge of technology. The state received broadband stimulus money from NTIA for mapping and planning activities. The Secretary addresses issues that face most statewide initiatives: driving adoption in urban areas where disinterest can be a bigger challenge than accessibility convincing providers to deliver service in sparsely populated areas keeping broadband maps current and relevant using broadband to impact economic outcomes
MDUs - Multi Dwelling Units. Apartments, office buildings, incubators and the like. They don’t attract much attention in mainstream media coverage of broadband, but advocates for these networks are taking a greater interest in MDUs. In Kansas City, geeks and budding software developers are flocking to apartments with gigabit access. Red Wing, MN has made a commercial MDU the centerpiece of its broadband adoption strategy. In a stroke economic development genius, Santa Monica, CA convinced commercial building owners to extend the city’s fiber network inside their buildings, and eliminated tenant vacancies. Bryan Rader, CEO of Bandwidth Consulting, explains to listeners how and why broadband planners need to factor MDUs into their strategy. Issues discussed are: MDUs’ role as anchor tenants on the network the economic development impact of broadband integration with MDUs one-size adoption strategies don’t fit all MDUs partnering commercial building owners with other broadband stakeholders
A Georgia town used its city-run broadband net to help eliminate property taxes. Yet some state legislators are tying to eliminate communities' ability to create similar successes. Luckily, community net supporters refuse to cede the battle to forces outside or from within their state. Thomasville, GA Mayor Max Beverly joins us to provide a front-line report on their state legislature’s most recent attempt to keep local governments from running broadband networks. State House Bill 282 is one of several ALEC-influenced anti-muni network laws proposed or in place throughout the U.S. that are barriers to states meeting the Gigabit City Challenge. Besides the "side-effect" of reducing taxes, Mayor Beverly describes other economic benefits Thomasville's public network has produced. 500,000 patients received treatment and 350,000 students received educations via technology the network made possible. 6000 jobs were created. Mayor Beverly explains the economics and the politics behind Georgia communities’ fight against HB 282. He also discusses valuable strategies communities in other states can use to stop and reverse the damage of these laws that cripple local economies.
Practically everyone involved with broadband projects is aware of those constituents who, for various reasons, don’t or won’t use broadband technology. Though it may be tempting to write them off, the public good is best served by closing the digital divide. But can we get there from here? Research holds the answer. MoBroadbandNow is Missouri’s statewide initiative to expand and enhance broadband accessibility and adoption. The organization has conducted extensive research to understand how to drive digital inclusion, and they recently released an indepth report, “Understanding Internet Non-Adoption.” MoBroadbandNow’s Managing Director Damon Porter and Project Director Anna Read help Gigabit listeners understand how to structure and execute effective research initiatives that get to the heart of non-adoption cause and effect in their respective communities. Porter and Read also present some of the main findings that can help others overcome their adoption challenges.
Casting around for effective strategies to help meet (or exceed) the FCC’s Gigabit City Challenge, we wonder: how do we focus the myriad of broadband projects and stakeholders into one unified charge for better networks that produce great results? Libraries may be the answer. Springing from Kansas City’s Google Fiber project, the K-20 Librarians Initiative hopes to make libraries the hub of broadband buildout and adoption efforts. The Initiative bridges K-12 school, college, and university libraries with public libraries to extend the reach of network infrastructure, applications and resources. Don Means, co-founder and principal of Digital Village Associates explains the game plan. He’s a major force in the Initiative. As hundreds of middle-mile broadband networks come online that have wired libraries and other institutions, how do we leverage these buildouts to cover surrounding communities? Can libraries become mini test beds for applications people try before they buy? Will fiber to the library mean super fast wireless to the home? Means addresses these and other important questions.
Economic fundraising is a proven practice that could net a community several million dollars for its broadband buildout if executed properly. Tom DiFiore, who has helped communities nationwide raise over $1.7 billion for economic development projects, shares tips on how to recruit enthusiastic investors from within your city and neighboring areas. The concept is simple, but be prepared for a lot of hard work. DiFiore explains how to recruit people who’ll invest an amount greater than the cost of broadband services in return for a piece of the action – when that action includes improvements in the local economy. Hospitals, your largest businesses, well-to-do individuals and others with a vested interest in seeing your community’s economy improve are ideal candidates. As President of National Community Development Services (NCDS), DiFiore finds there are more people and organizations than communities realize that are able and willing to financially support improvements in the local economy. The key is knowing who to ask, how to ask and when to ask.
A wave of support seems to be building for appointing Susan Crawford FCC Chairman should Mr. Genachowski retire. General consensus is this will likely lead to notable changes at the agency. But would these be mostly good or bad? The answer probably depends on where you sit. Hunter Newby’s company, Allied Fiber, sits at the hub of thousands of miles of network buildouts. He has business dealings and relationships with numerous private, public and nonprofit entities involved with broadband operations. And Newby has strong feelings about how Crawford’s policy positions would impact the federal agency that has the most significant impact on broadband in the U.S. This interview examines how FCC policy changes could influence the speed and cost of broadband deployments. From a private company’s perspective, could increased regulations really be bad for business? How do we reconcile the need to protect the public’s interests with companies’ desire to make a profit? Gigabit Nation tackles these and other important questions.
Ironically, the nation’s excitement over muni wireless networks in 2006 set Columbus well ahead of most cities on the path to highspeed fiber networks. Columbus not only brings Ohio on line with meeting the FCC’s Gigabit City Challenge of at least one citywide gig network per state, it beat over 400 cities worldwide to become one of Intelligent Community Forums' 7 Intelligent Communities. Gary Cavin, Director & CIO of the city's Dept. of Technology, explains how the city initially built a fiber network to drive wireless everywhere, and later transitioned fiber to center stage of their broadband efforts. Columbus is expanding that drive via partnerships with neighboring communities. The city qualified for its ICF award by demonstrating its ability to develop infrastructure and programs that enabled constituents and businesses to be active participants in the broadband economy. The Director presents several valuable lessons here for everyone involved with broadband projects.
Last year, the potential of US Ignite to kickstart a wave of highspeed broadband apps generated lots of excitement and anticipation. Red Wing, MN reveals potential transformed into reality with their recent progress report. Red Wing Port Authority Exec Dir Randy Olson and Division Head of Information Services Laura Blair explain to listeners how to get it right when driving broadband adoption and network financial sustainability. The Port Authority directs several initiatives, including their gig-driven state-of-the-art applications incubator, and the City is a major subscriber on the network. Though it is the smallest city in the US Ignite program, Red Wing is making pretty big strides. They offer important lessons on marshaling financial and other resources that helps their network soar. Red Wing's' accomplishments offer community broadband supporters everywhere a set of guideposts pointing to network success.
It an stunning example of ALEC-orchestrated legislative obstruction, North Carolina communities were shackled by the misguided and misnamed "Level Playing Field" law, hobbling their drive to bring true highspeed broadband to constituents. The key to unlock the cuffs? The creative use of free-market strategy to flip the script by Raleigh and other cities, the Gig.U team, and several NC colleges . Raleigh CIO Gail Roper offers communities everywhere tips to counter anti-competition state laws and incumbent shenanigans. Raleigh and nearby cities are leveraging existing fiber, stakeholder demand and Gig.U partners to secure private providers that will give communities gig services at affordable prices. Ms. Roper explains why communities must push hard for legislation that supports true infrastructure strategies to enable economic development in NC and elsewhere. She also provides listeners with insights to the city's plans to aggressively attack the digital divide, boost the local economy, increase digital literacy and deliver other key benefits.
FCC Chairman Genachowski just announced an initiative to get a gigabit city in every state by 2015. Is this a meaningful policy objective or, as some critics claim, "empty rhetoric"? Five community broadband industry leaders tackle this question. More importantly, they detail the heavy lifting necessary to get a gig to every state.
Jim Baller, President of Baller-Herbst Law Group, is a well-known telecom attorney and community broadband advocate who presents legal and policy issues that need to be overcome or leveraged.
Masha Zager, Editor of Broadband Communities Magazine, brings a good 30,000-foot view of both private sector and community efforts so far in the pursuit of highspeed Internet access. Christopher Mitchell, Dir., Telecommunications as Commons Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, tracks gigabit cities across the U.S. and knows what challenges face communities pursuing this goal. Arkansas Senator Linda Chesterfield brings a state legislative perspective since so many laws and funding programs affecting broadband come from state houses.
Gary Evans, CEO of Hiawatha Broadband Communications, has years of experience in private public partnerships and engaging the private sector beyond the traditional incumbents to get broadband where it needs to be. This special 90-minute show will take a blunt, no holds barred look at what it really takes to implement meaningful national initiatives that actually result in super fast broadband in communities that need it.
Confirmed this month by the Senate for her 2nd term, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn sits down with Gigabit Nation to discuss some of the FCC's upcoming actions and her outlook for broadband in the upcoming months. Some of the issues discussed are:Mow might the 14 pilot projects identified reform Lifeline? How might the 14 pilot projects identified reform Lifeline?How will CAF Phase II evolve as the FCC seeks recipients for the un-allocated Phase I money?When and how are the remaining billions of USF funds expected to be disbursed as they convert to CAF?How is the pool of FCC broadband funds recipients expanding to include smaller and non-traditional providers?How can individuals and communities outside of the Beltway assert a stronger voice in FCC policy and procedures? Comm. Clyburn also discusses some of the other major issues facing the FCC, such as spectrum allocation, media consolidation and the always popular net neutrality debates.
Besides death and taxes, the other sure thing in life is that the devil is indeed in the details when it comes to broadband projects. Today's show takes us behind the scenes of the Urbana-Champaign Big Broadband (UC2B) project to look at several operations key to your community broadband success: gathering feedback from potential subscribers; pre-launch market education and sales generation; creating effective maps; and on-going research and market analysis. Our guests offer project management insight and practical advice for those working in the trenches deploying broadband networks, Listeners receive tips they can put to work right away in their projects. LaEisha Meaderds, Program Coordinator, led canvassing and outreach efforts to support construction and customer acquisition. Dr. Maryalice Wu, Director of the ATLAS survey research service, led neighborhood level data collection, identified low Internet adoption areas and tracks Internet trends in these areas. Shavion Scott, Program Specialist, with the Graduate School of Library and Information Science provided GIS & fiber management for UC2B's canvassing and construction efforts.
The FCC's Connect America Fund is the current end product of reforming the Universal Service Fund. If the number and variety of people complaining about a particular government program is a measure of success, then the FCC has been wildly successful with USF reform. Today's interview with telecom attorney Fred Goldstein (partner with Interisle Consulting Group) attempts to sort out some of the wailing and gnashing of teeth. what's wrong with CAF, what's right with CAF who benefitted from this phase I of the CAF program (some argue it won't be rural communities) should we be surprised carriers refused to play in the CAF game does anyone really understand how this program works if we're having this much angst and agony over CAF phase I and II with only $300 million, what's going to happen when reform of the remaining $4 billion in former USF money comes on line? Anyone who's involved with, working for or cares about broadband in the U.S. needs to listen to this show.
Are ROW issues crippling broadband? We, the people, own over 4 million miles of right of way (ROW) - every street in America plus 10 feet on each side. ROWs exist so essential services such as roads, utilities - and telecom services are used by and available to everyone. But is this true when it comes to broadband? According to today's guest, Rita Stull, "the telecom industry spends tens of millions of dollars annually lobbying to retain free use of rights-of-way land. And the cable industry has spent 30 years lobbying federal and state legislatures to void franchises and eliminate as many payments for using community-owned ROW as possible. Stull explains why addressing these ROW issues are key to the future of community broadband. Listeners learn why every effort to acquire better broadband must start with an analysis of who "owns" vs controls the local ROW. They also get tips for monitoring activities in the state legislature than can impact ROW. Ms. Stull designs telecom plans for local governments, and has 29 years of public sector experience including integrating telecom within municipal operating and economic development departments.
Want to know where your state ranks in the big broadband picture? The key author of the TechNet State-by-State Broadband Index, a report that ranks states in broadband adoption, network quality, and broadband-driven economic outcomes, breaks it down for you. John Horrigan, currently VP of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, completed this report after recently leaving TechNet. Last week he participated in a special rountable of national experts discussing research on broadband and economic development. Listeners pick up valuable insights to how leading states are using broadband to increase small business creation, job growth and tax revenues, as well as influencing social changes among constituents. Horrigan's observations help communities with their broadband planning for next year.
The FCC is one of the most pivotal federal agency in terms of implementing national policies and funding programs that impact broadband deployments and adoption. But do communities maximize the potential to influence these policies and programs, or are the challenges too great? Sharon Gillett knows FCC procedures from the inside out, and shares this valuable expertise to help listeners develop strategies for navigating the challenges. As the former Chief of the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau, she herded major agency reforms through DC.'s political and bureaucratic mazes. This interview summarizes: some of the FCC major activities affecting broadband that communities can participate in and/or influence; the typical process for moving from policy ideas to actual programs; how to work the public comment period; and ways in which communities and small or regional ISPs and telcos may partner to influence the FCC policy and programs. For more FCC-related commentary, check out this writeup of my conversation Monday with FCC Chairman Genachowski.
Seattle just announced a project to add "Gigabit Network" to the list of reasons you want to live and do business in their city. In partnership with Gigabit Squared, the city soon will have 12 neighborhoods with gigabit infrastructure delivering wired and wireless services. Seattle Acting CTO Erin Devoto and Ed Lazowska, Seattle's U. of Washington pointman on the project (Bill & Melinda Gates Chair at UW), explain the details of the deal and how they expect this project to benefit city stakeholders. Seattle represents a growing trend of cities and counties taking a more active role and using "untraditional" means to get broadband into their communities. Listeners get a breakdown of the key elements of this initiative, details on how these elements will come together, and a list of both short- and long-term objectives for the project. Devoto and Lazowska also offer tips and recommendations for other cities that want to be a part of this movement for community-driven broadband.
Local governments' use of broadband to improve communication and operations is one of the two main pillars in the financial sustainability model of community broadband networks, wrote host Craig Settles in his first book on the subject. Stakeholders need to pay more attention to this pillar. The Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR) recently released a Public Savings Fact Sheet that spells out in dollars and sense how specific local governments in Florida, Ohio, Virginia and several other states used broadband to significantly cut costs. Christopher Mitchell, a Director with ILSR, joins us to discuss some of these projects. Mitchell provides assessments of how these various communities identified operational areas broadband could impact. He also offers pointers for listeners who want to replicate some of these successes.
Some folks believe that building a fast broadband network automatically closes the digital divide. In reality, it is the sweat equity and creativity of individuals that closes the divide in the poorest communities. The Rosedale Ridge low-income housing development is the recipient of a three-step program that could be a model for other un-served and underserved communities. Michael Liimatta, President of the nonprofit Connecting for Good, describes how his organization became a service provider for Rosedale Ridge, delivering free 50 Mbps wireless service. He coordinated with The Sunflower Group to donate 100 laptops for residents. And finally, Connecting for Good is opening a 3000-square-foot headquarters where residents can get hands-on computer training. Listeners get important tips to help communities plan their own broadband adoption and digital inclusion programs. Liimatta also discusses a few ideas for financial sustaining the program after initial grants monies run out.
"A regulated company will always renege on promises to provide public benefits tomorrow in exchange for regulatory and financial benefits today." This philosophy by Gigabit Nation guest Bruce Kushnick makes one wonder, is a recent AT&T announcement cause for joy, or a call for community broadband advocates to circle the wagons? Last month some policymakers jumped for joy when the incumbent said it planned to spend $14 billion to upgrade its wired and wireless infrastructure. Others groaned as AT&T simultaneously began a drive to gut regulation that may be many small towns and rural communities last hope for even a hint of improved broadband services. Kushnick, Exec. Dir of New Networks Institute, explains his analysis of historical evidence that infers “AT&T is lying about the amount of money they will spend or the deployments they will accomplish.” He presents reasons communities should care that this may be a smokescreen to enable company attacks on regulations that protect consumers and local business. Kushnick also gives communities some tips for how to fight back against these kinds of attacks in our statehouses.
"If you've got good people of good will on both sides who really want to get something done, you can have really good debates and then you compromise." This philosophy of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, if nothing else, should be the governing rule everywhere for state legislative action on broadband issues. Iowa Democratic State Representative Mary Gaskill and Republican State Senator Mark Chelgren join us to discuss initiatives both legislators are pursuing to help bring better broadband to constituents. In addition, they give listeners valuable lessons for working effectively with elected representatives on both sides of the aisle. Communities planning broadband projects are advised to include tactics for building strong working relationships with elected officials locally and at the statehouse. These relationships can be key to resolving some of the various challenges along the way to broadband deployment.
Discussions about broadband and economic development often focus on actions taken after a community launches its network. However, even during broadband planning, right of way (ROW) issues can greatly influence a network's role as an economic engine. Galen Updike, Broadband Development Manager at the Arizona Department of Administration, is one of over 36 industry influencers attending a special roundtable in D.C. on broadband's economic impact. He describes for listeners details about Arizona's creative approach to developing ROW policies that accelerate broadband deployments. Updike joins host Craig Settles in Washington where these ROW and other policies ideas will be compiled into a national knowledgebase to benefit communities' broadband efforts. Our Gigabit Nation audience gets a sneak preview of that knowledgebase.
National Broadband Plan architect Blair Levin joins us to discuss the broadband implications of his new plan to accelerate growth, shrink the national debt, revolutionize the delivery of government services and help slow global warming. With former FCC Chairman (93-97 Reed Hundt, Levin recently co-authored the e-book "The Politics of Abundance: How Technology Can Fix the Budget, Revive the American Dream, and Establish Obama’s Legacy." The book advocates strongly for a four-part plan that expands the Internet and the electric power grid: Tax carbon-intensive emissions from power plants in return for reducing income tax rates; Couple utility reform with corporate tax reform; New wave infrastructure financing to support, among other things, next-generation data networks; andAccelerate all government services to the digital platforms, Listeners get a very good policy analysis from Levin and host Craig Settles, plus a preliminary look at issues both gentlemen will explore later in the week at a Washington, DC private roundtable on the economic and community impact of broadband.
While some communities are benefiting from their electric or telecom co-op expanding to offer broadband services, others have created nonprofit corporations specifically for delivering broadband. Is this move right for your community? Jobs and sizeable community enhancements have come to several N.C. communities thanks to non-profit broadband operator MCNC. Listeners pick up important lessons and tips from MCNC president Joe Freddoso on how to do effective strategy planning. Joe describes some of the nonprotif's main accomplishments during the year since he was on Gigabit Nation last year, and their preperations for December's 12 Days of Broadband. Joe also shares MCNC's plans for 2013. The co-op connects K-12 schools, community colleges, universities, and non-profit healthcare sites throughout the state.
Before you know it, Tennessee is going to become a 1-gig state, as Bristol becomes its latest town to begin offering 1 Gbps service to residents and businesses. Bristol Tennessee Essential Services (BTES) is a municipal-owned utility that has been doing broadband right since 1998. BTES CEO Dr. Michael Browder describes the utility's long history of using fiber to serve customers, initially by linking its substations to the main office, and most recently through its powerful upgrade of broadband services. Dr. Browder reveals a few of BTES' secrets in staying ahead of the technology curve as well as their bigger competitors. Listeners also learn some valuable tips on planning, marketing and producing significant benefits for BTES' various constituencies. Communities laying out their 2013 broadband plans definitely want to tune in for this interview.
Broadband can be abysmal, even in average income urban areas, if you have policymakers, service providers, journalists and community stakeholders who confuse availability with access. Arkansas State Senator Linda Chesterfield explains the difference, and why this difference matters to broadband adoption. Sen. Chesterfield, at a recent Delta Regional Authority broadband summit (skip to 5hr, 45min), spelled out in chapter and verse that having Internet access available has limited value if the people who need it can’t access it. She expands on this message by explaining to listeners how stakeholders can enable various constituents to not only get online, but also be more productive once they get there. In rural US communities such as those in the Mississippi Delta region, getting access is not an easy challenge. However, Sen. Chesterfield offers powerful insights to other broadband advocates to help them overcome these hurdles.
While we labor to get broadband into more communities to improve economic development, education, and the business of government, have we overlooked how broadband is changing the way we choose our government? If we are going to endow broadband with great powers to transform communities, we certainly have to examine the technology's role in shaping government at all levels. Kristal High, Editor-in-Chief of Politic365, addresses politics, technology and national technology policy. She gives listeners an understanding of how increasing broadband deployments and adoption may impact the electoral process. Michael Snook, CIO for Progressive Change Campaign Committee, gives us a peek under the covers of one of the more successful advocacy groups this election cycle. PCCC used Internet technology to impact several aspects of campaigning in a host of House and Senate races. Our guest tackle several pressing questions, including: will increasing and improving broadband infrastructure in low-income and rural communities increase political participation by these communities? will new Internet technologies alter or improve the dynamic by which campaigns are won and lost. what policy changes make enable individuals to make better use of Internet technology in the political process? how will highspeed Internet access impact the process of governing after the campaign is over? can technology counterbalance the impact of big money in elections?
Quite a few utility companies, particularly those privately-owned, seem to be dragging their feet when it comes to upgrading technology that runs their infrastructure. However, tropical storm Sandy and other major natural disasters in recent months reveal communities cannot allow these heads to stay buried in the sand. Broadband has a lot of potential to impact smart grids’ ability to improve disaster preparation and response. Two industry experts present this case. Todd Q. Adams, an energy technology veteran and expert in sustainability, facilitates public awareness and community education forums for advanced energy and water management initiatives. Seyi Fabode is co-founder of Power2Switch, a website that educates consumers about retail electricity and enables electricity customers to comparison shop for electricity providers and save money on their electric bills. Our guests help listeners understand in layperson’s terms what communities and their utility companies need to do influence useful changes. They address partnership strategies, infrastructure funding issues and overcoming the challenges of adopting new tactics.
The Internet connection for this broadcast failed 35 minutes into the show. We couldn't revive the feed. Kevin has agreed to come back at a later date to complete the interview. Be on the look out for Part 2 of our interview. With the increasing drive by communities to get better broadband networks in their areas, there is likewise a growing interest in creating cooperatives to move these projects forward. How do communities create co-ops that ensure the best interests of constituents and their partners are served? Kevin Larson, Gen. Manager of the Minnesota telephone co-op Consolidated Telephone Company (CTC), helps listeners understand the key elements of successful co-op business strategy. CTC is involved with several projects within the state. Questions addressed in this interview include: What are some successful building blocks if a community is considering starting a new co-op? How can existing telephone co-ops expand into, or increase the size of, broadband services Will the FCC’s transition of the Universal Service Fund into the Connect America Fund benefit co-ops How will AT&T’s move to abandon rural communities impact co-ops’ ability to deliver services. This is the first of two broadcasts from the Blandin Foundation’s “Minnesota’s Better with Broadband” summit where Gigabit Nation host Craig Settles delivers the keynote presentation.
In community broadband planning, you can't always get what you want. But if you are flexible sometimes, you just might find you get what you need. With apologies to the Rolling Stones, this pretty much sums up recent events in Sibley County, MN. Winthrop, MN city administrator Mark Erickson provides some insights on Sibley's roller coaster ride to broadband, and how to keep stakeholders focused so they can quickly transform challenges into new and better opportunities. Originally, Sibley was going to be part of a major two-county fiber project. Things changed, the county opted out of the relationship, farmers switched tack to form their own fiber co-op and now they continue to press forward with broadband. This update from Erickson and our analysis of Sibley's efforts is helpful for all broadband stakeholders who experience the many trials and triumphs of herding cats into the digital future.
OpenAirBoston (OAB) does great work getting low-income and other underserved constituents online and making productive use of broadband technology. Their efforts received a major boost from an NTIA broadband adoption stimulus grant. But what happens when the stimulus money is used up? OAB Chair Deb Socia describes the array of adoption programs that OAB has enabled, and some of the creative ways the organization has made every dollar work harder. One of their most recent initiatives involves using crowdfunding (via Citizinvestor) to finance a program that bridges the digital divide for blind children. She also discusses other new ideas OAB has to ensure ongoing sustainability of their many initiatives. Listeners involved with all types of adoption programs will benefit from the tips and insights Socia shares with us.
The Mississippi Delta region of the U.S. represents some of the biggest opportunities and challenges for broadband adoption. Needs here are great, but meeting those needs through broadband technologies will lead to a renaissance in the area. Chris Masingill, Chairman of the Delta Regional Authority (DRA), joins us in this broadcast coming from Memphis, TN to discuss the progress DRA's eight member states are making with broadband. He highlights key improvements in job creation, education, business development and other key areas. Pick up some valuable insights to help with your projects. This show also preps listeners for the Delta Regional Authority Broadband Summit on Tuesday (10/23) where host Craig Settles is leading two panels. You can catch it live on the Web too - http://www.livestream.com/connectartv.
Touted as "a major economic development engine," and finishing on time as well as on budget, the Three Ring Binder 1100-mile broadband project in Maine is open for business. Learn the secret to this project's success. Josh Broder, President of Tilson Technology Management, gives listeners a peek behind the curtains. Communities of all sizes can learn valuable lessons from today's interview. Tilson Tech spearheads the Three Ring Binder project that covers over 110,000 households, 600 schools and other institutions, and 38 government facilities in some of America's most rural communities. Three Ring Binder is one of many broadband stimulus success stories. A number of Maine businesses and organizations have signed up for network services, and others are getting into the queue.
In partnership with the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), Gigabit Nation host Craig Settles conducted a national survey of IEDC members and others affiliated with IEDC. The primary goal was to get a snapshot of how broadband impacts local economic outcomes. A secondary goal was to gather some insights to leveraging broadband as an economic development asset. This special call-in show allows listeners to chat with Mr. Settles about what these survey results mean to those building and operating community broadband networks. Broadband's role in creating ecnomic outcomes, the economic impact of broadband speeds, lack of competitiion, funding and other hot botton issues are discussed. Call in. Talk. Listen. Learn.
As broadband stimulus projects wind their way toward network launches, there does not appear to be much news about broadband progress on tribal lands. Gigabit Nation shines some light on one particular project that is representative of successes in this area. Jeff Anspach is CEO of The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs’ Economic Development Corporation. He has started the Warm Springs Telecom Company (WSTC) to address the lack of adequate infrastructure on the reservation that has been an impediment to economic development over the years. Anspach, joined by WSTC Chair Sylvester “Sal” Sahme, gives listeners an update on their stimulus project, while providing tips and recommendations for others who are leading similar projects for tribal communities. Of particular value is his advice on securing grant funding from various sources to drive infrastructure and adoption projects in these communities.
Most local broadband projects involve a lot of cat herding. But when it comes to tackling statewide projects, that’s similar to riding herd on the whole zoo. Jessica Dent joins us to share some experiences and offer insights to keeping stakeholders statewide focused and on the same page. She has served as the Executive Director of ConnectingALABAMA since April 2010, and continues to lead the Alabama Broadband Initiative. Those involved with broadband projects at all levels will benefit from today’s show. Besides exploring some of the nuts and bolts aspect of managing broadband projects, listeners also pick up some economic development pointers. As the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs Liaison, Ms. Dent also is involved with broadband initiatives that impact local and regional economies.
Today we only have two interviews as things wind down here in Dallas. 1:00 CST - The Network Doctor Is In Hiawatha Broadband CEO Gary Evans provides listeners with a valuable set of practical tips and recommendations for keeping your broadband network humming along with minimum downtime. Non-techies and techies alike will benefit from this discussion on smart network management. 2:00 CST - Mozilla Seeks Gigabit Trailblazers Will Barkis is Gigabit Evangelist for Web tool developer Mozilla, and he's on a mission to find the next generation of screamin' apps that will power the highspeed networks showcased here at the conference. Barkis explains the Mozilla Ignite program, and why developers and other broadband stakeholders should get on board.
1:00 CST - The Smart Economics of Smart Grid and Broadband Katie Espeseth, Vice President of EPB Fiber Optics, discusses the origins of Chattanooga's fiber network as a economic development engine. EPB's initial goal was to use the network to modernize their smart grid and thus save their business customers collectively $80 - $100 million/year. That's just one of the benefits. Listen and learn about the others. 2:00 CST - Small Town Produces Big Time Results with Fiber Net With 10 years of successful operations, Kutztown, PA is one of the muni broadband success stories highlighted at the FTTH Council conference, Frank Caruso, the town's Dir. of Information Technology, explains how they impact the local economy through services to businesses and residences. 3:00 CST - UTOPIA - Setting the Record Straight Todd Marriott, Executive Director of Utah regional community network UTOPIA, sets the record straight on progress expanding their infrastructure. Contrary to recent news stories, UTOPIA continues to expand their subscriber base and draw new interest from cities in their area. Marriott also discusses some of the economic impact they've had on communities.
Gigabit Nation is coming to you live from Dallas at the FTTH Council annual conference. These interviews give you a feel for some of the many sessions and activities going on here. 1:00 CST - How Broadband Impacts Economic Development Ken Demlow, Nat'l Business Dev Manager for NewCom Technologies, discusses some of the effective tactics that make broadband an effective economic engine for rural and urban communities. He also provides some insights on how network design factors in to the economic development strategy. 2:00 CST - Lafayette Broadband Rocks! Frank LeDoux, Engineering, Power & Communications Manager for Lafayette Utilities System gives us a rundown on what's new and exciting with them. LUS continues to please a loyal customer base, add new subscribers and maintain a competitive edge. There are valuable lessons to learn from this community network's successes. 3:00 - FTTH on a Shoestring Budget Peter Folk, President of Volo Broadband explains how practical business management, careful technology selection, and often just good old common sense can enable those with limited budgets to build great gigabit networks. In addition, Folk gives us a peek behind the curtain to see some of the broadband developments in Champaign, IL.
Communities have a tough time getting broadband should tune in to see how Wilson, NC. keeps doing well in a state very hostile to muni networks. Wilson was an early broadband freedom fighter, and against heavy odds, managed to keep the right to own and operate their network, Greenlight. Brian Bowman, Wilson's Public Affairs Manager, offers insights to Greenlight's continued business and political success despite Time Warner's intense efforts to undermine them. Greenlight owes its success to smart business practices plus continually engaging community involvement. NOTOA just awarded them one of two Community Broadband Fiber Networks of the Year. Bowman gives listeners tips for building political support at both City Hall and the state house. He knows better than many on this score. Greenlight managed to survive after one of the most restrictive anti-muni net bills in the US passed.
The practice of medicine and healthcare delivery are going through significant changes thanks to broadband. What does this mean for your community? A telehealth project in the Golden State gives the rest of the nation a peek at the future. Access to healthcare by underserved and rural residents is getting a big boost from the California Telehealth Network (CTN). Our guest, CEO Eric Brown, explains how CTN puts medical knowledge, staff, and related resources at constituents' fingertips. CTN hopes to increase the number of people staying healthy, as well as improve the quality and efficiency of short- and long-term medical services. CTN uses the latest information technologies to link local clinics, hospitals, doctors and nurses with both their patients and resources from around the country and around the globe. They are funded in part by the FCC's Rural Health Pilot Project.
Broadband and economic development is not just a rural issue. Though it may seem that urban areas have plenty of broadband, many do not have affordable speeds that also are sufficient for attracting new companies, increasing home-based businesses or helping individuals advance financially. Ron Deus, CEO of regional WISP NetX, is delivering a gig service to businesses in Cleveland's low income communities and helping turn them around. He explains how his business got started and what strategies have made it possible to have an economic impact. NetX also provides services to areas around Cleveland. The depth of the broadband needs in parts of urban America often go unreported or understated. This show sheds some light on how these communities can get better broadband despite this.
When it comes to speed, wireless advocates say this technology holds its own even in Kansas City where Google promises to deliver 1 gig connectivity. One home-grown Kansas City wireless ISP (WISP) is already delivering 2 gigabit services over a network with 10 gigabits of capacity. While the cellular industry promotes 12 Mbps speed and LTE as the future, CEO Graeme Gibson of Computers & Tele-com, Inc (CTC) explains in non-tech terms how WISPs use the latest wireless technologies to trump weak alternatives. Gibson lays out steps urban and rural communities can take to capitalize on gigabit wireless, often by incorporating fiber into the mix. GigaOm Senior Writer Stacey Higginbotham joins us as co-host for this interview. Higginbotham has covered Kansas City and unlicensed spectrum issues extensively.
Chattanooga is not the only community executing a full court press to encourage and facilitate gigabit application development. Illinois is trying its hand at running contests to create the most awesome apps to run on the several networks being built throughout the state. Joining us is Drew Clark, Executive Director of the Partnership for a Connected Illinois. This non-profit collects and publishes broadband data, promotes higher-quality broadband access throughout the state and maximizes the impact, adoption and use of high-speed Internet services. Besides giving listeners an update on the latest broadband projects coming from Illinois, Clark also offers valuable recommendations for coordinating programs that drive innovation.
Word of the Tacoma public-owned network's demise is not only exaggerated, it is a blatant lie told by CenturyLink minions to try to steal Click! customers. Click! is 15 years old and increasing both its power and reach. Click! General Manager Tenzin Gyaltsen and Government Relations Manager Diane Lachel join us to explain how to make your community network financially sustainable for the long haul. And how to survive big competitors' dirty tricks. The Click! open access architecture enticed three providers to compete to bring customers affordable, fast broadband. Continuing the success story, Click! recently announced new 100 Mbps service. Listeners learn many valuable and practical tips for replicating Click!'s success.
Wireless ISPs (WISPs) are like the WW II PT boats in the battle for better broadband. They're small, they're swift. They get into places bigger boats can't go, get the job done and zip off to the next mission. WISPs collectively get a lot of people and businesses online, particularly in rural areas. But they don't get the respect they deserve. Matt Larsen, a member of the Wireless ISP Association's Board of Directors and president of his own WISP, is our guest. He makes the case for why we need more support from community stakeholders and government agencies for these local providers. So many times they fill the void left by big incumbents. Larsen pulls from his experiences in the field and lessons from colleagues to present effective guidelines for: finding WISPs who can make a difference; creating valuable partnerships with WISPs; and maximizing the community's relationship with their WISPS.
It's back to school time once again. Time to pick up some pens, pencils, notebooks and...broadband? Students in four Georgia counties probably can't wait to get back to school this Fall because they're going to have some of the fastest broadband speeds in the world, thanks to the broadband stimulus program. North Georgia Network (NGN), a nonprofit formed by five counties and two electric co-ops,has completed the 260-mile core ring of a network funded via a Dept. of Commerce BTOP grant. NGN Executive Director Bruce Abraham is our guest. He gives listeners an overview of the network's success so far, who's being served currently and tips on what communities need to do to ensure the success of regional broadband projects.
23 small Vermont towns and townships banded together in 2008 to explore building a broadband network. They created a nonprofit corporation and raised over $1.2 million in two funding rounds offering $2,500 promissory notes. They built a network. So, what are you waiting for? Tim and Leslie Nulty, who are driving forces behind the Vermont nonprofit ECFiber, explain what they did and how your community can do it too. It's hard work, but it definitely isn't rocket science. The Nulty's describe the in's and out's of structuring a nonprofit, developing a community investment vehicle and using the "leaf frog" approach to raising money, building infrastructure, selling services, building more infrastructure. Communities can either complain about how bad broadband is, or they can do something about it. This show is for those willing to take the latter road less traveled and reap a greater reward.
Chattanooga is one of the most high-profile success stories of a public utility making broadband possible in communities where incumbents are weak. But plenty other public utilities have launched successful networks, particularly in smaller towns. Todd Kielkopf, General Manager of Indianola Municipal Utilities, joins us to discuss what it takes for public utilities to grab the reins and make broadband happen. Kielkopf lays out tips and recommendations for planning, budgeting for, and delivering effective broadband services. If your community has a public utility and your broadband options are poor to nonexistent, this interview points you in the right direction for creating a better alternative,
Many people know about Chattanooga's fiber network. But did you know that the largest U.S. gigabit network also supports a 16 Mbps symmetrical WiFi mesh network, the fastest municipal-use wireless network? City CIO Mark Keil joins Gigabit Nation to discuss the success and future plans of Chattanooga WiFi, and how other communities can implement a similar network for the general public. Currently, City agencies run 55 applications on their wireless network, and more are in development. Chattanooga's future plans include taking advantage of next generation wireless technology, such as LTE 700. Keil gives listeners a peek at some exciting new initiatives happening around the city. He also discusses the role of integrated fiber and wireless networks in communities' efforts to maximize broadband buildouts.
When it comes to fighting for the public good, during his term as Federal Communications Commissioner (FCC) Michael Copps proved to be one of the best. He joins us to carry on the call for smarter pro-consumer broadband and media policy.
Former Comm. Copps always speaks his mind and cuts to the chase. Today he addresses how we get better broadband policies as the FCC moves forward, and how average citizens can impact new policies to address the rapidly changing media industry.
Common Cause recently announced that former Comm. Copps will lead their national Media and Democracy Reform Initiative aimed to respond to the growing political and economic power of the communications industry. The Commissioner discusses the stripping of local control over cable and municipal broadband; carte blanche broadcast licensing without obligations to serve the public interest; challenges to ubiquitous broadband deployment and an open Internet; and attacks on funding for public broadcasting.
Since over $240 million has been raised for projects using Kickstarter, it is logical to believe that community broadband advocates can use crowdfunding successfully to raise money for network projects. Today's guest is Jase Wilson, founder of the civic crowdfunding platform Neighbor.ly, whose motto is "Invest in places and civic projects you care about." Wilson discusses the in's and out's of capitalizing on what he calls "ordinary fundraising supercharged by the Internet" to support broadband projects. We explore how crowdfunding can underwrite needs assessment and planing, build pilot projects, support broadband adoption and ultimately fund infrastructure buildouts. With the right mix of creative and hard working constituents, this strategy is a viable pathway to broadband success.
People are making a big deal over the Google announcement this week about their fiber project in Kansas City. But what does it really mean to KCK and KCMO? To the rest of the U.S.? The Co-Chairs of the Mayor's Bi-State Innovations Team, Michael Burke and Ray Daniels, are key stakeholders assisting the two cities maximize Google's fiber initiative. The Team recently released “Playing to Win in America’s Digital Crossroads,” a report that advises KC stakeholders how to benefit from the highspeed network. Burke and Daniels help us analyze the Google announcement, and give us insights to what's next in KC's drive for gigabit broadband. They also discuss the previous day's international summit initiated from KC that addressed management issues that can help or hinder broadband initiatives.
Today's show is for those who believe proper previous planning for their broadband project prevents poor performance. And for everyone else who believes better late than never. Though it sounds elementary, you have to plan for success. Unfortunately, many broadband projects have been - and continue to be - launched without proper planning. Learn how to pay your broadband dues and plan well in the beginning, or pay a harsh price later. Dedicated to the development of vital communities, the American Planning Association recently published, "Planning and Broadband." Authors Kathleen McMahon, AICP, Ronald Thomas, FAICP, and Charles Kaynor discuss best practices and case studies from cities and towns across the U.S. that are successfully planning for broadband.
One of the partners in the recently announced AIR.U initiative to build wireless broadband networks in college towns is the United Negro College Fund. UNCF plans to leverage this opportunity to put historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) on better footing with other colleges by building strong broadband infrastructure. Robert Rucker, VP of Planning, Budgets and Information Technology for UNCF, discusses plans to help AIR.U create guidelines and broadband pilot programs for the 500 colleges nationwide represented by the initiative. These plans include using unlicensed white space to bring wireless broadband to colleges and the communities surrounding them. Mr. Rucker also describes: the effectiveness of colleges as hubs of broadband innovation programs that are helping more minorities become computer literate and move online creative uses of broadband technology originating in black communities how Federal broadband policy and funding programs can raise all boats
It's Summer Camp for Geeks! 11 teams of innovators are competing in GigTank for $150,000 in prizes that will go to the two teams creating the best applications to capitalize on Chattanooga’s gigabit network. Today Gigabit Nation listeners get a sneak peek at what gig apps these teams are cooking up. Nicole Newman and Seth Bigham represent the student teams at GigTank. Anthony Guglielmo of Vigia and Toni Gamayel with Banyan represent the teams of established entrepreneurs. Without giving away their competitive edge, our guests talk about their projects and also discuss the opportunities and challenges with creating the next generation of broadband solutions to complex needs. As part of a group of leaders from around the world who are building geek teams and gigabit apps, they have a lot to share.
Broadband can effectively resolve some of the most pressing and chronic healthcare problems facing African Americans, as well as other minority communities, if used effectively by people with vision. In April this year, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies released "Minorities, Mobile Broadband, and the Management of Chronic Diseases." This report highlights several benefits mobile broadband offers these communities, as well as presents recommendations for new or improved broadband policies. Our guest, Joseph Miller, is a co-author of the report and an Acting Director and Senior Policy Counsel for the Joint Center. He discusses several healthcare challenges that broadband of all types can address, such as capturing digital images of home-bound patients, self-administered preventative care and monitoring medical equipment.
Following Monday's broadcast that highlighted a real-world broadband application of TV white space technology, host Craig Settles conducts interviews at the conference "The Power and Potential of the Unlicensed Economy." This conference explored the role of unlicensed spectrum in our economy and the future of innovation in the U.S. Cutting through marketing hype and tech jargon, interviews with Harold Feld, Sr. VP and Legal Director of the public advocacy group Public Knowledge and Edgar Figueroa, President and CEO of WiFi Alliance, help broadband stakeholders and supporters understand the value TV white spaces offer. Listeners will learn: how white spaces and other unlicensed spectrum can make broadband cheaper and faster to deploy in some communities why "Super WiFi" is not the best way to describe this technology what kinds of applications to expect from networks built using unlicensed spectrum
This is the re-scheduled interview: "Hey, were you born in a barn?" "No, but our broadband was and it kicks butt!" That's B-4-R-N, thank you. Broadband for the Rural North. They have a story to tell, and every community whose broadband and broadband options suck needs to listen to every word.
Their broadband project is so effective B4RN just won the Internet Hero award from the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA). Eight parishes in the northwest of England united to form a co-op to do what the large incumbent won't. Chris Conder, one of B4RN's key founders, explains how to replicate their success.
B4RN issued stock and sold enough shares to underwrite the initial network buildout. Local farmers literary dig the trenches and place the fiber on their properties. B4RN is selling sponsorships ads on the conduit going into the ground. Local residents run the business and provide B4RN with necessary services.
Once you hear B4RN's story, you realize that any community that wants broadband enough to work many long days and lonely nights can be Internet heroes too.
Super WiFi (a.k.a. TV white spaces) promises to re-purpose idle TV channels so they can be used to build more powerful and less expensive WiFi networks than with previous versions of WiFi. Wilmington, NC is the first US city to put this WiFi-on-steroids to work. Leslie Chaney, Chief Technologist for New Hanover County, describes the progress Wilmington has made to date with this government-use only network. Lessons learned here can be exported to other communities to help them build networks that serve constituents as well as government. GigaOm Senior Writer Stacey Higginbotham joins Craig Settles today as guest co-host. To get more background on Super WiFi, listen to this Gigabit Nation interview with AIR.U, a consortium that's bringing colleges, small towns and other parties together to create Super WiFi networks to cover rural areas.
Believing nothing succeeds like success, AIR.U is following quickly on the heels of Gig.U with a bold plan to tap Super WiFi (unused TV channels) to bring wireless broadband to potentially hundreds of university towns in rural America. Today's guests formed Advanced Internet Regions to plan, build and operate wireless networks that leverage the creativity of college communities to meet rural broadband needs. Robert Nichols (nichols6044@gmail.com), CEO of Declaration Networks Group, and Michael Calabrese (Calabrese@newamerica.net), Dir. of New America Foundation's Wireless Future Program, explain AIR.U's game plan. Super WiFi supporters advocate for communities to aggressively push the envelope with this new iteration of standard TV technology. AIR.U expects to be the catalyst to propel Super WiFi into the mainstream while closing the digital divide in rural areas. To get more details about how you can participate in the program, e-mail Robert or Michael.
How does your community get out from under the thumb of large incumbents responsible only to Wall Street and win better broadband? By becoming independent of these anti-market forces and building a true community network. Frank Ohrtman, former manager in the Colorado Office of Information Technology, explains how his regional co-op unites the efforts of 40 of the state's 64 counties. They are achieving independence by planning, funding, building and operating local broadband networks. Gigabit Nation host Craig Settles' recent report on alternative funding strategies for broadband strongly advocates for broadband co-ops. Ohrtman lays out a seven-point game plan for making this strategy work and creating a financially sustainable network. Tell your colleagues, community stakeholders and everyone else who wants better broadband to listen, learn and do.
Your community could be sitting on a broadband funding gold mine and not even know it! San Leandro, CA-based software company OSIsoft stepped into the breach to build a fiber network for their hometown. OSIsoft CEO Pat Kennedy explains that underwriting the network is a combination of giving back to the community that has been very good to him, and good business sense. He describes the thinking that led to their action, how they are proceeding and the benefits to San Leandro as well as the communities around them. The company is not alone. Corning, for example, contributed $12 million to build a network for the three-county New York area where they are based. Your community likely has businesses willing to make a similar investment. Learn how to make this tactic work for you.
This episode of Gigabit Nation tackles a few big misconceptions about broadband that are holding communities back. One is that you can't sell services at an inexpensive rate. Another myth, which may have needlessly killed a project in Palo Alto, CA is that user-financed broadband networks fail. There are several user-financed success stories. John Brown, President, CTO, Co-Founder at CityLink Fiber Holdings, Inc, lays bare these and other myths. How many times do we hear the people don't need 100 Mbps or a gig to the home? All government involvement with broadband is bad, all private sector involvement is good. Or is it? Let's cut to the chase. Tune in and bring your questions with you. It's time for another show to separate fact from fiction and hype from reality.
US Ignite launched last week with a big White House gathering, and has been riding a huge wave of publicity and questions. Lots of questions. Today we hope to get quite a few of yours answered. US Ignite founding partners Sue Spradley and Joe Kochan join us in a special 90-minute show to talk about the program, separate hype from reality and discuss how your community can benefit from the program. This is a hot topic and we expect many of our listeners to call to exchange thoughts with Sue and Joe. Here's my initial take on the US Iginite announcement, and also some thoughts on President Obama's Executive Order to streamline broadband network buildouts.
Consider Gainesville, FL an epicenter of innovation that drives economic development. Gig.U is helping raise their innovation to a new level. Learn how to develop a similar epicenter in your community. Ted Kellermann, Director of GRU.com (Gainesville's public utility's gig network) and David Pokorney, Director of the University of Florida's Network Services describe how the city's Innovation Square benefits from its Gig.U partnership. Stakeholders will begin developing apps soon that transform business, healthcare delivery and education. Today's guests answer important questions and offer valuable practical advice you can start putting to work right away. We invite you to call in and join the conversation.
Faced with too many people paying too much for too little broadband, the Australian government decided the infrastructure was too important to the public to be left vulnerable to market forces alone. So they are building a national broadband network (NBN) for which private-sector profit and the public good are equal objectives. Australia's NBN champion and senior cabinet leader Senator Stephen Conroy is our guest, discussing their network's origins, progress to date and lessons learned. There is much to be learned from Senator Conroy. He frequently advocates for an affordable broadband infrastructure consistent with his nation's culture of "The Fair Go." Everyone deserves an equal opportunity to get ahead and to get on with the business of being a fully productive member of their community. Nonprofits, community foundations and public private partnerships are increasingly core tactics for communities determined to get better broadband for local businesses and residents. Senator Conroy offers good insights to making these particular efforts winners while overcoming political opposition.
This story of broadband-driven economic development is inspiring. Around 2003, Danville, VA faced pretty bleak economic conditions, including huge unemployment. As tobacco farming died out in the state, towns were shrinking dramatically with the withering employment opportunities. Danville’s public utility turned to broadband to help relieve the crisis. Starting by connecting municipal and utility buildings and the K-12 schools, Danville Utilities in 2006 began services to local businesses. Today the network passes 1000 business locations including five business parks, and it’s the cornerstone for improving the local workforce by helping K-12 students and adults become digitally literate. Former Danville Mayor Linwood Wright joins us to discuss the various steps they took to implement changes and activities that improved the competitiveness of current businesses and drew new organizations into the area with new jobs. Among their successes is a transformation of local healthcare delivery that is a big draw for businesses re-locating. Listen and learn.
Today, President Obama issues an Executive Order to significantly streamline the deployment of conduit, a key element of broadband infrastructure. This is expected to reduce 90% of the cost of putting fiber in the ground. The White House also is launching USD Ignite, a major public-private-nonprofit partnership dedicated to accelerating broadband application development, and increasing the number of applications across the US. Several of the movers and shakers within the US Ignite effort join us to put both actions into context. How will communities benefit? What resources or investments should communities expect from the program? What kinds of broadband apps does US Ignite hope their contests and cash prizes will produce? Tune in for answers to these and other questions. My guests are: 2:00 EST - Joe Kochan, Co-Founder, US Ignite
2:10 - Tom Kalil, Deputy Director for Policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
2:20 - Jed Marston, VP Marketing & Communications, Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce
2:30 - Gary Evans, CEO Hiawatha Broadband
2:40 - Will Barkis, Gigabit Evangelist, Mozilla
Your community could be missing a great opportunity. One of the best kept secrets is the FCC’s eRate program. Established as part of a fund that every person who pays a phone bill contributes to, eRate provides money to schools and libraries to build network infrastructure that benefits low-income populations. Millions of dollars have been awarded to communities nationwide. The good news is that more money is available. The bad news is, the eRate is unknown to many people, and it’s plenty confusing to sort through the maze of bureaucratic procedures to win and use the money. Shining light on eRate and how you can tap into this fund is Gary Rawson, State E-rate Coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services. Rawson provides valuable information that shows you how to put this program to work for you while highlighting some of the great success stories in Mississippi.
This week the Intelligent Communities Forum selects the world's Intelligent Community of the Year at their annual conference. ICF showcases the innovative use of information and communications tech to build prosperous, inclusive and sustainable communities. However, how does broadband-driven innovation translate into practical benefits? Can you "plan" or create innovation, or does it just happen once the network's built? Several finalists for ICF's big award weigh in on these and other questions as they highlight their respective communities' innovations. This is the interview lineup (all times are EST): 2:00 Mel Norton, Mayor - St. John, N. Brunswick, Canada 2:30 - Dan Mathieson, Mayor - Stratford, Ontario, Canada 3:00 - Jason Hu, Mayor - Taichung, Taiwan 3:30 - Ron Loveridge, Mayor - Riverside, CA, Steve Reneker, CIO - Riverside 4:00 - Regis Labeaume, Mayor - Quebec City, Carl Viel, President - Quebec International
$7 billion later it's a good time to ask, are we going to see world-stopping innovation? After all, innovation is one of the cool byproducts all of these investments in broadband are supposed to produce. Explore what innovation means when communities have highspeed Internet access, particularly when they own the resource. Inntelligent Community Forum Co-Founder Robert Bell gives listeners a national and international perspective of what we can realistically expect broadband to deliver. More importantly, how do we produce great innovation? Is it the speed of the broadband pipe? Is innovation dependent on other technologies integrated with broadband? Does the community shape innovation, or do you create a certain type of environment and innovation is sure to follow? These and other important questions help you shape your broadband plan.
Bristol, VA's public utility-owned broadband net (BVU Optinet) is one of the earliest and more frequently acknowledged community network success story. Effective and creative marketing put BVU's Internet services on the map. Kyle Hollifield takes listeners behind the scenes of some of BVU's best broadband marketing campaigns. Get valuable insights on how to better market your network, increase partnerships that boost subscriber numbers and entice more ISPs to deliver services on your network. As BVU's VP of Marketing & Business Development, Hollifield plays a pivotal role in driving up BVU's subscriber numbers. He also plays a major role in increasing the marketing competency of members of the Fiber to the Home Council, serving as the organization's Chairman of the Board. Marketing is key to your broadband success. Let's get it right!
NOTE: The audio glitch you hear is with the host only. Our guest's audio is perfectly clear. Is the goal of broadband adoption getting more people to use the technology, or getting them to use it more effectively? Today we try to answer this question. Philadelphia faces a daunting challenge. 41% of the city's 1.5 million residents lack regular Internet access or basic computer skills. To battle this problem, the city formed the Freedom Rings Partnership, a coalition of grassroots organizations, government, and universities bringing Internet access, training and technology to communities citywide. Learn valuable lessons to drive broadband adoption in your communities. Join our guest, Arun Prabhakaran, Dir. of Business Development and Strategic Initiatives for the Urban Affairs Coalition. He describes how the organization is maximizing their $25 million NTIA broadband stimulus grant for an array of projects that are preparing residents for a 21st Century digital economy.
Yesterday, at the SHLB Coalition’s conference, Gig.U and Gigabit Squared announced the nation’s first gigabit network deployment fund. Get the details today with our guest, Mark Ansboury, CEO of Gigabit Squared. Under this $200 million Gigabit Neighborhood Gateway Program, capital is available to support up to six select Gig.U member-sponsored projects. One of the desired outcomes of this project is that the gig networks funded will provide platforms for innovation, next generation application development, workforce development and job creation. Will this fund open the gates to more creative investments in community broadband? Will Gigabit Squared’s action put pressure on Google to accelerate its Kansas City network project? Is this the beginning of a trend toward alternative financing for broadband as traditional government grant programs slow down. Find out answers to these and other important questions. For background on Gig.U, listen to this Gigabit Nation broadcast with Gig.U founder Blair Levin.
Get more economic bang for your broadband buck. Paul Niedzwiecki, Ex. Dir. of the Cape Cod Commission, and Alan Davis, President and CEO of CapeNet join us live at SmarterCape Summit to discuss why it pays to take care of the home front first. Did you know intranets that connect your businesses, local government offices, educational institutions and medical facilities to each other primes everyone for greater economic success? Folks can achieve more while working with greater efficiently. And when you execute creative activities to integrate your local economic drivers with faster access to the public Internet, these constituents save money, improve how they operate, transform the workforce and increase revenues. Fast broadband by itself doesn't produce economic benefits. You have to use this technology the right way and work smart. Learn how today.
Last week we explored the value of creating co-ops and nonprofit organizations to make broadband deployment more affordable and beneficial for constituents. Today's interview presents a third option for better broadband, community foundations. Sharon Stroh is Dir. of Business Development for iMAN, a supporting organization of the Steuben County Community Foundation (SCCF). iMAN is a countywide project that not only delivers fiber broadband infrastructure, it also raises funds for grants and contributions to economic development projects. This particular business strategy leads to financial sustainability of networks, greater community control that increases broadband benefits to constituents and a funding source for economic programs. Communities also avoid many of the political battles with incumbents that eat up time and resources.
When all else fails, do it yourself. This pretty much sums up the popularity and the effectiveness of community cooperatives (co-ops) in bringing broadband to rural and small-town America. Communities that big incumbents have ignored are getting what they want when local businesses and other stakeholders band together. Wally Bowen, founder and executive director of the very successful Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN) in Asheville, N.C., is a huge fan of co-ops. He shares with listeners secrets to MAIN's success, and explains the basics for forming a co-op in your community. 2012 could be the year of the broadband co-op. Check out this interview! Listen, learn, do.
Sonic.net started a buzz several months ago when they announced they are selling 1 gigabit broadband service to the home for $70 a month. If this small provider can do it in rural California, why not in the big city, you ask? Sonic.net CEO Dane Jasper joins us to discuss how he's able to do what it seems the big guns can't - deliver true highspeed broadband for an affordable price. We also discuss the technology and financial factors that make it possible for Sonic.net to come up with the Holy Grail. Join us for this interview that's sure to be informative. Find out how the City by the Bay could become the next place where you can get a gig, but you won't have to leave your heart or pay an arm and a leg.
Learn how this N. Carolina nonprofit is driving a major broadband stimulus project, the Golden Leaf Rural Broadband Initiative. As they finish round 1, the 12 Days of Broadband Campaign highlights some of the innovations that have sprung from the project so far. Joe Freddoso, CEO of 25-year old MCNC, joins us to discuss these accomplishments and lessons learn in MCNC's role as a catalyst for technology-based economic development. Besides exploring how to harness broadband to improve local economies, we address: broadband realities versus the expectations; navigating the federal and state legislative environment; managing the challenges of a regional deployment; and bridging middle and last mile deployment efforts.
Project teams and stakeholders responsible for regional and statewide broadband projects can learn a lot of valuable lessons from the fighting Badgers of the University of Wisconsin, and their private partner Packerland Broadband. The ARRA-funded Wisconsin broadband project, Building Community Capacity through Broadband (BCCB), prevailed over a lot of aggravation and turmoil created by incumbents and state legislators trying to kill their project, The project is now moving full steam ahead on improving broadband throughout the state. Community and Economic Development Mgr, Prof. Andrew Lewis, Technology Project Manager Brian Remer and Packerland Dir. of Operations Joe Esbrook delve into details on the various community projects, surviving legislative and legal challenges, how to structure a statewide project and what the future holds for broadband in Wisconsin.
What lies in store for community broadband as one of the main FCC champions of the public interest and non-traditional stakeholders retires this month? Commissioner Michael Copps is moving on after dedicating over 10 years fighting to stem the tide of excessive consolidation in the nation’s telecommunications industry. Com. Copps joins us to deliver some parting insights to making community broadband work. He discusses USF reform, citizen involvement in broadband policy issues and future plans as he continues to speak out in support of his beliefs. Don't miss one of Com. Copps last interviews as an FCC Commissioner.
From the private sector perspective, what does the upcoming year hold for broadband developments in the U.S.? The Fiber to the Home Council and its members have been a strong driving force for broadband deployment since the organization's launch in 2001. What can we expect with their new president coming on board? Heather Burnett Gold takes over the reigns at the FTTH Council after a seven-year stint as a senior vice president of XO Communications. She explains to listeners the direction she anticipates the industry to take, plus options and opportunities for public private partnerships. The FTTH Council consisting of companies and organizations that are involved in planning and building FTTH networks to deliver video, Internet and/or voice services over high-bandwidth fiber optic connections.
Faced with what they perceived as increasing abandonment by large telecom and cable incumbents, 47 communities in western Massachusetts banded together to create their own broadband solution. Their story is fascinating, instructional and motivational for communities wishing to follow the same path. Monica Webb has led Wired West, the consortium of towns and townships, in their successful drive to unify divergent interests and political jurisdictions. Webb explains to listeners how to get communities in such an arrangement singing from the same broadband strategy page. This interview addresses how to overcome political, logistical and operational challenges in regional approaches to getting broadband deployed.
Tech people constantly trip over each other searching for the "next big thing." Broadband project leaders fret over how to increase adoption. Do they realize the average person is drawn to broadband by simple apps that make life and work easier and/or more productive? Harry McCracken has reviewed and written about truckloads of tech apps as editor and journalist for PC World, InfoWorld, Time and now head of Technologizer. Harry shows our audience that the path to broadband adoption and financial sustainability is paved with simple, effective technology. Join us as we discuss: medical apps that give users more control of their healthcare; the role of mobile devices in a broadband world; filling the pipeline with innovative apps; what does a gigabit mean to consumers. You may find this Gigabit Nation broadcast that presents data from recent research on consumer adoption of fiber networks to be a good primer for our interview with Harry.
Broadband adoption is key to the financial and overall success of your broadband network. How effectively you drive adoption depends on how well you understand subscribers and prospects determines. Alcatel-Lucent conducted in-depth qualitative and extensive quantitative research reaching 5,000 consumers to develop a series of portraits of how connectivity impacts people in different age groups. Understanding how the different groups think and act online gives you clues on how to effectively market broadband services, and who to partner with to add value to your network. Allison Cerra, Alcatel-Lucent's Chief Marketing Officer, discusses some of the key research data points and what they mean to those marketing broadband networks and services. She also talks about her latest book, “Identity Shift: Where Identity Meets Technology in the Networked-Community Age.”
In a 759-page document containing 84 pages of regulations the FCC, among other goals, attempts to reform the Universal Service Fun (USF) by morphing the $4.5 billion annual tax into the Connect America Fund that hopefully leads to increased broadband deployments. But will it? This broadcast explores what reform means to broadband deployments in general, community networks in particular and to small ISPs and telcos. Our guest, JSI Capital Advisors Analyst Cassandra Heyne, has spent most of her life in the rural telecom business (her family owns a 100-year old rural telco in Iowa), and most of the past two weeks immersed in the FCC's reform order. Heyne helps our listeners make some sense of what has been a complex and confusing process, and the resulting reform order. When all is said and done, inquiring minds should have a better idea of what $4.5 billion buys us in a couple of years.
Besides KCMO's Google gig network, the State of Missouri has ambitious and exciting plans to provide coverage throughout the state. These include infrastructure buildouts, broadband adoption programs and increasing broadband-related resources. Damon Porter, MoBroadbandNow's Managing Director, is our guest and will shed a lot of light on: the current state of affairs with broadband in Missouri the progress of Missouri's broadband stimulus projects what constituents expect from the network how do you manage a beast like this with so many moving parts (e.g. local regs, multiple vendors, expansive geography) This broadcast comes live from Missouri's annual broadband summit. Don't miss it.
More than 7.6 million North American homes now receive their Internet, video and/or voice services over end-to-end fiber networks, according to a report commissioned by the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council. This is an increase of 1.15 million FTTH households over the past year. But what does it all mean? Michael Render President, RVA LLC, oversees national research for his client, Fiber-to-the-Home Council. On today's show he gives our audience a look behind the numbers to put advances in fiber network adoption rates in perspective. Besides the numbers, we also get to see what factors are influencing these increases: product features, marketing, the competitive landscape.
While mayors in other cities jumped in shark tanks or ice cold lakes, Kansas City, KS Mayor Joe Reardon focused on presenting his city as the best business partner for Google's Gigabit City project. And it worked! Mayor Reardon provides insights for communities that want to attract strong partners in the pursuit of broadband. Forming effective public private partnerships is more than gimmicks, it takes detailed planning, effective marketing and spot-on execution. Maximizing partnerships is an on-going effort that requires constituents' participation to be successful. "We continue to speak to our public and engage in a collaborative way with businesses and institutional partners to fully realize the potential of gigabit speeds." Join us for more words of wisdom from Mayor Reardon.
Get a glimpse of the future from one man who's seen it all. Om Malik is almost an institution within the tech world and beyond. His 15 years experience as a journalist, editor and what some would describe as technology soothsayer makes him a widely recognized thought leader. Om and Gigabit Nation host Craig Settles discuss some of the many high points from GigaOm's RoadMap conference, Connectivity Changes Everything. Topics covered include: Broadband, the media and the people Creativity, connectivity and capital Real-time medicine Ripping out the pages from the publishing playbook Don't miss this opportunity to learn a little more about where broadband is taking us.
The battle in Longmont for its citizens and businesses to take back their right to make their own best broadband decisions was about more than good campaigning. It was about a community making itself aware of its broadband needs, educating each other about technology options and standing strong in their resistence to industry scare tactics. Tom Roiniotis, Director of Longmont Power & Communication (the city's municipal electric and telecommunications utility), joins us to disccuss how the city used the loss in 2009 of a similar ballot measure to prep the city for Round II. Despite being outspent 60 to 1, Longmont citizens had a game plan and they stuck to it. Now the hard part starts - turning their broadband vision into reality. Pick up valuable tips on how you can fight the odds in your state to make broadband a reality.
Seems like everywhere you turn, someone wants to throw money at you if you have a great broadband app that takes advantage of gigabit networks. Are you going to step up for a chance for mo' money, mo' money, mo' money? John Wilson, Co-founder and former president of flexible display maker NanoLumens, Inc., and coordinator of Chattanooga's Gig Prize, gives the lowdown on the city's latest entry in the programming-for-dollars sweepstakes movement. We'll compare and contrast this contest with Kansas City's Gigabit Challenge that we talked about on the show two weeks ago. Chattanooga's [up to] $350,000 Gig Prize contest (made possible in part by a grant from Alcatel-Lucent) is open to anyone in the world with great ideas. It's focused on creating apps using a gig network that's already operating and serving as the test bed. Particpants therefore get real world feedback in real time on their apps' effectiveness. We also discuss how cities and counties can run similar contests that are focused mainly on the local communities. This is an effective way to boost local small business broadband adoption.
How do you maximize your community's investment in broadband? By creating great applications to run on your network.
A recent day-long brainstorming session in Kansas City generated hundreds of ideas for great broadband apps. We're re-creating the magic with a live on-air session for our national audience. Several of the key KC facilitators are joining us to stoke the creative fires of our call-in and chat room audiences.
You'll hear lots of cool ideas from others that you can use in your local community's broadband project. Our topic areas are: Economic development Healthcare (Senior Living & Mobility) Education Libraries as central broadband hubs
Our brainstorming team joining us Wednesday represents: Social Media Club of Kansas CityThink Big, Kansas CityBrainzooming
Don't miss this great session. Come listen, learn, contribute and collaborate.
Think you have the next killer gigabit app? The answer could net you $100,000. And while we're talking about it, our guest Scott Mize will discuss the investment potential of broadband networks and applications. Scott is an Advisor to Think Big Partners and proposed the idea of The Gigabit Challenge as a way to help jump-start the development of ultra-high-speed broadband applications for Kansas City's Google gigabit network (and others, of course). As venture development consultant to early-stage tech companies, Scott also helps our listeners understand where there are potential investment opportunties in broadband. Don't forget, there are over 1,100 cities that didn't get Google fiber but still want to build networks.
Despite billions spent so far on broadband, are communities fully prepared to make libraries the literal and virtual backbone of their broadband strategies? Rich and poor, young and old, rural and urban, most people use a library. Don Means, Founder and CEO of Digital Village Assoc., is spearheading a national "Fiber to the Library" initiative. The goal is to bring 100 Mbps Internet connections to all of the 16,500 U.S. public libraries by 2012. Don will discuss how this initiative started, why it makes sense and why policymakers at all levels should aggressively support the efforts of those involved. He'll also highlight how the Kansas City, KS Public Library is capitalizing on the Google gigabit network project to become the model for cities nationwide that are expected to join the initiative.
Washington policymakers are making a big deal about the valuable role wireless will play in getting broadband to unserved and underserved communities. But are you and D.C. talking about the same wireless? Before Gigabit Nation host Craig Settles delivers his keynote address at the Wireless ISP Association (WISPA) annual convention in Las Vegas, he interviews WISPA President Rick Harnish. Today they discuss: Universal Service Fund reform WISP'a role in an evolving broadband market How WISPs will compete with large providers to give rural communities better options
Overcoming a fitful start, a reorganized and reinvigorated UTOPIA has made strides strides forward. New cities are continually buying onto the network to enable affordable broadband for their constituents, businesses and residents are benefitting from better, affordable services and governments are delivering services with greater efficiencies.
Todd Marriot, Executive Director of UTOPIA, provides valuable advice on meeting and overcoming political, business operations and technical challenges broadband project teams face when deploying broadband.
This past August, Craig Settles conducted a national survey of economic development professionals to get their feedback on how broadband can impact local economies. Today he presents the findings from this research. There will be lots of valuable information and insights Gigabit Nation listeners can begin capitalizing on right away. This year's survey examines: the state of broadband in respondents' communities how broadband impacts general economic development broadband's impact on personal economic development broadband policy issues. The full survey analysis report will be available later today at Settles' blog, Fighting the Next Good Fight.
Community-run networks are on the leading edge of broadband deployment in the U.S. These networks serve cities and counties where incumbent telcos won't go. They deliver speeds and quality of service incumbents can't or won't match (think Chattanooga, Wilson, NC, Santa Monica, CA). And through creative thinking, planning and partnerships, they minimize taxpayer risks. Learn how communities can overcome adversity and follow in the footsteps of these broadband pioneers. Vince Jordan, CEO of broadband service and technology provider RidgeviewTel, explains why local businesses and residents must take control of their broadband destiny. We'll analyze steps successful communities around the U.S. took to reduce risks and maximize gain.
Longmont, CO is holding its second referendum campaign to take back their rights to select the broadband solutions, vendors and providers that serve this city's best interest, not those of the incumbents. Jordan has supported the citizens of Longmont in their effort to gain access to the city's fiber optic network since 2009.
Listeners learn some of the secrets of designing and executing a statewide broadband plan. Maine's broadband stimulus-funded project has cleared initial hurdles and is moving forward. Driven by the Maine Fiber Company (MFC), the Three Ring Binder is the open access network dark fiber project. This project is ahead of schedule, has strong carrier sign-ups, and early wins on its pilot projects to get early sections lit and providing service to homes, businesses, and community anchor institutions. Tilson Tech Tilson is MFC's outsourced program and project management team running the project. Their President, Josh Broder, shares some of the best practices they've developed moving this project forward.
The FCC is knee-deep in Universal Service Fund (USF) reform and other key issues that are influencing broadband expansion and adoption in the U.S. FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn is our guest this week, helping listeners better understand, and (hopefully) participate in some of the FCC's efforts.
Broadcasting live from the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors conference in San Francisco, host Craig Settles and Commissioner Clyburn discuss: USF reform issues that directly impact funding that may become available for broadband broadband adoption issues specific to underserved urban communities how to increase communities' participation in broadband policy making
Over $4 billion in potential broadband funding is being influenced by FCC actions. Policies that influence decisions made at the regional and local level are on the table. If you care about broadband, this is one show you don't want to miss.
For several years Riverside, CA has tackled digital inclusion and literacy with impressive successes through aggressive use of its citywide wireless network. Through partnerships with various nonprofits and government agencies, low-income families and seniors have received computer systems and Internet access that have turned lives around.
Through creative programs that teach youth computing and computer support skills, Riverside teenagers have become more proficient in school, they earn income repairing and supporting computing equipment and they provide a training force to help adults become computer literate. City CIO Steve Reneker educates listeners on how to create and manage similar programs.
One challenge of statewide adoption programs is herding the necessary cats to ensure communities get programs and services to meet their specific broadband needs. Helen Labun Jordan, Project Director for the e-Vermont Community Broadband Project (www.e4vt.org), gives Gigabit Nation listeners insights on overcoming this challenge. e-Vermont is a stimulus-funded project uniting seven partner organizations to implement a host of local activities that convince and motivates constituents to use the Internet. Listeners will better understand how to: coordinate local organizations to provide necessary program support; design education programs relevant to constituents' interests; and keep adoption programs moving forward after they start.
Ontario County built a $12 million countywide fiber network to provide county government with much needed broadband services. The network also spurs competition by providing an open access network on which multiple providers offer services.
Former County CIO Ed Hemminger tells discusses how the network led to businesses in the county getting cost effective alternatives to incumbent telecom and cable providers, reduces government operating costs by replacing outdated expensive legacy communication systems and enables businesses with multiple locations within the county to create powerful private intranets.
Two years before the first broadband stimulus app was filed, OpenCape Corporation was formed and creating a plan for successful broadband deployment in Massachusetts' Cape Cod region. This nonprofit's planning put them well ahead of the 2100 other communities vying for a piece of the stimulus pie.
OpenCape not only won $40 million in Dept. Of Commerce BTOP and other funding, the organization is well on its way to deploying its network. Founder and CEO Dan Gallagher shares with our audience details on how to: corral diverse stakeholders into a cohesive planning body; structure critical components of your plan to attract supporters and financing; move stakeholders forward from plan to actions that get results; and keep your plan on track as you overcome implementation challenges.
Many low-income urban communities need better, faster broadband as much as rural America. Learn why and what you can do about it. Our guest Lev Gonick, CIO of Cleveland, OH's Case Western Reserve University, launched the nation's first gigabit fiber-to-the-home research program called the Case Connection Zone.
Lev describes some of his major findings from this research, as well as exciting applications Case Western's urban broadband test bed has spawned. He also will discuss Gig.U, a new project headed by National Broadband Plan architect Blair Levin to facilitate collegiate broadband centers that expand services to surrounding communities.
Our audience will pick up some vital lessons, including: availability and adoption are not the same, particularly in urban communities; how to structure effective "town & gown" strategies for broadband; and effective roles for private sector partners with Gig.U.
Go to http://www.gig-u.org for more information about the Gig.U program.
National Broadband Plan Chief architect Blair Levin has another tiger by the tail as he hopes to accelerate gigabit broadened via a consortium of 29 universities dubbed Gig.U. Is your community in the loop? Gig.U will create gigabit hubs at member colleges that then build coverage out to surrounding communities. Blair gives listeners an overview of Gig.U and sets the stage for a full briefing tomorrow on the program by Lev Gonick, Case Western Reserve University CIO and Gig.U member.
We then shift gears to give listeners an in-depth look at proposed Universal Service Fund (USF) reform, but without the wonky-techie talk. Billions of dollars, as well as the quality of broadband that may or may not come to your community, are at stake. This is an great opportunity for communities to call in and engage in this critical discussion.
Powell, WY was a great story to tell about one small town with a very big vision. Though their population was only 5,500 people, the community wanted a fiber network to help them regain economic viability. But private sector companies refused to do business with them because they saw no business case.
Zane Logan, City Administrator of Powell, describes how the community built their own business case that was financially viable and put no taxpayer dollars at risk. With planning firm US Metronets, Powell developed strategy that has led to PowelLink (the city's fiber network) earning 30% market share. Listeners will pick up lessons on: how to remove tax-payer risk and still own the network; re-thinking open access networks; effective marketing; and introducing competition into small markets. Read this article for important background on PowelLink - http://bit.ly/iRXErh
Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and NTIA together awarded over $7 billion to get broadband infrastructure and adoption programs into deserving communities nationwide. But that was just a down payment on our broadband future. What's next?
RUS Administrator Jonathan Adelstein joins host Craig Settles to discuss next steps in the drive to get effective broadband into more communities. Join us as we explore: progress of RUS' BIP grant winners moving projects forward and creating jobs; other RUS programs available for broadband projects and their eligibility requirements; USF reform's potential impact on rural broadband; and how will a gigabit nation look in rural America.
There are many miles to go, literally, before the public and private sectors can sit back and relax our efforts. Craig Settles takes you straight to the source to gather valuable information on programs to help these efforts produce successful broadband projects. You don't want to miss this interview.
(Due to his invite to meet President Obama yesterday, we re-scheduled Gary Evans for today. We'll begin the show with Gary's re-cap of his Q&A with the President on broadband and the economy.)
How do you maximize your broadband public private partnership (PPP)? Gary Evans has been refining and validating the answer to this question for several years, and you'll benefit from his experience and insights,
Evans, President and CEO of Hiawatha Broadband Communications, has created two top-10 lists of tips that help you tap the full benefits PPPs offer while minimizing the challenges. One list is from the public sector perspective and the other tackles the question from the private sector perspective.
In this broadcast, you'll get a good handle on several important issues including: • finding the best partners; • creating a shared vision; and • developing the best plan for a win-win.
Given the increasing interest and variations in PPPs, there's a lot that communities need to know. This interview starts you on the right path to success.
[Due to technical difficulty, there's an echo in the recording we can't fix. We apologize, and hope you can hang in for at least some of the presentation. The information Drew has is excellent.] You're spending a lot of money and resources to build the network your community wants. But are you building the network your community needs? More importantly, will you motivate constituents to use the network?
Drew Clark, Executive Dir. of the Partnership for a Connected Illinois, has extensive experience assembling the data that's vital for making smart decisions about broadband. He knows it's not the maps that lead to greater adoption, but the quality of the data you use to create the maps.
Craig Settles talks with Clark about several key issues that affect broadband adoption, including: how do you get the best data to make the right choices; deciphering data to understand what motivates consumers and businesses to adopt; and implementing effective adoption programs.
Expect to come away with a deeper understanding of how to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to planning adoption programs.
The main focus of today's interview is effective broadband planning. Our guest, Lisa Sherwood, is Program Director for the One Maryland project. Howard County and 9 other counties collectively won $115 million to deploy 1,200 miles of new cable, which will boost current fiber capability 50%. We're going to explore: how you do effective planning when you have so many jurisdictions collaborating under one project umbrella; One Maryland's progress to date; the expected economic impacts of this project A major takeaway from today's show are the lessons on how we can get Federal, state and local governments working together to achieve significant advances in broadband deployments that improve communities at many levels. Check out One Maryland's Web site
Sure, Chattanooga is doing great things with a gigabit network. However, Santa Monica's no slouch in a gigabit club that's still pretty small in number but huge on community benefits. They have a 10 gigabit network! Santa Monica started in 2006 with no money for a fiber network. City CIO Jory Wolf banked on creativity and business savvy to use Santa Monica's then dark fiber to save not only $750,000 in telecom costs, but also substantial costs for the city's schools and colleges. Today we explore in detail broadand's impact on local economies. Jory's team has leveraged the network to attract new media and entertainment companies, reduced telecom costs for existing businesses and increased the number of providers serving Santa Monica from one incumbent to 200 ISPs. Like Chattanooga, Santa Monica's fiber network also enables powerful wireless apps, including parking meter management, wireless hotzones and commercial corridors and smart grid. ....................................................................................................................................
Franklin County formed a public/private partnership with a local wireless Internet service provider (WISP) to expand the County's local government wide-area network (WAN) and provide broadband options for the citizens. Sandie Terry, Franklin County’s CIO, has driven this project as it has gone from serving 98 customers in early 2005 to currently thousands of residential customers and hundreds of businesses.
The wireless mesh network supports data and voice and the WISP has segmented the County's voice traffic on their network to ensure quality of service (QoS). Among the many accomplishments, the county has reduced telecom expenditures 36% in two years after deploying VoIP to all offices over this WAN.
We’ll discuss: How can broadband projects become successful for those who didn’t win stimulus or Google money; The role of wireless in the big bigger broadband picture particularly in rural areas; and How Franklin County and their WISP overcame challenges in dealing with financing and difficult terrain issues. If you have questions for Terrie, send them to craig@cjspeaks.com. The call-in feature won’t be available for a couple of weeks. We’ll archive this show shortly after broadcast, and you can access it from this page. See you Monday.
Our guest this Wednesday will give you interesting insights into Chattanooga, TN’s 600-square mile gigabit network. James Ingraham, VP of Strategic Planning for EPB, which is Chattanooga’s public utility and the network operator, has been involved with the network since the beginning. We’ll discuss 1) how EPB came to focus on smart grid as a main application of the fiber network, and what are the economic development implications of this decision; 2) what are some of the cool uses and benefits of the network to date; and 3) does the mesh network riding over the fiber have the potential to deliver on the dream of municipal wireless from several years ago? If you have additional questions for James, send them to craig@cjspeaks.com. The call-in feature won’t be available for a couple of weeks. We’ll archive this show shortly after broadcast, and you can access it from this page. See you Wednesday.
Host Craig Settles gives an overview of Gigabit Nation and its mission, its focus and some of our scheduled guests.