New Orleans Wants to be a Variable in Google’s Gigabit Internet Experiment

Google announced February 10th on “The Official Google Blog” that it plans on conducting an experiment that will bring gigabyte fiber-to-the-home to select towns across the United States and has made an open request for information (RFI) to interested municipalities . Google’s goal is  to deliver fiber-to-the-home connections to between 50,000 and 500,000 people at a competitive price. According to a 2009 report produced by Speed Matters, a project of the

The Big G

Communications Workers of America (CWA) Union, the United States ranks 28th worldwide in average Internet connection speeds and 15th in Internet adoption among industrialized nations. Louisiana’s average download speed registered at 6.3mbps. While slightly faster than the nations average speed of 5.1mbps Louisiana’s  revealed a significant digital-divide in high speed Internet connections.

What does this all mean?

It means that things that are impossible now under today’s infrastructure will be possible with connection speeds almost 100 times faster in some places than those currently available. The connections speeds will allow application developers, and content creators in the recipient municipality to operate on the cutting edge of technology. Developers and content creators would be able to develop “bandwith-intensive ‘killer apps’ and services, or other uses we can’t yet imagine,” says Google.

It means potential jobs for the near 7-percent unemployed in New Orleans. As Google “test new ways to build fiber networks, and support deployments elsewhere” according to their website. Google will need labour to deploy the fiber and personnel familiar with the deployment process to aid in future roll out.
Competitively priced high speed Internet means improvements to health care, education, government,environment, and digital literacy.

How would New Orleans Benefit?

New Orleans has been earning some well deserved attention, prior to the Saints Superbowl berth, for its flourishing tech and digital media community. Many people in the new media, developer, and online social networking community have visited New Orleans and left impressed by a tech community seasoned with southern hospitality. Amidst a

TribeCon Brought Together Tech Figures From Around The Country

recession New Orleans has attracted the SIGGRAPHconference, Ignite, and Tribe Con. New Orleans will host Microsoft’s TechEd Conference in June of 2010. All this should make New Orleans all the more attractive to Google.
Pair Google’s fiber with the $474 million awarded to rebuild Charity Hospital and there is potential for one of the most robust public medical facilities in the country. Charity could potentially have the ability to transmit medical data in real time removing geographical barriers between patients and specialist diminishing the time consuming and costly need for patient transfer.

Schools would benefit from the availability of high speed broadband service. It would allow students to remotely access high-volume data files, virtually attend lectures, and participate in foreign class share programs. Beyond that public school system would have the ability, with funding, to operate advanced computer and media classes. Louisiana’s eduction system ranks 46th in the nation according to U.S. Dept. of Education. Access to high speed Internet at home and in the classroom would be a value added to the students who have traditionally suffered from the digital-divide.

What does the competition look like?

According to Mark Lewis of the Louisiana Technology Council Baton Rouge is already preparing to submit to the RFI.  Lewis also said that if any Louisiana city was selected that he and the council would “support mechanisms for implementation.” Beyond the borders of ‘the boot’ Engadget has reported that one day after Google’s announcement “Seattle mayor Mike McGinn has come forward and confessed that the Emerald City is ready to accept said offer.” Seattle benefits from its proximity to Redmond the home of Microsoft. DC Council Member Mary Cheh is eager to get in on the action and has put a petition on none-other-than Google Docs to gauge interest. DC benefits from being the seat of democracy.

New Orleans benefits from Who Dat! charisma and hospitality that attracts conferences and returns its attendees considering a move to the ‘silicon bayou.’ New Orleans is still in a rebuilding phase and there is no better time to implement bleeding edge technology and embed it in the fiber (no pun intended) of a budding community. With the election of Mayor who understands the importance of technology, and ongoing infrastructure projects New Orleans is primed for Google to experiment.