Tom, a regular commenter here, in responding to this post about Google’s planned broadband demonstration project, made a request.
"Dennis will you submit our proposal? I'm afraid if it gets into the political/public arena a group will form that thinks our networks are already too crowded."
Google is accepting expressions of interest from communities interested in hosting a showcase project of cutting edge super fast broadband internet. Only “elected officials” can formally apply to have their communities considered. Non electeds like me can only nominate.
So I did as Tom asked and nominated Howard County.
Then, taking a page from what I learned from Ilana Bittner on our most recent podcast of “…and then there’s that…”, I started a facebook page called “Google Howard County.” In little over 24 hours 34 people had already signed on.
There are still many unanswered questions about what exactly this project actually entails. It may turn out in the end that it really isn’t a good fit for HoCo but there’s no harm in taking a closer look. The opportunity to be a showcase of the next generation of broadband technology should not be taken lightly.
You can be certain one thing. There will be plenty of competition for this technology plum.
F ³: Competitions: Are We Winning Yet?
21 hours ago
5 comments:
Good on ya. This actually could work out well with HoCo or Columbia as a prototype. There are many early adopters here, and an infrastructure based on private, commercial, and government knowledge workers. It's worth a shot. Have you contacted any county council members with the idea?
Keep in mind my earlier caveats about Google...they strive to do good, but only if there's a profit involved somewhere down the line.
As has been said before, though, "You can do well by doing good."
Just keep this in mind.
Thanks for the update!
Howard County's Director of IT has been pursuing this, and is highly qualified to lead the charge, if Howard County is of interest to Google.
Why is Google screwing around with local governments? Are there regulatory hurdles that must be overcome, or are they looking for subsidies?
This all seems like catnip for the naive to me.
Did you have to add that ridiculous nonsense from Tom about the crowding? Stuff like that adds nothing to the discussion, and turns off middle roaders who might be interested otherwise.
Can't stop the bandwidth.
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