Blandin on Broadband

I’ve been noodling around with Bill Coleman and others on the Blandin Foundation’s Broadband Project team to put the finishing details on the design for a modest new grant program we’d like to launch to help spur the implementation of broadband-intensive applications. (See the Light Speed Program Concept paper.) Our goal is to demonstrate the value of robust ultra-high speed networks for increasing community competitiveness and quality of life. As a foundation that cares about vital rural communities, Blandin thinks we might have a unique role to play in helping to reduce barriers to advanced application deployment. And we think that it would help strengthen the case for why Minnesota needs to plan for truly “big broadband” if we could point to some real life examples on the ground.

We want to work with networks that are capable of 10 Mbps symmetrical communications. This will be challenging, as there aren’t that many of those kind of networks operating yet in our state. Another challenge is to find institution-to-resident or resident-to-resident applications that demand that much broadband.

So I was thrilled to learn from our trusty librarian-cum-weblogger-master Ann Treacy that she has snagged some free conference passes to the Killer App conference in Fort Wayne, IN at the end of April. I’ve decided that might well be a good place to look for bandhog applications. And I’ve never been to Indiana. So I’m going to take Ann up on her offer. Anyone else planning to attend?