TECH WORLD: Small Communities Controlling Their Own Hi-Tech Destiny
November 5, 2004
Small towns in this country are tired of being neglected when it comes to technology, and instead of waiting forever on the “big boys,” they’ve decided to take matters into their own hands. For example, the diminutive city of Danville, Virginia is building their own system called nDanville, which is a very high speed, business class fiber optic network that will be able to deliver voice, data, and video. In partnership with Worldwide Packets, which is a firm that specializes in municipal networks, the city is planning to actually rollout this new system in phases.
The result of this small town’s technological transformation has been great in terms of attracting new business to the area as the chamber of commerce are constantly getting inquiries from new firms seeking to re-locate. As a result of this success many small towns across the nation have taken notice and are now starting their own broadband projects.
What has prompted leaders in these small municipalities to take control of their own technological destiny is due to the fact they are no longer dependant on the notoriously slow service providers especially when it came to delivering online services for these small towns. In addition, the quality of service has improved immensely.
By using a municipality network, a company does not have to go and purchase an expensive T1 data line from the phone company because of the incredible speeds these networks can deliver. These are key financial points for medium and small businesses that cannot afford or cost justify a T1 data line. Of course, with small towns starting to create their own networks they can also customize it for their own area versus having it dictated to them by a large provider, which many political leaders see as a huge benefit.
According to World Wide Packets these networks have really caught on with over 800 communities nation wide currently involved with some phase of broadband development. This trend should continue because the possibilities are indeed many. First, the impact on local employment is very favorable as more small and medium companies come in and are able to operate more efficiently as they expand their workforce. Also, the educational system in these small towns are receiving a tremendous boom since they can now get more done with this new high-speed network. This contributes to many more teaching and learning opportunities via the Internet.
Even with all the advantages there is some fear on just how well these municipalities will actually be able to manage this fairly complex technology. These networks also come with some financial risk as well. In fact, in Marietta, Georgia, located just north of Atlanta, the town has put their plans of building a network on hold to further study these risks and their capability of addressing them.
Despite these risks, however, small towns around the country have really embraced the idea of building their network. The common project plan usually involves three to five rollout phases based on the local needs. With virtually unlimited opportunities, look for other small towns to jump on this broadband revolution going forward. This is certainly a case where being small and nimble is beating the giant service providers at their own game.
Happy Trading.
Jeff Neal
Senior Writer & Options Strategist
Optionetics.com ~ Your Options Education Site
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