FiberNet Monticello April 2008 Update

Have you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall as a town funded, designed and implemented fiber into their community? Well thanks to Lynne Dahl-Flemming we got something even better – we’ve got the notes from the fly on the wall.

Monticello received funding from Blandin Foundation as part of the Get Broadband program. After an amazing referendum vote for fiber last fall, they are moving ahead in all direction. Read on to hear how it’s going. I think this account will be particularly interesting to anyone who is in a position to consider fiber in their area…

Home and Community Options, Inc

Blandin Light Speed Grant

Six Month Progress Report

Peter Walsh, Project Coordinator

April 22, 2008

 

We have just completed the first six months of our Light Speed Project and it is exciting to provide an update on the progress we have made toward our goals.

 

All in all we have made good strides in either completing or moving forward on our goal related activities.  Perhaps the biggest disappointment has been the slow progress of HBCI making the FTTH connections.  We hope that with warmer weather their technicians will be better able to complete this task.  HBCI has indicated that they will be starting to lay underground cable now that the ground is frost free and they assure us that once they get started installations will flow steadily.

 

We are very pleased with the response of our staff and their desire for additional training.  We are excited to see the ease in which our E-File system is being deployed and we have programs clamoring to be next on our installation list.  Fortunately, that decision is made by the agency Directors and they select programs on the basis of need and readiness.

 

Our remote monitoring venture is unfolding very nicely.  We have a model home in the midst of implementation with a variety of security devices working and progress being made every day.  We have most of the call escalation program completed and are designing the user interface screens.  We are testing the phone interface and find that it works well.  I am sure we will find more things that we need to adjust as we start playing out some scenarios.  

 

We are meeting monthly with a local group made up of providers of care to the elderly who are seeking ways to improve the delivery of service to seniors within the Winona community.  They are excited about our participation and we hope to find some opportunities to implement some of our remote monitoring solutions within their care population. 

 

We are grateful to the Blandin Foundation for this opportunity to implement our broadband applications.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congress wonders about emergency spectrum today at 9:30 am

I know I’m the early bird with lots of news today. It’s because my favorite tax guy has already filed my extension so I can move on with life today and there seems to be a lot of broadband news.

Apparently the House Energy and Commerce telecommunications and the Internet subcommittee wants to know from the FCC and others why the recent 700 Mhz Spectrum Auction was so successful *except* for the segment saved for building a public safety network. The meeting to discuss the matter is planned for today (Tuesday April 15 at 9:30 to noon DC time and will be broadcast online.)

The plan was to use public airwaves and private money to create a nationwide emergency communications network. The winning vendor would build the network and make a profit by selling access to wireless service providers. However, the auction bidding didn’t meet the minimum bid requirements. Well, it sounds as if it didn’t get any bids.

There was one company (Frontline) who was expected to win this job but weeks before the bidding they dropped out, claiming they couldn’t raise the funds required, which was $1.33 billion.

I followed this story earlier on when a company called Cyren Call was the expected public safety net builder. They advocated for the use of public spectrum, but then they kind of disappeared except that the Chairman of Cyren Call became an adviser to the auction.

So now Congress wants to know – what in the heck is going on? And - what in the heck should they do now?

US is Climbing a New International Ranking

I haven’t read the whole report but the World Economic Forum just released a report that ranks international economy and technology readiness. They considered the business and regulatory environments in the countries it covered, the readiness of individuals, businesses and government to exploit opportunities and actual usage of the latest IT and communications technology (ICT).

The top spots go to:

1. Denmark
2. Sweden
3. Switzerland
4. US
5. Singapore
6. Finland
7. Netherlands
8. Iceland
9. Korea
10. Norway

Home and Community Options, Inc.

Light Speed Grant Recipient

Peter Walsh, Project Coordinator

Project Update

April 9, 2008

 

Small steps but progress continues!!  We have another facility connected with FTTH!!  Now we can begin experimenting with some of our broadband applications.  Videoconferencing and “Thin Client” connectivity will be our first two projects and we hope to get started on those very soon.

 

Our Remote Monitoring efforts are gradually coming together.  We have two IP cameras set up with two-way audio.  This week we will be training the staff at the facility in the use of the cameras.  We will also continue testing the IP Intercom; we ran into some complications last week as it doesn’t seem to like our router.  Need to tweak it a bit.  We will also be arming the wireless window and door alarms this week and testing the remote configuration and monitoring of the security system.  The manufacturer is changing some of the interface code and we decided to wait until the new version comes out before we write our program that will integrate the security system with our Remote Monitoring program.

 

We are now on our third set of Outlook and Excel classes.  We are excited about the impact this is going to have on overall agency productivity.  We have become very dependent upon email of course and have been using that for internal and external communication for several years but the use of the Outlook Calendar and Tasks were just not evolving the way we had expected.  Now, with everyone taking the classes, we will expect everyone to use the Outlook Calendar and scheduling meetings will be much simpler.  We also clustered our Resources (conference rooms, projectors, etc.) as a separate Exchange group so staff can more easily reserve them.  This really makes managing our resources much easier.

 

Our e-File program is being implemented at a nice pace.  We now have five programs either completely running or in the final implementation stages of running our electronic file system for our Residential Programs.  This is an integration of Outlook, Excel and Word to provide a paperless record keeping system.  This e-File program was developed internally by our staff so it really fits our needs.  Now that our lead staff have seen its effectiveness they are all clamoring to be next in line for installation.  A nice problem to have!

 

We have lots of things happening on different fronts and that keeps me busy, but what fun to be able to integrate these applications on a fiber backbone!

 

HCO Project Update

Home and Community Options, Inc.

Light Speed Grant Recipient

Project Update March 21, 2008

Peter Walsh, Project Coordinator

We have had an exciting couple of weeks as we have been wiring one of our residences with a plethora electronic security and remote monitoring devices.  The men at the residence are really excited and look forward to the day when they will not need a night staff on the premise.  This is really a big deal for them as it impacts directly on their sense of self and independence. 

We will be in the testing phase for some time as we work out the bugs and develop our intervention protocols.  Surprisingly one of the biggest challenges has been full duplex IP audio.  There are not very many options to provide at-the-moment dialog.  For example to get a response to the query “Are you alright?” in places where an IP camera is not allowed such as bedrooms and bathrooms.  We have located a solution and will begin testing it this week.

Our employee training is starting to catch on.  The word is out that the classes are very beneficial and we now have waiting lists for the next round of classes that start this week.  So we may decide to offer a couple more sessions to accommodate the increased interest.  I think one of the responses from one of our former foot draggers speaks volumes:  “You know that if we are really going be able to take advantage of this system everyone is going to have to be up to speed.”  We may be approaching the downhill slope and all because of our Light Speed Grant!!  Thank you Blandin!

Internet Outages Across the Middle East

Thanks to Ann Higgins for the update on the Internet outages in the Middle East (Damaged undersea cable causes Internet outages across Middle East).

Apparently two undersea cables in the Mediterranean were damaged yesterday. Emergency teams are trying to find alternative routes for traffic – including satellite. It’s is expected to day takes to repair the situation. Right now, TeleGeography, a U.S. research group that tracks submarine cables around the world, estimated that the severed lines account for 75 percent of the capacity connecting Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries to Europe.

At this point no one knows what happened. Apparently cables get cut like this pretty frequently, but this is the first time that two have been cut and that has obviously upped the ante. The cables were about a half a mile apart from each other and somewhere between Alexandria, Egypt, and Palermo, Italy.

Light Speed Project Update

Home and Community Options, Inc, Winona, Minnesota  Peter Walsh, Project Coordinator. 

First the good news:  We have a FTTH connection at our main office!  This blog is being posted at “Light Speed”!  We are trying to be patient waiting for additional sites to be hooked up but the weather just has not helped.  The severe cold has caused all kinds of headaches for HBCI and their technicians have been busy keeping customers connected.  Our project is too far down the triage list to expect priority treatment.  So we are learning to be patient.

 

So this begins our lesson in barriers.  We knew going in that there would be barriers but we didn’t know what they would be.  Of course if we knew what they were going to be we could have anticipated them and been a bit proactive.  But that is the nature of many barriers; they crop up when you least expect them.  We were somewhat surprised to learn that a fair number of our staff are not ready to implement some of the advanced uses of Outlook and Excel and that we needed to offer some additional training for them.  Then we were surprised how much that training was going to cost, so we hunted around and found an independent Microsoft Trainer who is willing work with us.  Now we are endeavoring to put together a training room that we will not have to tear down after every class.  A tenant has just moved out of some of our space and we are commandeering that until it is rented.  This will enable us to set up a formal training center that we can use for a month or so to provide hands-on-training for our staff.

 

We are making good headway with our Remote Monitoring project and have begun wiring our first house.  We hope to begin installing cameras and security sensors next week.  Then it will be an extended period of testing and monitoring the reliability of the system. And, I’m sure we will encounter a few new barriers to overcome. (See blog entry “Obstacles to Remote Monitoring” by Dennis Theede, Executive Director, Home and Community Options, Inc.)

The FCC Meets on Tuesday - Why Should Communities Care?

Next Tuesday (Dec 18, 2007), the FCC is holding an open meeting to consider the following:

1. the 12th Competitive Market Conditions with Respect to Commercial Mobile Services, 2) satellite digital audio radio service (SDARS)
2. new media ownership rules
3. initiatives designed to increase participation in the broadcasting industry by new entrants and small businesses, including minority- and women-owned businesses
4. trends in embedded advertising and the efficacy of the current sponsorship identification rules with regard to embedded advertising
5. the Broadcasting Localism proceeding, and
6. cable ownership limits.

(Get the official announcement.)

At the Blandin Broadband conference in November, a few community leaders asked me for more info on the FCC and why they should care about the FCC since they are plenty busy without caring about them. So I thought I’d address that a little here.

ConnectKentucky and Connected Nation

Thanks to Bill Coleman for sending me the following information on ConnectKentucky and Connected Nation. I believe that these are notes from a discussion between someone from the GIG Group and Brett Lagg from Connected Nation.

For background sake, here’s how Connected Nation describes itself on its web site:

Connected Nation is non-profit organization known for its ability to bridge the digital divide. With results-oriented public private partnerships Connected Nation improves access to and use of broadband Internet and the related services that are enabled when communities and families have the opportunity and desire to connect. For America, this means better education, more jobs, improved healthcare, more efficient government, and a better quality of life.

And here are the handy notes from Bill. It really talks about Connected Nation and their first project – ConnectKentucky and their current plans for mapping access to broadband based on info from current providers:

1. The #1 objective in Kentucky was to close the digital divide and make the internet a useful tool
2. The first area of focus was on getting broadband that made the internet a usable tool
3. The second tier focus is speed
4. As the internet becomes adopted then the speed will follow
5. Comprehensive GSI mapping was done down to the street level and identified various broadband technologies - wireless, fiber, DSL, etc.
6. Providers were comfortable giving Connected Nation the information based on non-disclosure
7. Maps should be continually updated
8. Don’t want to box the providers in
9. Conducted research (telephone survey’s) across the state - county by county to find out detailed information about broadband availability versus broadband adoption. Within each community they found out what kept them from adopting - cost, no computer, don’t find the internet interesting, do not have the education or know how to use. After determining the reason for not adopting - they would come up with a solution - maybe community education, refurbished computer program, etc.
10. They set up e-community leadership teams. That team takes the resources map and survey info. and comes up with a strategic technology plan for the community. They make sure the plan is adoptable.
11. Market based approach - believe that providers will deploy if there is a business case to do so
12. Not all deployments were done be providers, some were/are done by cities and are run/owned by cities
    Connected Nation has technology consultants on their staff that work with local entrepreneurs to get the best wireless deployment set up.
13. Kentucky has a no child left offline program
14. Where the need was identified - providers have deployed the latest technology versus what would get the area to a minimum broadband definition
15. Connected Nation is hesitant to state a specific speed, but their definition is much higher than the FCC - closer to 1 - 2 MB starting out
16. Kentucky had a 22% adoption rate in 2004 today it’s at 44%.
17. Targeting 100% coverage by spring of next year
18. Another phase is building robust applications - e-health network
19. In the process of creating speed based maps
20. Brent is meeting with people in Hawaii next week to discuss their Broadband initiative
21. Launching Connect Ohio next Thursday - Dec. 13th
22. Cost - mentioned 2 million per year, it’s a 3 year initiative, but they’ve also been able to reduce costs over time
23. Most expensive part is the community involvement
24. Connected Nation gives the state ownership as the on the ground staff understand the state better than
25. Connected Nation could. People are hired who are qualified to manage the initiative - a subsidiary of Connected Nation is created.