- MEMBERS RECEIVE ACCESS TO:
- CIO Leadership Group
  CIO Leadership Task Force provides a unique forum for Chief Information Officers from the largest cities and counties in the U.S. to privately interact, both through an online collaboration site and in regular face-to-face meetings. It offers these leaders an on-going opportunity to share information and experiences, and to discussing IT challenges facing larger community jurisdictions.
- Digital Infrastructure
  Task Force
  The Digital Infrastructure Task Force is a collaborative networking group for government IT professionals. Through timely exchange of information and experiences, both online and through regular face to face meetings, municipal and regional government members help each other to make smarter technology decisions for their communities.
- Law Enforcement
  IT Task Force
  The Law Enforcement Task Force is a collaborative networking group for local law enforcement officials from across the nation. In online and regular face to face meetings, both sworn and civilian law enforcement officials come here to discuss technology trends, collaboration and information sharing opportunities within the local law enforcement community.
- Private Events
  and Webinars
- Exclusive White Papers
- JOIN:
- Public Sector
- Private Sector
Digital Communities Home
Introduction
Feature Articles
Local Government Events
Contact
Digital Communities Blogs
Digital Citizen Pulse
Broadband Nation
Web 2.0 Convergence
In the Trenches
International Beat
Notes from a City CIO
Intelligent Communities
MuniGov 2.0
Surveys and Awards
Digital Cities Survey
Digital Counties Survey
DGAA Awards
Best of the Web Awards
Reference and
Resource Library
White Papers
Exclusives
Webinars
Best Practices
Digital Communities
Special Focus
Current Issue
Past Issues
Subscribe

Digital Communities
Industry Members

Click sponsor logos for whitepapers, case studies, and best practices.

New York Telecom Wins Broadband Stimulus Grant

January 6, 2010 By Andy Opsahl

A broadband stimulus award of $39.7 million went to New York telecom ION HoldCo to build 10 extensions from its existing fiber backhaul in the state. The new fiber will reach parts of Pennsylvania and Vermont as well. The project will serve as a "middle-mile" infrastructure for Internet service providers to extend equipment to more than 70 rural communities. That equipment, which would facilitate Internet service subscriptions, is referred to as "last mile."

The funds came from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, one of two federal agencies tasked with distributing $7.2 billion set aside in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for broadband projects. ION will deploy the fiber as a public-private partnership with the Development Authority of the North Country (DANC), a New York state public benefit corporation.

Extending fiber to the areas in question would not have been profitable for ION without the grant money, said Joe Calzone, vice president of ION.

Even though the grant went to a private company, several New York agencies had the chance to help plan the network extension. For example, the New York Department of Corrections and the New York Office of Mental Health gave input that persuaded ION to route the fiber near prisons. This will enable a video stream for psychologists to treat prisoners remotely.

"We'll build fiber into the 15 maximum security prisons in New York state," Calzone said.

The New York State CIO Office for Technology, New York State Department of Motor Vehicles and the State University of New York made suggestions as well. ION's existing last-mile customers also made recommendations based on areas they wanted to penetrate.

Calzone speculated that the high level of government input helped ION win the grant, but he said it was mostly due to the federal emphasis on sustainability.

"I think they liked the fact that we had existing relationships, a plethora of customers who were already last-mile service providers," Calzone remarked.

| More

Comments

Add Your Comment

Name *

Comment *

You are solely responsible for the content of your comments. We reserve the right to remove comments that are considered profane, vulgar, obscene, factually inaccurate, off-topic, or considered a personal attack.

In Our Library

White Papers | Exclusives Reports | Webinar Archives | Best Practices and Case Studies

Are You Sure You Are Maximizing the Value of Your Microsoft SharePoint Investment?: The Microsoft SharePoint platform provides a wealth of opportunities for any organization to streamline business processes and expand knowledge sharing; however most government organizations struggle to take advantage of these opportunities.
Hurricane Preparedness: Make sure you are prepared for hurricane season before it is here. Join in this Digital Communities teleconference and gain insight on how to prepare from experts who have been on the ground during major hurricanes.
Kofax Analytics for Capture: Does your agency struggle to add Business Intelligence to your capture operations?

Latest From Digital Communities Features

Follow @dcommunities

Government Best Practices

Digital Cities & Digital Counties Survey: Best Practice Guide

Real Time for McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator

Public Safety Guide: From Call to Car to Crisis

Public Safety Mobile Apps for 4G Networks

10 Requirements for a Successful Oracle R12 Upgrade

Kofax Analytics for Capture

Business Intelligence Roadmap

Featured White Papers & Reports

Government-to-Government IT Services: What Works and What's Left to Work Out

This Digital Communities white paper highlights discussions with IT officials in four counties that have adopted shared services models. Our aim was to learn about the obstacles these governments have faced when it comes to shared services and what it takes to overcome those roadblocks. We also spoke with several members of the IT industry who have thought long and hard about these issues. The paper offers some best practices for shared government-to-government services, but also points out challenges that government and industry still must overcome before this model gains widespread adoption.

View Full Library

Events

GTC East

Don't miss this opportunity to see the latest in digital government solutions, keep abreast of current policy issues and network with key government executives, technologists and industry specialists.

View All Events