Development Authority of Lumpkin County

Ad Hoc Technology Committee

Community

UniversityBroadband

September 11, 2012

“The best… ecosystems will be cities and towns that combine a university, an educated populace, a dynamic business community and the fastest broadband connections on earth. These will be the job factories of the future.”

Thomas FriedmanJanuary 3, 2012

Committee Members• Steve Gooch, Executive Director, Development

Authority of Lumpkin County• Joe Guy, VP, General Manager, Solutions, Datalogic

Automatic Data Capture and Professional Engineer• Dr. Bryson Payne, Associate Professor of Computer

Science and former Chief Information Officer, NGCSU• JoAnne Taylor, IBM VP Global Telecommunications

Industry, retired• Richard Von Scherr, Sr. Director, Technical Facilities

Design, Planning & Engineering - Cox Communications, Inc. and Professional Engineer

What we’ll cover today

• Network high-level • NGN capabilities • Recommendations from the committee– Technology– Community– Industry Focus

Caveats

• Relationships are still key in business development!

• With one exception….we don’t know all that you do know about Lumpkin

• Attracting an Internet Services Provider is a big challenge

• Jobs growth is the most important issue we can try to address

Network Terms

Community

University

BroadbandFastest

AbundantCarrier-Grade

Multiple Carriers

Network Terms

• The "middle mile" is the segment of a telecommunications network which connects a network operator's core network to the local network plant.

• The "last mile" or "last kilometer" is the final leg of delivering connectivity from a communications provider to a customer. – It is typically seen as an expensive challenge because

"fanning out" wires and cables is a considerable physical undertaking.

• Redundant network topologies are designed to ensure that networks continue to function in the presence of single points of failure.

What broadband connections are currently available in Lumpkin County?• Windstream Corporation advertised at 10 – 25 Mbps• AT&T Inc advertised at 1.5 – 3.0 Mbps• Verizon advertised at 768 Kbps – 1.5 Mbps• Sprint/Nextel advertised at 768 Kbps – 1.5Mbps(Source: National Broadband Map) These speeds are the download speeds, with upload being considerably slower.

• NGN broadband speed is 100 Mbps (Gigabit speed) and is symmetrical – same speed for upload and download.

NGN certification & map

• NGN has passed third-party carrier-grade certification tests with flying colors!

Network/Technology Recommendations

Community

University

BroadbandFastest

AbundantCarrier-Grade

Multiple Carriers

Technology RecommendationsURGENT• Ensure that both currently unoccupied technology park and future development

sites are identified to NGN for connection to the network – deploy at least “dark fiber”, ideally “business ready” fiber WHILE COVERED BY THE GRANT 11/30/12

• Use every construction project (roads, sewers, etc.) to lay conduit for future network buildout. Need an agreed-upon process among all parties (city, county, etc.) in place to reduce future costs.

TACTICAL• Build a virtual marketing package for the 400 and the Business Park property –

envision buildings, access, capabilities via a virtual brochure• Make use of leading technology when promoting Lumpkin County. Use virtual

presentation techniques, go-to-meeting, customized iPad presentations, social networking, etc., to demonstrate that Lumpkin is keeping up-to-date with technology changes.

Urgent Technology RecommendationsOption: Dark Fiber

Benefits Simple and cost effective means of demonstrating available connectivity to

potential businesses Shortest deployment time ~$20,000.00 per mile (aerial plant) Enables immediate leverage of remaining available funding from Federal

Government Cost for lighting fiber is deferred

Liabilities Cost for lighting fiber is deferred requiring negotiations with perspective

businesses at future date Potential damage to dark fiber routes during storms that may not be

identified until integration/implementation of service offerings Vandalism

Urgent Technology RecommendationsOption: Business Ready Fiber

Benefits Immediate available access – shorter integration/implementation

timeline for a business Provides attractive negotiating leverage Monitoring of active network already in place through NGN

Liabilities Higher initial cost to County for additional network transport and

access equipment Stranded Capital (funding could be leveraged elsewhere)

Dark Fiber ~$20,000/mile of aerial dark fiber measured from NGN POP near middle school to

Burnt Stand Industrial: Current Fiber Route. No initial cost. Cottrell Property Off 400: Current Fiber Route. No initial cost. Lumpkin Technology Park: Current Fiber Route. No initial cost. Former Mohawk Plant: Appx. 2 Miles, ~$40,000.00.

Business Ready Fiber – Non Ringed ~$317,000.00 (includes first year power, assumes 2 mile fiber run (i.e. Mohawk site)

~$20,000.00 /mile of fiber ~$135,000.00 - Access cabinet with 10G connectivity and optics at demarc site ~$135,000.00 – Infinera shelf with optics at POP (fiber access connection point) ~$6,000.00 – Power (annual based on KWh draw over year) ~$6,000.00 – Miscellaneous: Power (batteries, uninterruptable power supply-

UPS), cabling, professional services.

Business Ready Fiber – Ringed ~$650,000.00

Redundant connection approximately doubles costs.

Technology Recommendations: Network Buildout Cost Estimates for Planning

Note- Costs are approximations only! Costs are derived from limited access to cost metrics from North Georgia Network and Industry best practices.

Technology RecommendationsStrategic

Consider recruiting a high-level, experienced technology executive as part of the DALC.

Build a long-range technology plan for the county as an integral part of the overall vision and strategy for the county

Plan for needed additional routes and capabilities on the existing NGN network.

Explore other grant opportunities which could facilitate network extensions

Technology Recommendations

Big challenge: attracting an Internet Services Provider (ISP)• Consider building a public/private partnership with an

existing firm who wants to build an ISP business in the regionhttp://www.govtech.com/wireless/Public-Private-Partnerships-Broadband-Future.html

• Develop relationship with Charter - Richard Von Scherr intro• Leverage the peering capability at 56 Marietta St to attract

an ISP or Content Delivery Provider (e.g., Netflix)

UniversityBroadband

CommunityCity

CountyBusinesses

Informed Citizens

Community RecommendationsTACTICAL

Establish a joint city/county committee to investigate and document potential uses for broadband in Lumpkin. See the example of Kansas Cities’ municipal broadband deployment in their playbook at http://www.marc.org/assets/PlayingToWin-BetaVersion.pdf

Develop outcome measurements which will define success and help align towards common goals. For example, “decrease unemployment by X%” or “retain NGCSU graduates in the community – increase from current percentage of XX% to XX% within 5 years”. Make these measurements part of the overall planning process for the county.

Ensure the network build is included in infrastructure cost estimates. Just as water, sewer, electric and access will be part of the package needed to attract a firm, the connection to the high-speed network will also be a cost that needs to be considered.

Community (cont’d.)Strategic

Explore other grant opportunities which could facilitate network extensions as required as well as provide needed funding to implement strategies such as the Cluster Strategy outlined below. Some potential areas for grants include the GigU Gateway project, Google fiber projects (this would require a regional approach, not viable for just Lumpkin County), and other grants which NGCSU could assist in identifying and writing.

Establish a Strategic Lifestyle Vision - Quality Can we promote industry and lifestyle at the same time? Pick quality as an example – it’s a quality life we want in Lumpkin County. For industry – we focus on quality – quality machines parts (JTEKT), quality assurance as a specialty at the university (including quality analysis, software testing)…and use that to attract other quality oriented industries with growth – say specialty medical in the metal materials area.

Community (cont’d)Strategic

Develop outcome measurements which will define success and help align towards common goals. For example, “decrease unemployment by X%” or “retain NGCSU graduates in the community – increase from current percentage of XX% to XX% within 5 years”. This will require planning work as discussed at the last DALC meeting.

Develop a market strategy to “brand” NGN for attracting businesses to Lumpkin; some examples: “Lumpkin: Business at the Speed of Light” or “NGN: Lumpkin’s Gateway to the World”.

Reinvigorate the Georgia Work Ready Community for Lumpkin County. Lumpkin’s program is not currently active; while it may or may not be a deal breaker for a firm looking to locate here, Lumpkin is the only one of the surrounding counties to not be actively engaged with this state program

Community

UniversityConsulting

Business Relevant Degree Programs

Professional DevelopmentTechnical College Partnerships

Broadband

Engage the University and Leading Businesses to develop an Industry-Specific Approach for Economic

Development URGENT• Leverage NGN’s planned economic development investment to dive deep into an industry

NGN has limited investment funding for community outreach, which will be used to perform analysis workshops for existing businesses in Lumpkin County to identify ways that each business can use network applications to grow their business and profits

TACTICAL• Update the DALC website information and other communication vehicles to focus on the

strategic industries that Lumpkin County will be focusing on.

Currently, the website includes datacenters as one of the strategic industries. The committee’s assessment is that a considerable amount of additional infrastructure investment would be required before a datacenter could be located in the county. We see this as a more long-term possibility that would required a dedicated focus from a qualified team of people to bring to fruition. The search algorithm should also be fixed so that Development Authority of Lumpkin County can be found on the first page of a search.

Engage the University and Leading Businesses to develop an Industry-Specific Approach for Economic Development

STRATEGIC

• Adopt a focused, deliberate approach to recruiting businesses to Lumpkin County, and partner with NGCSU to build skills via their curriculum to meet the needs of that industry (industries). Identify community advocates who can help with developing the industry focus for each selected industry. Examples of industries to consider follow

Automotive Parts Manufacturing and Adjacent BusinessesThe rationale for choosing this industry is based on projected jobs growth in the industry (Georgia Department of Labor forecasts this industry as one of the top 20 most annual job openings in 2011-2012) and the presence of companies already in this business in Lumpkin and adjacent counties• Hi quality like Koyo• OnStar monitoring center?• Software testing center for

vehicle onboard processors?

Map source: Georgia Power Automotive 2012

Biosciences and Adjacent Industries

Wages in Georgia’s bioscience sector are competitive with average wages paid for similar occupationsacross the U.S. World-renowned research facilities at Georgia’s colleges and universities, coupled with lifesciences powerhouse, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, draws the best students, researchersand scientists from around the world.

The University currently has robust research departments in Biology and Physics…how could this be leveraged to attract a bioscience company to Lumpkin?Tax incentives at:http://www.georgia.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/Business/Taxation/Business_Incentives_Brochure.pdf

Georgia Metros With Concentration of Bio Employment:

• Agricultural Feedstock & Chemicals:• Augusta• Valdosta

• Drugs & Pharmaceuticals:• Athens

• Medical Devices:• Gainesville

• Research & Development:• Atlanta• Hinesville - Ft. Stewart• Valdosta

Source: Battelle BIO State Bioscience Initiatives2010 – represents metro areas with either highlevels of employment or high concentration ofemployment based on location quotients

Vision for Lumpkin

This…. …or this?

Call to Action

• Urgent: gain optimal leverage of NGN grant for Lumpkin County through deployment of dark and/or business ready fiber to as many locations as possible before 11/30/2012

• Assign committee or individual to pursue ISP options

• Consider an industry-focused business development approach for Lumpkin County

Community

UniversityBroadband

Vision for a

Connected, Thriving Lumpkin

County

Thank you for the opportunity to be of service

to Lumpkin County