Gig U project seeks university/ carrier collaboration to deploy ultra-high-speed networks

A group of 28 universities hopes that by working together to identify their advanced networking needs they will be in a better position to entice communications service providers to deploy the technology necessary to support those requirements.

The goal is to “accelerate the deployment of next-generation world leading networks in the U.S.,” said Blair Levin on a conference call to announce the new initiative, dubbed Gig U: The University Community Next-Generation Innovation Project. Now a fellow at the Aspen Institute for Communications and Society and director of the Gig U project, Levin headed up the FCC team that created the National Broadband Plan.

Accelerating next-generation network deployment should provide opportunities for the U.S. to lead in creating the next generation of ultra high-speed network services and applications, Levin said. To achieve this goal, Levin envisions the universities aggregating “sufficient demand and then creating an incentive to private capital to deploy” high-speed networks. Incentives, he said, might include making it easier for network operators to obtain rights of way or simplifying the network inspection process.

Community involvement is key

Organizers of the Gig U initiative also hope to create a platform for collaboration between universities and their surrounding communities with the goal of accelerating the deployment of ultra-high-speed networks to those communities. Potentially those networks could be similar to the gigabit network that Google is building in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri.

Also on hand to announce the new initiative was Lev Gonick, chief information officer and vice president of information technology services for Case Western Reserve University, who outlined a range of applications that could be supported by ultra-high-speed networks. Case Western already has experimented with using videoconference capability to enable seniors to exercise together with a faculty member—even in the Cleveland winter, when going out to exercise could be challenging. Using videoconferencing, talented high school students could take university-level classes, perhaps ultimately enhancing the overall skill level in science and technology in the U.S.

Video also underlies what Gonick called a “Twenty-first Century Neighborhood Watch” in which neighbors (with permission) keep an eye on one another’s porches. Neighbors also could help each other reduce the cost of energy in a neighborhood by using the network to monitor one another’s energy usage.

Levin added that ultimately industry may develop applications that can’t be envisioned until people begin working with ultra-high-speed connectivity. He noted, for example, that factories surprisingly were not early adopters of electricity. “It took a while to figure out [how to use it],” said Levin. “Everyone who had ever designed a factory thought about water not electric power.”

Universities participating in the Gig U initiative include:

Arizona State University
Case Western Reserve University
Colorado State University
Duke University
George Mason University
Howard University
Indiana University
Michigan State University
North Carolina State University
Penn State University
University of Alaska
University of Chicago
University of Florida
University of Hawaii
University of Illinois
University of Kentucky
University of Louisville
University of Maryland
University of Michigan
University of Missouri
University of Montana
University of New Mexico
University of North Carolina
University of South Florida
University of Virginia
University of Washington
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest University
West Virginia University