[UCIMC-Tech] Fwd: UC2B HAS BEEN FUNDED BY NTIA!!!

[Danielle Chynoweth]

Hey all - CU got broadband funding!!  That means UCIMC gets a high speed
internet access.  Yea!!   Time to celebrate!   - Danielle


From Mike Smeltzer:
More than two years of effort by many people has been rewarded. The NTIA
press release below makes it official. The UC2B Infrastructure proposal has
received $22.5 million in ARRA "stimulus" funding.

We now have 30 days to decide if we want to accept the award. The Champaign
City Council has a meeting scheduled with its broadband advisor on March
16th. Urbana's council had a study session last night on round two NTIA
proposals for Public Computing Centers and Sustainable Broadband
Adoption. Those proposals are due on March 15th. Accepting the grant for
this Infrastructure proposal will appear on both councils' agendas soon.

NTIA's announcement also sets the stage for a proposal to Google for a
complete community-wide fiber-to-the-home/business build out. We have
created a "Nominate UC2B" web site at:  www.uc2b.net/google Vote early!

This will hopefully get the ball rolling with Google. Their application
deadline is March 26th.


**
*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*
*Tuesday**, March 2, 2010*

*News Media Contact:*
*Shannon Gilson, (202) 482-4883, **sgilson at doc.gov***

*SECRETARY LOCKE ANNOUNCES RECOVERY ACT INVESTMENTS TO*
*EXPAND BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS AND SPUR ECONOMIC GROWTH***

WASHINGTON *–* U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today announced 23
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act investments to help bridge the
technological divide, boost economic growth, create jobs and improve
education and healthcare cross the country. The grants will increase
broadband access and adoption in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois,
Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, New
Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and West
Virginia. The grants, totaling more than $160 million, will lay the
groundwork to bring high-speed Internet access to millions of households and
businesses, and link up thousands of schools, hospitals, libraries, and
public safety offices to the information superhighway.

“In a globalized 21st century economy, when you don’t have regular access to
the Internet, you don't have access to all the educational and employment
opportunities it provides. Fast, reliable Internet can help keep communities
safer, open doors for small businesses and provide job training and skills
to more Americans,” Locke said. “Over the long-term, enabling our people to
create new products and new ways of doing business will help communities
throughout the country get onto a sustainable growth path, and that’s what
the Recovery Act is all about.”

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information
Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP),
funded by the Recovery Act, provides grants to support the deployment of
broadband infrastructure, enhance and expand public computer centers, and
encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service.

“The level of interest in this program has been extraordinary, and is yet
another indicator of the critical role broadband plays in achieving durable,
sustainable economic growth,” Assistant Secretary for Communications and
Information and NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling said. “Like the
grants announced today, the strongest proposals are the ones that have taken
a truly comprehensive view of the communities to be served and have engaged
as many key members of the communities as possible in developing the
projects.”

*The following grants were announced today:*

*California:  Level 3 EON, LLC:  $3.3 million* broadband infrastructure
grant with an additional $1.1 million applicant-provided match to build 11
new access points on Level 3’s existing broadband network. These additional
points of interconnection – essentially on-ramps to the Internet – will
offer broadband speeds between 50 Mbps and 10 Gbps on an open and
nondiscriminatory basis to local Internet service providers, enabling them
to provide enhanced broadband capabilities to as many as 240,000 households,
9,900 businesses, and 240 anchor institutions, including schools, government
agencies, and healthcare providers.

*Florida:  Level 3 EON, LLC: $2.1 million* broadband infrastructure grant
with an additional $689,000 applicant-provided match to build seven new
access points on Level 3’s existing broadband network. These additional
points of interconnection will offer broadband speeds between 50 Mbps and 10
Gbps on an open and nondiscriminatory basis to local Internet service
providers, enabling them to provide enhanced broadband capabilities to as
many as 180,000 households, 12,300 businesses, and 100 community anchor
institutions, including schools, government agencies, and healthcare
providers.
* *
*Florida:  School Board of Miami-Dade County: $3.5 million* sustainable
broadband adoption grant with an additional $996,000 applicant-provided
match to increase broadband adoption among low-income middle school students
and their families by an estimated 15,000 households. The project plans to
offer 60,000 hours of computer training to 30,000 students and their
parents, provide low-cost refurbished laptops to 6,000 students and their
families, and offer discounted Internet service to 10,000 families.

*Georgia:  Columbia County Information Technology Department: $13.5 million*
 broadband infrastructure grant with an additional $4.5 million
applicant-provided match to build a 220-mile, county-wide fiber network to
connect nearly 150 community anchor institutions and enhance healthcare,
public safety, and government services throughout the region. The project
plans to facilitate the creation of a high-capacity data center at the
Medical College of Georgia, support a sophisticated county-wide traffic and
water control system, enable 60 free Wi-Fi hotspots in public locations, and
construct five wireless towers to enhance public safety communications as
well as improve wireless communications capabilities throughout the region.

*Georgia: Level 3 EON, LLC:  $1.4 million *broadband infrastructure grant
with an additional $476,000 applicant-provided match to build four new
access points on Level 3’s existing broadband network. These additional
points of interconnection – essentially on-ramps to the Internet – will
offer broadband speeds between 50 Mbps and 10 Gbps on an open and
nondiscriminatory basis to local Internet service providers, enabling them
to provide enhanced broadband capabilities to as many as 198,000 households,
13,000 businesses, and 190 anchor institutions, including schools,
government agencies, and healthcare providers.

*Illinois:  Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois: $22.5
million* broadband
infrastructure grant with an additional $6.8 million applicant-provided
match to construct 187 miles of fiber-optic broadband network in Urbana,
Champaign and Savoy to provide high-speed connectivity to community anchor
institutions, and support fiber-to-the-home services in four low-income
neighborhoods. The project expects to provide speeds of at least 100 Mbps to
directly connect 143 anchor institutions, including schools, social service
agencies, healthcare facilities, youth centers, public library systems and
higher education institutions.

*Indiana:  Educational Networks of America, Inc.:  $14.3 million* broadband
infrastructure grant with an additional $4 million applicant-provided match
to improve educational opportunities for an estimated 290,000 students and
library patrons by deploying 560 miles of fiber that will deliver 100 Mbps
connections to 145 public schools and libraries. In addition, the project
expects to spur affordable broadband Internet service for as many as 200,000
households, 30,000 businesses and 630 community anchor institutions by
enabling local Internet providers to connect to the project’s open network.

*Kansas:  Level 3 EON, LLC: $998,000* broadband infrastructure grant with an
additional $333,000 applicant-provided match to build four new access points
on Level 3’s existing broadband network. These additional points of
interconnection will offer broadband speeds between 50 Mbps and 10 Gbps on
an open and nondiscriminatory basis to local Internet service providers,
enabling them to provide enhanced broadband capabilities to as many as
50,000 households, 3,600 businesses and 150 community anchor institutions,
including schools, government agencies, and healthcare providers.

*Louisiana:  Deaf Action Center of Louisiana:  $1.4 million* public computer
center grant with an additional $436,000 applicant-provided match to install
81 new videoconferencing stations, and enhance the user experience at 19
existing stations that serve people who are deaf and hard of hearing in
Northwest Louisiana, and individual sites in Alabama, California, and Texas.
The project intends to use broadband and videoconference technology to
provide on-demand, cost-effective sign language interpretation at community
anchor institutions such as hospitals, courts, public safety agencies,
shelters, schools and libraries.

*Massachusetts:  OpenCape Corporation:  $32 million* broadband
infrastructure grant with an additional $8.3 million applicant-provided
match to deploy 350 miles of fiber and over 100 miles of microwave broadband
network links in the Cape Cod region, directly connecting more than 70
anchor institutions, including emergency shelters, libraries, colleges,
academic research facilities and town or public safety facilities. These
anchors would receive 100 Mbs service, allowing them to support a wide range
of economic, educational, public safety and healthcare-related applications.

*Massachusetts:  Cambridge Housing Authority:  $699,000* public computer
center grant with an additional $541,000 applicant-provided match to reopen
and expand three public computer centers that serve approximately 10,000
public housing residents, including low-income households, immigrants,
seniors and minorities. The Cambridge Housing Authority intends to replace
24 workstations and add 16 new ones at the centers to serve an expected 420
new users per week with access to broadband technology, computer courses,
job training and literacy programs.

*Maryland:  Coppin State University:  $932,000* public computer center grant
with an additional $275,000 applicant-provided match to provide broadband
access and computer education to the Coppin Heights-Rosemont community, a
low-income neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland with a high minority
population. Consistent with the community’s existing revitalization plan,
Coppin State University will establish a 60-workstation computer center for
use by the local community, and anticipates offering 15 training and
educational courses on a regular basis, serving more than an estimated 500
users per week and more than 12,000 unique users within two years.

*North Carolina:  Mitchell County Historic Courthouse Foundation:  $239,000*
 public computer center grant with an additional $60,000 applicant-provided
match to more than double the number of public computer workstations
available to residents of Mitchell County, provide job training and
educational courses through the local community college and extension
service, and expand broadband Internet access by creating a Wi-Fi hotspot in
the newly-renovated historic courthouse that will reach the adjacent library
and parts of downtown Bakersville, North Carolina.

*New Mexico:  Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority:  $176,000* public computer
center grant with an additional $52,000 applicant-provided match to expand
the capacity of one public computer center and create an additional public
computer center at two public housing sites, offering broadband access and
computer training to low-income families, minorities, disadvantaged youth,
disabled, and elderly Santa Fe residents. The project expects to add 13 new
broadband workstations and replace seven workstations, enabling the centers
to increase the number of users served per week from 27 to 135.

*Ohio:  OneCommunity:  $18.7 million* sustainable broadband adoption grant
with an additional $4.8 million applicant-provided match to employ a
collaborative strategy to expand broadband adoption by almost 20,000
households in targeted communities in five states. OneCommunity plans to
work with non-profit and community organizations to implement
neighbor-to-neighbor broadband adoption and awareness campaigns reaching an
estimated 334,000 low-income individuals, and provide training and services
to an estimated 33,000 people in Akron, Cleveland, and Zanesville, Ohio;
Detroit, Michigan; Gulfport/Biloxi, Mississippi; Lexington, Kentucky and
Bradenton, Florida.*(This project benefits Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, and
Mississippi as well.)*

*Oregon:  Lane Council of Governments:  $8.3 million* broadband
infrastructure grant with an additional $2.1 million applicant-provided
match to enhance an existing fiber-optic backbone and deploy 124 miles of
fiber-optic network that will deliver broadband capabilities across three
large, mostly rural counties and the Klamath Tribal region in Western
Oregon. The project plans to enhance education, healthcare delivery, job
training, and government services by providing 100 Mbs connections for more
than 100 community anchor institutions, including medical centers, public
safety entities, schools, community colleges and libraries.

*Puerto Rico:  Iniciativa Tecnolégica Centro Oriental, Inc. (INTECO, Inc.):
$12.9 million* broadband infrastructure grant with an additional $3.4
million applicant-provided match to deploy a multifaceted 515 mile network
that will include both wireless and fiber connections in some of the
neediest areas of Puerto Rico. The project plans to directly connect nearly
250 anchor institutions including  schools, hospitals, municipal facilities,
police stations and libraries. It will also facilitate new or improved
broadband Internet access for local consumers, including up to 300 anchor
institutions, 136,000 households, and 600 businesses and industrial centers,
by enabling local service providers to connect to the project’s open
network.

*Tennessee:  Level 3 EON:  $1.3 million* broadband infrastructure grant with
an additional $432,000 applicant-provided match to build four new access
points on Level 3’s existing broadband network. These additional points of
interconnection will offer broadband speeds between 50 Mbps and 10 Gbps on
an open and nondiscriminatory basis to local Internet service providers,
enabling them to provide enhanced broadband capabilities to as many as
188,000 households, 9,600 businesses, and 150 community anchor institutions,
including schools, government agencies and healthcare providers.

*Tennessee:  DeltaCom, Inc.:  $9.4 million* broadband infrastructure grant
with an additional $2.3 million applicant-provided match to provide a
544-mile high-capacity fiber-optic broadband network that will provide
high-speed connections for more than 50 community anchor institutions in
five Eastern Tennessee communities, from Chattanooga through Knoxville to
Johnson City and Bristol. The project expects to spur more affordable
broadband Internet access for over 34,000 households, 5,000 businesses, and
270 anchor institutions by allowing local Internet providers to connect to
the project’s open network.

*Texas:  Level 3 EON:  $4.7 million* broadband infrastructure grant with an
additional $1.6 million applicant-provided match to build 17 new access
points on Level 3’s existing broadband network. These additional points of
interconnection will offer broadband speeds between 50 Mbps and 10 Gbps on
an open and nondiscriminatory basis to local Internet service providers,
enabling them to provide enhanced broadband capabilities to as many as
400,000 households, 21,000 businesses, and 214 community anchor
institutions, including schools, government agencies and healthcare
providers.

*Wisconsin:  The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System:
$5.1 million *broadband infrastructure grant with an additional $3.7 million
applicant-provided match to* *deploy more than 100 miles of fiber-optic
infrastructure to provide high-capacity broadband Internet connections for
community anchor institutions, and enable last-mile broadband services
throughout the Madison, Middleton, and Monona, Wisconsin region. The project
expects to directly connect nearly 100 community anchor institutions,
including schools, public safety organizations, and a community college, at
speeds of up to 10 Gbps.**

*West Virginia:  Hardy Telecommunications, Inc.:  $3.2 million* broadband
infrastructure grant with an additional $814,000 applicant-provided match to
build a 177-mile high-capacity fiber-optic network to Hardy County, West
Virginia, a sparsely populated region of the state with difficult terrain.
The project intends to connect an estimated 35 anchor institutions, such as
emergency agencies, government offices, libraries, and colleges, as well as
spur more affordable high-speed Internet service for up to 1,900 households
and 190 businesses by enabling local Internet service providers to connect
to the project’s open network.

*West Virginia:  WorkForce West Virginia:  $1.9 million* public computer
center grant with an additional $568,000 applicant-provided match to improve
access to job information, career counseling, and skills training by
upgrading and expanding 20 WorkForce West Virginia One-Stop career centers
throughout the state. This project intends to replace all of the existing
165 computer workstations at the centers, add 80 new workstations, and serve
almost 2,300 additional users per week, nearly double their current traffic.

*Fact sheets with further information about all BTOP grants are available on
the NTIA web site here: **
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/projects.html*<http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/projects.html>
*.*

Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, NTIA’s Broadband
Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) provides grants to support the
deployment of broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas,
enhance and expand public computer centers, and encourage sustainable
adoption of broadband service.

###





   **

  * Urbana-Champaign Big Broadband

Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try. - Yoda


Mike Smeltzer - Director of Networking - Campus Information Technologies and
Educational Services (CITES) - University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

2129 Digital Computer Laboratory, MC-256 - 1304 West Springfield Avenue
Urbana, Illinois 61801- (217) 244-3835 - smeltzer at illinois.edu







 *
* *

-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/imc-tech/attachments/20100302/fb16faf5/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 19932 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/imc-tech/attachments/20100302/fb16faf5/attachment-0001.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: UC2B_Logo-half.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 2059 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/imc-tech/attachments/20100302/fb16faf5/attachment-0001.gif>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: UC2B-UrbanaChampaign_FINAL.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 270230 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/imc-tech/attachments/20100302/fb16faf5/attachment-0001.pdf>