Kim Hudson just passed this info on to me. It looks like Google isThe Link above is from PC World magazine and an article entitled - Google Gigabit Network Going to Kansas City - By Nancy Gohring, IDG News - March 30, 2011
getting ready to do a press conference about the Gigabit project in
Kansas City. They may offer it to other cities but I thought the info
was worth passing along to the group. Regardless, we still have a ton
of useful information that both cities can use to encourage the
development of a similar type of infrastructure. I hope we all
continue to move forward and work to initiate such a project.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/223735/ google_gigabit_network_going_ to_kansas_city.html
Thanks guys,
Ben Willis
Kansas City is the lucky winner of a 1Gbit-per-second broadband network that Google plans to build.
The search giant, which last year said it would choose a city in which to build such an ultra-high-speed network, hopes to start offering the service in 2012.
Google chose Kansas City for a number of reasons, it said. "In selecting a city, our goal was to find a location where we could build efficiently, make an impact on the community and develop relationships with local government and community organizations. We've found this in Kansas City," Milo Medin, vice president, Access Services for Google, wrote in a blog post on Wednesday.
The plan must still be approved by the city's Board of Commissioners, he said.
Google has said the network would serve 50,000 to 500,000 people with connectivity offered at what it called a competitive price. It initially planned to make a choice by the end of last year and said it might choose a number of locations.
Almost 1,100 cities responded to Google. The interest was so great that one city, Topeka, Kansas, changed its name to Google for one month.
Google has said that its goal in building the network is to experiment with next generation applications, new deployment techniques and open access.
The search giant has a press conference scheduled in Kansas City shortly.
Nancy Gohring covers mobile phones and cloud computing for The IDG News Service. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @idgnancy. Nancy's e-mail address is Nancy_Gohring@idg.com
Here are other News sources in regards to Google's initiative:
New York Times - Google Picks Kansas City, Kan., for Its Fast Network - March 30, 2011 - KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — After seeing Facebook pleas and flash mobs, and even cities temporarily renaming themselves “Google,” the search engine giant said on Wednesday that it had chosen Kansas City, Kan., as the first place that will get its ultra-fast broadband network...
Los Angeles Times - Google picks Kansas City, Kan., to debut its super fast Internet service - - March 30, 2011 - Google Inc. picked Kansas City, Kan., for its super high-speed Internet service, which when deployed promises to be 100 times faster than what is available for many users today... More than 1,100 cities entered Google's contest, which the company launched with much fanfare early last year. Google said it would build and pay for a fiber-optic network capable of 1 gigabit speeds in the winning community. Most U.S. homes paying for high-speed Internet connections receivedata at less than 10 megabits a second.
National Business Review - Google to build experimental ultra-fast broadband network in Kansas - Alex Walls - March 31, 2011 - Google has announced that it will build its trial ultra-fast broadband network in Kansas City, Kansas, an experiment the company said followed on from urging the Federal Communication Commission to look at new and creative ways of providing universal, ultra high-speed Internet access through its National Broadband Plan... (Hint: watch the video to hear the Google CFO describe low speed access as "sucky")...
Wired News - Google Chooses Kansas City, Kansas, as Broadband Mecca - By Ryan Singel - March 30, 2011 - There’s no place like home — especially if you live Kansas City, Kansas, where houses will soon be connected to the net via fiber optic cables that Google promises will deliver 1 gigabit per second internet connections — roughly a hundred times faster than a typical 10 Mbps cable connection... With that fast a connection, it becomes possible to download a full-length feature film from iTunes in seconds... More than 1,100 cities and town across the country applied to be the testbed, highlighting the dismal state of broadband connections around the country. The Tuesday announcement came after more than a year of deliberations and a change of leadership in the project.
Google News feed about the Google Gigabit
Google's Official Press Release
The Hound wants to say that it was always a longshot that we would land this deal. On the positive side it was great to see the communities of Lenoir and Hickory work together in a positive unified effort to land something that would have moved the community forward in a wonderful way and in a manner that most of our citizens cannot presently comprehend. I think there was a lot of hard work put forward by the people associated with this effort. The only criticism I had involving the effort was the backwoods hillbillyish colloquialism "Google Holler." Such a term is not endearing and does not and never would have, in my estimation, looked good to people associated with High Tech Industry. People in decision making positions need to understand that cutesy never works in high stakes, dead serious business, especially when it isn't very cute.
I hope that the efforts, energies, and synergies put behind this project can be put to use towards other efforts in the future and hopefully through perseverance those efforts will be fruitful. Thank You everyone for trying.
5 comments:
Long shot is an understatement. Hickory BARELY made the parameters of the test location. It is great that so many entities got involved, but it's unfortunate that so much money was wasted on a boondoggle designed primarily to get Rudy's face on the internet.
When will they realize that our hope of recovery comes not from snagging "the big one" that will put many politico's names on public buildings, but rather in enticing the many, many small businesses that provide diversity in our economy and provide some protection from disasters in major industries, such as furniture and textiles.
Let's not lose site of the fact that one of the things that had to hamper Hickory is the fact that we have little or no effective leadership. As long as we have an inept Council and a dictatorial City Manager, Hickory will not move forward.
Unfortunately, most people with common sense are either (a) trying like hell to keep their own businesses alive; or (b) have no desire to jump into bed with the City Council we have, recognizing that it's a Quixotic quest to try to change them from the status quo to something that might actually be effective.
And I agree, Google Hollar was absolutely the most asinine marketing campaign that has come about in many, many years.
In my opinion, this is the incubator that could have seeded the small business effort. This wasn't a "trying to land the big one effort" to try and attain expansion of the job base. This would have caused Information and electronic Technology developers to look and possibly move to the area for business development purposes.
As for people's relation with the Council. It is a Quixotic quest to try and change them or other Powers that Be, because they just don't listen. They will hear your, but they don't have the cognitive skills to understand the important distinction between hearing and listening. They are going to do whatever they personally choose, whether or not a million people come to them and tell them it is not the thing to do. It is all about how it effects their own (or a friend or family member's) personal interest.
As far as the people with common sense statement. I think it is correct, but it should be an and/or statement.
And as far as marketing anything, it is so scattershot that I don't understand what people are thinking. I just know that one of the PTB's come up with something and no one ever says that it is a bad idea. Instead we get court jesters that will follow the lemmings right off the cliff. Where are people's principles?
As always, great thoughts. We have the area, the people, and the opportunity to push technology like this forward. We just need leadership. Hopefully we can continue to push this area forward. Many are trying, but some are stuck in the past, and others are not paying attention. You always move forward or backward, never standing still. As for me, I choose forward. They call it the future for a reason. You have to move ahead to get there.
Matt
And the Google Hollar singers said:
"Gloom, despair, and agony on me,
deep dark depression, excessive misery.
If it warn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. Gloom, despair, and agony on me.
Still wish Hickory could have gotten Google even if it was a long shot.
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