Local Technology Planning Teams Lessons Learned Frank Ohrtman CO Broadband Data and Development Program

1. Local Technology Planning Teams Lessons Learned Frank Ohrtman CO Broadband Data and Development Program

2. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed, it is the only thing that ever does.” Margaret Mead

3. Colorado Broadband Data and Development (CBDDP) • Founded by $5 million grant from National Telecommunications and Information Administration (BTOP) to State of CO • Mapping • Planning • Distance Learning

4. Broadband and Bottom-Up Governor’s Bottom-Up: 3 Listening Tours • 48 meetings • 5,000 attendees, 10,000 survey responses • All 64 counties submitted eco-devo plans • 14 regional economic development plans • ALL 14 plans: broadband is major issue • Broadband is 1 of 6 priorities in Bottom-Up

5. 3 Things to Remember: Community Broadband • All solutions are local • No one size fits all • It doesn’t take $ millions to bring gigabit per second service your community

6. “7 A’s” of Success • Aggregate Experience • Assess Broadband Environment • Assess Demand • Aggregate Demand • Aggregate Resources • Aggregate Solutions • Aggregate Sustainability

7. Local Technology Planning Teams 4 6 5 3 2 1 100 Mbps or better download speed available < 10 Mbps download speed available

8. Local Technology Planning Teams • Southwest Colorado Open Access Network • San Luis Valley Telecommunications Coop • Southeast Colorado Local Technology Planning Team • Northwest Colorado Local Technology Planning Team • Chaffee County Local Technology Planning Team • Three Rivers Open Access Network

9. Aggregate Experience:Local Technology Planning Teams • Recruiting the Teams • Recruit Experience in Past Efforts • Recruit Telecom Players • Recruit Leaders • Team entity? • Leading the Teams • Assess • Aggregate

10. Aggregate Experience:Team Members (cont.) • People with “skin” in the game • Local service providers • People who depend on good telecom ie it pays them to be involved • Elected officials • Responsible for budgets that include telecom, RoW, etc • Tech people • IT directors, CIOs, service providers who make telecom buying decisions, know technology and industry • People who have experience in similar efforts in the past: leverage the experience/don’t repeat mistakes

11. Aggregate Experience: Team Entity? • Do this first: contributes to sustainability • Co-op? • 501c3? • Inter Government Agreement? • Corporation • Empowers team to raise money, build/facilitate infrastructure builds

12. Leading the Teams • Assess Broadband Environment • Assess Demand • Aggregate Demand • Aggregate Resources • Aggregate Solutions • Aggregate Sustainability • Repeat: technology never stops!

13. Assess Your Organization • Who assesses broadband environment? • Local Technology Planning Teams Examples: • San Luis Valley Telecommunications Coop • Southwest Colorado Open Access Network (SCAN) • Who Is On Teams? • Community Leaders • Local service providers, technologists • Sustainability • Meet regularly? • Focus on goal setting and achievement

14. Assess Broadband Environment • History of broadband/telecom improvement efforts • Bean Pole • SLV Last Mile • Infrastructure: Middle Mile? Last Mile? Both? • Technology mix? Wired? Wireless? • What is team consensus re: solutions? What can we realistically accomplish? • Middle Mile capacity to community?

15. Assess Broadband Environment (cont.) • Broadband mapping • National Broadband Map • Colorado Broadband Map • Speed tests/tiers? • How many service providers? • Technology types? • DSL • Wireless (fixed/mobile)

16. Assess Broadband Environment (cont.) • Corporate Site Selection checklist • Is Middle/Last Mile redundant? • More than one connection to outside world • SLV AUG 14, 2010 • Is Middle/Last Mile abundant? • Got gigabit to outside world? • Cortez does @ 10 Gbps at City Services Bldg • Is Middle/Last Mile affordable? • Cost per Mbps/month = Denver pricing?

17. Assess Demand: Survey • Surveys of CAIs (speed test, what are they really using, getting in speeds?) • Assess verticals: education, healthcare, public safety • Assess horizontals • Survey Last Mile service providers-what do they buy per month? DS-3? OC-3? • What do they want to buy? 1 or 10 GbpsGigE? • Assess: public sector and private sector demand ratios

18. Assess Demand: Speed Tests (cont) • http://www.colorado.com/oit/broadband • Results come to CBDDP • FCC Test app for Droid and iPhone • Results go to FCC then to CBDDP • Can your mobile employees do this? • Test early and often

19. Assess Demand: Survey (cont.) • “Ya gotta count it before you can cure it” • Inexpensive • Google Docs and ookla speed test • CBDDP will assist in surveys • Non-anecdotal ie “Our broadband stinks” • Gauge present and future demand to support network builds to meet demand of local market

20. Assess Demand: Survey (cont.) • Business and Eco-Devo • How do businesses currently use broadband? • Applications, pricing? • Digital Economy index ™

21. Assessing Demand • What we’re seeing: • Aggregate demand in even small communities may be 1 Gbps + • Public sector demand may be 1 to 10% of total community demand • Surveys from SCAN, Steamboat Springs, Grand County • Forecast: 10 Gbps by 2015 for rural cities (<20,000) • Example: Cortez

22. Assess YourDigital Economy index (DEi)TM • Does your community’s infrastructure support the latest applications aimed at making business and government effective and efficient? • Example: Mt. Princeton Hot Springs • Cloud computing for reservations, accounting, etc • VoIP? How many lines? Pay for long distance? • Video conferencing? • Support smart phones? Other resorts do! • Got Netflix? Competing resorts do!

23. Aggregate Demand • Example: Grand County “auction” of major bandwidth buyers with goal of determining 1 Gbps of demand by 6 bandwidth consumers

24. Aggregate Resources • Embrace Community Broadband Principles • Leverage disruptive technology

25. Aggregate Resources: Community Broadband Principles • Community Control • Universal Access • Geographic Equality • Public Private Partnerships • Open Access/Multi-Service Networks • Level Playing Field • Unlimited Bandwidth • Symmetric Bandwidth • The time is NOW! • Source: City of Cortez, CO

26. Aggregate Resources:Community Control • Only way a community can control its broadband environment and economic destiny in the 21st century • Leverage via carrier neutral location/towers/conduits/rights of way • Need means for selecting/rewarding service providers who play fair/offer best value • Cortez and SCAN are great examples • Coming soon to the SLV!

27. Solutions Yardsticks (Middle Mile) • Redundant • Abundant • Affordable

28. Aggregate Resources

29. Aggregate Resources=Cut CAPEX • It may not cost $ millions • Existing infrastructure inventory? • Existing service providers? • Near by service providers? • Rural Electric Co-op? • Towers? • Rights of Way? • Conduits? • Roof Tops?

30. Aggregate Resources (cont.) • Funding • Economic Development Districts-small business loans • Sales/tourism tax mechanisms? • Community broadband corporation? • Colorado Dept. of Local Affairs (DOLA) • USDA • Broadband Loan Program

31. Aggregate Solutions? • Who brings what to the broadband table? • Middle Mile providers? • Fiber? • Microwave? • Last Mile providers? • Fixed wireless? • Mobile broadband? • DSL? • Cable?

32. Aggregate Solutions: Middle Mile (MM) • Redundant • “diverse path” to rest of the word (E911, PSAPs) • No Single Point of Failure (SPOF) or repeat of SLV AUG 14, 2011 or Silverton 2-day outage • Abundant • > 1 Gbps per community anchor 2011 • > 10 Gbps per community 2011 • >100 Gbps Ethernet per community 2020 • Affordable • <$20 Mbps/month (bandwidth + transport)

33. Aggregate Sustainability • You built it and now they will come because • Its local, awareness has been there all along • LTPTs include largest consumers of Middle Mile services, ergo purchase orders are already in the funnel • Community anchor institutions are already affiliated with LTPTs ie awareness is in place, short sales cycle to gain their business • Sustainability is a given due to the above

34. Aggregate Solutions: Success Stories • Southwest Colorado Open Access Network (SCAN) • Multi-county aggregation of community resources • $3 M grant/$1 M match by local governments • Thorough survey of demand • Thorough inventory of resources

35. Aggregate Solutions: MM Success Stories • Cortez • 10 Gbps to City Services Bldg-a carrier neutral location • 1 Gbps to Montezuma Cortez School District • North San Luis Valley • 1.6 Gbps microwave over Wolf Creek Pass to Del Norte, Monte Vista, Creed, Center, Saguache Crestone by SEP 2011 • Alamosa: carrier neutral location in planning stage

36. Aggregate Solutions: MM Success Stories • Grand County • April 14, 2011 “auction” with local service providers, school districts, hospitals, etc • Access alternative carrier fiber points of presence at 1 Gbps + • Greatly improved MM for local service providers • Opens “northern route” for Routt and Moffat counties • Services within the year

37. SE Colorado LTPT • Secom is telecom subsidiary of Southeast Colorado Power Association • Leverages fiber assets on power grid to bring fiber to almost all public schools in 15-county area or 17% of all Colorado public schools • Fiber enables enormous economic development potential, ie “fiber to the barn”

38. It gets better… • These infrastructure improvements to rural broadband environments required no Colorado taxpayer dollars • Improvements in local broadband environment are largely the result of smart planning and sharing of community resources coordinated at the local level

39. “7 A’s” of Success • Aggregate Experience • Assess Broadband Environment • Assess Demand • Aggregate Demand • Aggregate Resources • Aggregate Solutions • Aggregate Sustainability • Repeat: technology never stops!

40. Lessons Learned • Sustainable improvements to broadband environments occur at the local level • No one size fits all or “command and control” is not sustainable • Capital expenditures for improvements in broadband infrastructure need not cost $ millions if local entities share existing resources

41. How can CBDDP help? • Facilitate your Local Technology Planning Teams • Coordinate with others in your community • Identify problem areas by region • Focus resources • Identify service providers who can help you

42. Thanks! • CBDDP Communications Manager: • Frank Ohrtman 303-910-5968 frank.ohrtman@state.co.us • http://www.colorado.gov/oit/broadband