Colleagues, The story below is quite illuminating. Spectrum should be assigned to not-for-profits.
Alan Levy Mexico, D.F. [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------- Building Connected Communities: The 5comm Advanced Telecommunication Project in Southwest Minnesota After more than a generation of decline, rural communities across America are increasingly looking towards technology and application of advanced, community-based telecommunication models to stem the downward economic spiral that has left too many farms and Main Street stores vacant. Technology in and of itself is not a solution to all the challenges in Rural America. But the successful application of technology offers some measure of hope for hundreds of smaller communities. Telemedicine, distance learning, telework applications, small town e-commerce solutions for businesses and agricultural producers, new weather alert models and the benefits of promising new e-government models have the potential to reshape rural communities and put them on a more even par with their metropolitan cousins. The rural Southwest Minnesota communities of Brewster, Heron Lake, Lakefield, Okabena and Round Lake have taken on the task of building a state-of-the-art telecommunications delivery system, applying the new technology in their communities and surrounding area through the Five Community (5Comm) Advanced Telecommunication Project. During the past 18 months, 5Comm has been fortunate to have one of the nation's leading telecommunications companies, Telcordia Technologies, as a trusted advisor in their project. Telcordia "bought in" to 5Comm's rural technology vision early on and was eventually hired to perform a market entry analysis that would lay out telecommunication options for the rural communities. The analysis was completed in September of 2000. The results pointed to a wireless solution known as multipoint microwave distribution system (MMDS) that will provide voice, video and data to a rural population under served by technology. Our vision is to build a high-speed wireless area-wide network capable of connecting schools, churches, businesses, farms, medical clinics, government, law enforcement, homes and people together on a real time basis. 5Comm's goal is to build an infrastructure capable of delivering voice, video and data, then creating a comprehensive community-based software solution package. This would result in an area-wide connected community, providing cutting-edge technological benefits to individuals, businesses, schools, governments, organizations and agriculture producers. The keys to our success will be our ability to deploy a licensed wireless infrastructure: MMDS. Recognizing the need to go beyond our municipal borders, 5Comm is committed to working with agricultural producers and rural farm families. The five communities that make up 5Comm are agricultural communities that rose from the treeless prairie more than 100 years ago due in large part to the fertile farmland surrounding the railroad right-of-ways. Farmers, in essence, gave our communities life. Rural communities have a responsibility to do what they can to give that "life" back to farmers by making available to them the benefits of the digital revolution. Infrastructure First, Application Second Before 5Comm can realize the benefits of a connected community we must first build an infrastructure capable of delivering those services. That means finding a way to deliver greater bandwidth than is currently available in the five communities. Once the infrastructure is built, the most important step will be the application of that infrastructure in our communities and the area. An intranet is where the real value of the project will be realized. This intranet will encompass the five communities and area agricultural producers and provide an instantaneous, always on, high-speed connection to every home, business, office, school, organization and agricultural producer. Benefits offered by an intranet have the potential to refocus communities back onto themselves. As surrounding farmers and towns become part of the network, communities and residents will be reintroduced to one another through a new level of communication that will provide advanced voice services, high-speed data and video. Just as access to high-speed bandwidth can bring distant countries and worldwide activities closer together, it can also bring people in rural communities closer together. During the past three decades many communities have become disenfranchised from neighboring communities and county seats. An intranet has the potential to provide the means to reconnect those communities to each other as well as to corresponding local, county and state governments. Rural communities are, in many respects, the perfect petri dish for the development of digitally connected communities. Project Prompted by Municipal Cable Operation The city of Lakefield (pop. 1,700) has operated a municipal cable system since 1993. The 24-year-old system is in a state of decline, requiring expensive system upgrades and increasing maintenance costs in the coming years. It was the need to find a solution for the aging cable system that prompted the exploration of new technologies. Since that time, Lakefield and 5Comm have attracted Telcordia Technologies, Microsoft, Frontier Communications, Century Tel Communications and the state of Minnesota in their quest to develop an advanced telecommunication system. In the summer of 2000, the five communities began discussions about working together on the project. In addition to Lakefield, the other four towns include Heron Lake, pop. 750; Brewster, pop. 400; Round Lake, pop. 450; and Okabena, pop. 200. The five communities funded the Telcordia analysis work, subsequently creating a Joint Powers Board in February 2001. Over the past few months, several other telecom providers and software companies have expressed interest in working with 5Comm to develop a successful and replicable application model. Finding the Right Technology Solution As mentioned earlier, Telcordia identified a wireless MMDS solution for the five towns and surrounding area. MMDS will have an effective radius of about 30 miles from an existing 300-foot tower in Lakefield. MMDS will allow provisioning of full-motion video speed to everyone on the intranet. The two-way video system will allow for a new level of communication within and between the five towns that will be a catalyst toward helping residents realize the benefits of advanced telecommunications. One of the basic goals of 5Comm is to provide new opportunities for private providers, which will have access to the system. 5Comm is currently in discussions with two telcos that could result in a revenue-sharing partnership. If a mutually beneficial partnership cannot be negotiated, the nework could be operated and maintained by 5Comm. Area residents will have a world-class opportunity to learn about and receive training in Web page hosting, email and e-commerce services, as well as video and phone services. While initial hardware needs for residents and businesses will be met utilizing existing PCs, we envision the network growing into a connected web of liquid crystal display, touch screens and cyber phones that will provide instant communication within the intranet as well as to the outside world. Because of the wireless nature of our program, we hope to identify and deploy a robust home networking solution. Several home networking technologies, including wireless, power lines and existing phone lines, are being explored. The 5Comm project will provide a flexible and inclusive model that could be a catalyst for other communities looking to marry high-speed bandwidth access to a comprehensive, area-wide application model. Our goal is not to be the solution, but a solution. Meeting Our Technology Education Needs One of our primary goals is to provide comprehensive and ongoing technology educational opportunities to the residents of the five communities and surrounding area. People of all ages, income and educational backgrounds will have access to free technology training ranging from the basics of learning how to turn on a computer to advanced training, resulting in advanced systems operations and maintenance certification. The Lakefield Economic Development Authority, in conjunction with 5Comm, has negotiated a comprehensive three-year technology education and training partnership with the Minnesota West Community and Technical College System. MinnesotaWest has five campuses in Minnesota, including Granite Falls, Canby, Pipestone, Worthington and Jackson. In cooperation with 5Comm, they will make available 4,400 one-hour classes to the people in the 5Comm project, free of charge. Minnesota West will meet those needs by using existing curriculum as well as developing new distance learning curricula. The Jackson Campus, located just 13 miles from Lakefield, offers a two-year telecommunications degree. The goal is to grow smart students, residents and business owners. An Inclusive Project with an Open Architecture Critical to the success of the Lakefield project is the willingness of the entire community, as well as the five communities in general, to work together to achieve common goals. Lakefield residents initially expressed their desire to explore advanced telecommunications options through the successful phone referendum vote. The five-community steering committee has exhibited the same cohesiveness and enthusiasm for the project. Businesses and organizations representing the five areas of social interaction involved in the application of technology to the community (education, health care, business, government and community organizations) have all indicated a strong desire to play integral roles as the project moves forward. To further enhance the value of our efforts -- not only for ourselves but for other communities and organizations -- 5Comm is committed to the concept of an open architecture approach as the project moves forward. We would like our project to become a model for growing bandwidth access in rural Minnesota and rural America as a whole, as well as to apply that bandwidth to the concept of nurturing connected communities. ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, an NGO that is a GKP member*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
