In association with Gigabit U, whose executive director is
former FCC broadband plan czar Blair Levin, Gigabit Squared has announced that
$200 million in broadband development capital will be spent to fund six projects
to accelerate deployment of high-speed, as in gigabit-per-second, networks.
Gigabit Squared, which specializes in IT-enabled infrastructure
deployment, has teamed with Gig.U (The University Community Next Generation
Innovation Project), to identify communities and help fund innovative efforts
to build and test what they are billing as the first multicommunity gigabit
deployment.
Their Gigabit Neighborhood Gateway Project -- communities
will be identified starting in November -- will create demonstration projects
that will attempt to employ "underused network assets and capacity and
create new capacity to deliver broadband at speeds of one hundred times and up
to a thousand times faster than current speeds."
"What makes the Gigabit Squared approach so exciting is that
it goes far beyond normal industry business models in how to successfully and
creatively improve broadband access speeds for university communities, which is
exactly the premise upon which Gig.U was founded," said Levin.
A group of 29 research universities last year launched Gig.Uto deliver high-speed broadband to their campuses and environs.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, who brought Levin to the
FCC to head up his broadband plan, saluted the R&D effort.
"To drive U.S. global competitiveness, it's vital that we
have super-fast broadband test beds for innovation. It's an important element
of unleashing breakthrough innovations in health care, education, business
services, and more. Today's announcement is a welcome and significant
accomplishment by Blair Levin and the Gig.U team to help ensure America leads
the world in bandwidth. As outlined in the National Broadband Plan, it's vital
both that we connect every corner of America to broadband and that we spur
next-generation innovation through next-generation broadband networks."
