Hi, all, Since I contacted Lane County Commissioner Pete Sorenson about the Google fiber network experiment, things are coming together for a joint regional proposal by a consortia of local units of government, including utility districts, mostly those that are existing members of a local fiber consortium called the Public Agency Network (PAN). Your lobbying of other local officials apparently aided in this tremendously, as the City of Eugene had already begun efforts to prepare its own nomination. Good work!
But I think a combined effort would result in a more impressive presentation. The matter is now on the agenda for a meeting of regional CEOs on Monday and a meeting of regional CIOs on Tuesday. The word from one knowledgeable insider is that "we can make a compelling enough case to get serious consideration by Google for this region." I've learned that there is also a Homeland Security grant pending for more fiber to add to the existing PAN network and that much of the Pioneer Telephone Cooperative network is already fiber based, including portions in Lane County, although more in other counties to the north. Pioneer's fiber and cooper hybrid network is also built on a common carrier model, although Peak Internet is presently the only participating ISP, offering 16 Mbs DSL connections. According to a Google FAQ on the experiment, Google contemplates a common carrier model for its experimental network, with competing ISPs offering service over the network. This is the model specified as preferred by the federal Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, with a $7 billion available in broadband grants from the FCC and $2.5 billion available for broadband grants, loans, and loan guarantees through the USDA Rural Utilities Service. So in short, there is funding available. Lane County has *some* available funding for promotion of tourism. I have suggested that as part of the Google nomination, the County commit, subject to becoming a Google experimental community, to focusing this funding on attracting the kinds of tourists who are most likely to move here permanently to work as telecommuters if we have gigabit per second internet service in the local region. E.g., software and software standard developer get-togethers and the like. This could be augmented by targeted brochures distributed in hotel and motel rooms, convention centers, and the like, stressing not only the connection speed advantage but other regional advantages such as rural living, scenic and recreational opportunities, etc. If anyone has suggestions for types of organizations to target for such promotion, I'd appreciate receiving them. I also call to your attention Technology & Innovation Foundation, The Need for Speed: The Importance of Next-Generation Broadband Networks (March 5, 2009), <http://www.itif.org/files/2009-slides-needforspeed.pdf>. This is a collection of 13 slides comprehensible to laypersons that summarize the importance of the U.S. getting out in front of the pack on broadband speed and adoption. The slides are particularly noteworthy for their lists of potential applications for ultra-speed broadband. I think this set of slides near-ideal for explaining the importance of this area becoming a Google testbed community. Finally, my sparkplug work thus far has focused on exchanges of email messages but the number of participants seems likely to explode next week. I'm wondering whether anyone on this list is in a position to offer a private listserver on an expedited basis? I suspect that one of the involved governmental units can provide this, but I'd like to have a fallback plan if there are bureaucratic delays involved. Sorry for the length, but this is an important topic. Best regards, Paul -- Universal Interoperability Council <http:www.universal-interop-council.org> _______________________________________________ EUGLUG mailing list [email protected] http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug
