Google Fiber Asheville :: Official Webite

Ultra high-speed broadband goes to Kansas City, Kansas

hozae — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 17:50:34 +0000

Thanks to all those who helped with the Asheville’s Google Fiber initiative. If we can come together for Google, we can come together for anything.

Congratulations Kansas City, Kansas.

From the Official Google Blog

As part of our overall goal to make the web better for users, last year we announced a new project: to provide a community with Internet access more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have today. The response was overwhelming—nearly 1,100 cities felt the need for speed—and we were thrilled by the enthusiasm we saw across the country for better and faster web connections. Thank you to every community and individual that submitted a response, joined a rally, starred in a YouTube video or otherwise participated.

After a careful review, today we’re very happy to announce that we will build our ultra high-speed network in Kansas City, Kansas. We’ve signed a development agreement with the city, and we’ll be working closely with local organizations, businesses and universities to bring a next-generation web experience to the community.

Later this morning we’ll join Mayor Reardon at Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kansas, for an event we’ll carry live on the Google YouTube channel—be sure to tune in at 10am PDT to watch.

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. We’ll be working closely with local organizations including the Kauffman Foundation, KCNext and the University of Kansas Medical Center to help develop the gigabit applications of the future.

Pending approval from the city’s Board of Commissioners, we plan to offer service beginning in 2012. We’ll also be looking closely at ways to bring ultra high-speed Internet to other cities across the country.

Over the past decade, the jump from dial-up to broadband has led to streaming online video, digital music sales, video conferencing over the web and countless other innovations that have transformed communication and commerce. We can’t wait to see what new products and services will emerge as Kansas City moves from traditional broadband to ultra high-speed fiber optic connections.

Now it’s time to get to work.

Google Fiber delays naming cities

Clark Mackey — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:25:09 +0000

Google had originally declared it would announce the winning cities “before the end of the year.” They have put off that deadline, citing the large number of submissions.

From Google:

We’re sorry for this delay, but we want to make sure we get this right. To be clear, we’re not re-opening our selection process—we simply need more time to decide than we’d anticipated. Stay tuned for an announcement in early 2011.

Here’s the post from the official Google blog; the delay was announced on Dec 15th, 2010.

Connection Speeds

ttolle — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 15:37:04 +0000

I read a very interesting article about connection speeds across the globe yesterday. I believe that the faster the speeds, the more we enable innovation, learning and the economy. South Korea is certainly ahead in the race right now. This is worth a read for anyone that is interested in how the United States stacks up.

http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/11/12/real-connection-speeds-for-internet-users-across-the-world

Facebook is coming to Rutherford County, North Carolina

hozae — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:58:47 +0000

from Governor Perdue’s website

Announces Social Networking Leader to Build Data Center in Rutherford County

Gov. Bev Perdue announced today that Facebook, the world?s leading social networking service connecting more than 500 million people, will locate a multi-million dollar data center near Forest City in Rutherford County.

The facility is expected to create more than 250 construction and mechanical jobs during its 18-month building phase. When construction is completed, the data center will employ around 35-45 full-time and contract workers. Facebook is expected to invest about $450 million dollars in the new data center. Additional construction phases may be possible in the future, depending on business needs.

“We are proud that Facebook chose to make North Carolina a „friend.? The feeling is certainly mutual,” said Gov. Perdue. “You can?t pick up a newspaper, read a magazine or flip on the television without hearing more great news about our state. The investment and jobs at the data center will be a boon to that region of the state, and will help confirm North Carolina?s distinction as a global business destination.”

Perdue said the state has been working with Facebook?s representatives for about a year to help bring together the land, utilities and incentives to make the project a success. North Carolina has become a destination for data center projects including previous announcements by Apple, Google and IBM.

Full Article

You can follow the progress on Facebook here http://www.facebook.com/rutherforddatacenter#!/rutherforddatacenter

Google Announces First Fiber Community

ttolle — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 16:10:46 +0000

The fall is here and the results are starting to come in on the Google Fiber Initiative. Not surprisingly, Google’s first community is very close to home, literally only a couple of miles away. Stanford University’s residential subdivision will be the first test of the high speed network. This does not rule out Asheville for a future location for a Google network presence. There will be more communities selected in the coming months, so stay tuned!

You can read the full post on Google’s blog here.

Gov. Perdue Announces $115 Million in Federal Recovery Funds to Expand Broadband Access in North Carolina

hozae — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:32:09 +0000

Gov. Perdue Announces $115 Million in Federal Recovery Funds to Expand Broadband Access in North Carolina.

Gov. Bev Perdue today announced that North Carolina has received $115 million in five federal recovery grants to extend broadband connectivity in North Carolina. These funds will create jobs and help spur economic development through expanded access to high-speed Internet in underserved areas. Through two rounds of recovery funding, North Carolina has received over $255 million for broadband.

“Increasing broadband access will create new jobs up front and provide a boost for local economies to create even more jobs and a better quality of life in the near future,” said Gov. Perdue. “These improvements are especially important in rural and underserved areas of North Carolina.”

The grants are part of the second round of Recovery Act funding for broadband projects from the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Agriculture. North Carolina has already received over $140 million in recovery broadband grants. Gov. Perdue joined North Carolina’s congressional delegation in personally advocating for North Carolina’s grant applications in Washington, D.C., during the past year.

More information about the recently announced North Carolina broadband grants:

Google introduces Google Fiber for Communities

hozae — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:27:38 +0000

From Google introducing Google Fiber for Communities Website

In February we announced our plans to build experimental, ultra-high speed broadband networks. Over the past several months, our team’s been hard at work reviewing the nearly 1,100 community responses to our request for information—not to mention the nearly 200,000 responses from individuals across the U.S.

Throughout this process, one message has come through loud and clear: people are hungry for better and faster Internet access. With that in mind, today we’re launching a new site called Google Fiber for Communities, where you can learn more about fiber networks and keep up-to-date on our project. You’ll also be able to advocate for common-sense federal and local policies that would help fiber deployments nationwide.

We also wanted to thank every community and individual that submitted a response, posted a YouTube video, started a website, joined a rally or otherwise let their voice be heard. We were so honored by the grassroots enthusiasm across the country for this project that we put together a short video to say thank you:

As we explained back in March, we plan to name our target community or communities by the end of the year. We still have some work ahead of us before we’re ready to make that announcement, but in the meantime, we hope this site helps to keep the conversation going.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqwjjfKRgb0]

NC municipal broadband bill back on the agenda for today

Clark Mackey — Wed, 05 May 2010 18:32:46 +0000

[tweetmeme source="googleavl" only_single=false] Stop the Cap has an excellent overview of the bill – which the public has not been allowed to see or comment on – that is being introduced in a NC legislative committee today. Please contact your representative and let them know you oppose any ban or moratorium on municipally-owned broadband networks.

http://stopthecap.com/2010/05/04/north-carolina-action-alert-municipal-broadband-moratorium-bill-expected-to-be-introduced-wednesday/

Note that the bill is officially opposed by a large number of NC citizens as well as Google, Intel, Alcatel-Lucent, the Fiber to the Home Council (FTTC), American Public Power Association (APPA), Atlantic Engineering, Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), and the United Telecom Council (UTC). The bill also directly contradicts the Federally-approved and currently in effect National Broadband plan.

Vint Cerf speaks of Google Fiber and NC while visiting Raliegh

Clark Mackey — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:06:48 +0000

[tweetmeme source="googleavl" only_single=false]Local Tech Wire has a good short post up about Vint Cerf’s recent visit to Raliegh for the WWW 2010 conference. Cerf, among other things, is one of the founding fathers of the Internet and is currently employed as Google’s Internet evangelist.

Speaking about Google Fiber, the article quotes Cerf:

“We really have no interest in turning [Google Fiber] into a business that we operate… Our first objective is to demonstrate that a wholesale model can be made to work,” Cerf said of providing Internet broadband. “The second is to document what problems arise.”

According to the article,

“Cerf, who knows a great deal about networking infrastructure from his days at the old MCI, said Google would like to deploy, test and then turn over the broadband lessons learned to true providers.”

This echoes what we know about Google’s plans for building an open network – they want to build it, learn from it, and then turn it over to another entity.

Here’s the full article on Local Tech Wire.

Action alert: North Carolina is attempting to ban community-owned fiber networks.

Clark Mackey — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 04:08:43 +0000

[tweetmeme source="googleavl" only_single=false]This is a hot topic and your action is needed. The Google Fiber initiative, as many know, is movement to have Google build an open fiber network for our community. But what if someone else could build it? What if the someone else was a group of taxpayers who banded together to pave roads, hire police, and build a better broadband network? In that last case, you would have a community-owned open network.

And several NC state legislators are attempting to ban those types of networks.

Here are some of the links:

http://stopthecap.com/2010/04/15/north-carolina-action-alert-anti-municipal-broadband-bill-is-back-better-than-ever-if-you-are-time-warner-cable/
http://stopthecap.com/2010/04/19/north-carolina-action-alert-update-get-to-raleigh-this-wednesday-and-join-the-fight/

Bottom line: this is a bad bill and it appears to have been drafted to protect current broadband companies, rather than to encourage the building of better networks.

Please contact the representatives on the “Revenue Laws Study Committee” (these are the folks who must pass the bill first, and they are the ones responsible for its creation) and tell them to vote no for this bill (see the links for more information).

Here again is the information for the membership of The Joint Revenue Laws Study Committee, so get on the phones and write those e-mails!:

(Please send individual messages to members, even if the contents are essentially the same — avoid simply CC’ing a single message to every representative.)

Sen. Daniel Gray Clodfelter (Co-Chair) Mecklenberg Daniel.Clodfelter@ncleg.net (919) 715-8331, (704) 331-1041

Sen. Daniel T. Blue, Jr. Wake Dan.Blue@ncleg.net (919) 733-5752, (919) 833-1931

Sen. Peter Samuel Brunstetter Forsyth Peter.Brunstetter@ncleg.net (919) 733-7850, (336) 747-6604

Sen. Fletcher Lee Hartsell, Jr. Cabarrus, Iredell Fletcher.Hartsell@ncleg.net (919) 733-7223, (704) 786-5161

Sen. David W. Hoyle Gaston David.Hoyle@ncleg.net (919) 733-5734, (704) 867-0822

Sen. Samuel Clark Jenkins Edgecomb, Martin, Pitt Clark.Jenkins@ncleg.net (919) 715-3040, (252) 823-7029

Sen. Josh Stein Wake Josh.Stein@ncleg.net (919)715-6400, (919)715-6400

Sen. Jerry W. Tillman Montgomery, Randolph Jerry.Tillman@ncleg.net (919) 733-5870, (336) 431-5325

Rep. Paul Luebke (Co-Chair) Durham Paul.Luebke@ncleg.net 919-733-7663, 919-286-0269

Rep. Harold J. Brubaker Randolph Harold.Brubaker@ncleg.net 919-715-4946, 336-629-5128

Rep. Becky Carney Mecklenberg Becky.Carney@ncleg.net 919-733-5827, 919-733-5827

Rep. Pryor Allan Gibson, III Anson, Union Pryor.Gibson@ncleg.net 919-715-3007, 704-694-5957

Rep. Dewey Lewis Hill Brunswick, Columbus Dewey.Hill@ncleg.net 919-733-5830, 910-642-6044

Rep. Julia Craven Howard Davie, Iredell Julia.Howard@ncleg.net 919-733-5904, 336-751-3538

Rep. Daniel Francis McComas New Hanover Danny.McComas@ncleg.net 919-733-5786, 910-343-8372

Rep. William C. McGee Forsyth William.McGee@ncleg.net 919-733-5747, 336-766-4481

Rep. William L. Wainwright Craven, Lenoir William.Wainwright@ncleg.net 919-733-5995, 252-447-7379

Rep. Jennifer Weiss Wake Jennifer.Weiss@ncleg.net 919-715-3010, 919-715-3010