Research and Education network organizations are beginning to successfully integrated new communities into their membership from the beginning, but funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s BTOP (Broadband Technology Opportunities Program) has created opportunities to build non-traditional communities from public sectors such as public safety, state government and healthcare.
Today’s panel session included representatives from network organizations and their new community partner discussing their experience and providing their perspective on the opportunities, challenges and lessons learned when building new communities.
David Reese CTO from CENIC (Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California) stated they have provided iPads to everyone with all mapping of fiber routes is now digital (Google Earth) and paper maps are simply being ignored.