Merit Network Issues Open Call for Partners on Round II Broadband Stimulus
Michigan research and education provider seeks commercial ISPs to partner on build in UP and Northern Lower Peninsula.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Merit Network, Inc. announced today an open call for commercial partners to participate on a Broadband Stimulus Round II fiber build. Service providers interested in partnering on the build are encouraged to participate in a conference call this Tuesday, February 3, 2010 at 9:00 AM EST.
A registration form is available on the Merit website:
Merit will submit an application to the Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program (BTOP) that proposes to build high-capacity fiber in rural, unserved and underserved areas in the Upper Peninsula and Northern Lower Peninsula. The registration link provides further detail about the location of the proposed fiber routes.
Merit seeks ISPs who will provide either Middle mile or Last mile service to homes and businesses in the proposed service area of the application it will submit to the Comprehensive Community Infrastructure funding category of BTOP.
Merit is currently in the process of contacting anchor institutions such as schools, community colleges, public safety organizations, libraries and other non-profits that will also connect to the network to provide the broadest impact in the areas the proposed fiber will benefit.
Merit Network, recipient of a Round I Broadband Stimulus grant worth $33.3 million that will build 955 miles of high-capacity fiber, believes that they are in a favorable position to leverage their expertise and success in a follow-up application.
"We believe that Merit is the right organization to lead a proposal that will ensure the best solution for the State of Michigan," said President and CEO of Merit Network, Don Welch.
Merit Network Inc., a nonprofit corporation owned and governed by Michigan's public universities, owns and operates America's longest-running regional research and education network. In 1966, Michigan's public universities created Merit as a shared resource to help meet their common need for networking assistance. Since its formation, Merit Network has remained on the forefront of research and education networking expertise and services. Merit provides high-performance networking solutions to Michigan's public universities, colleges, K-12 organizations, libraries, state government, healthcare, and other non-profit organizations.
Elwood Downing
Merit Network, Inc.
Phone: (734)527-5702
Email: edowning@merit.edu
Strategic Partnerships for Federal Funding:
ARRA Broadband & Census 2010: Registration Form
Census data is used to distribute federal funding to your community. Make sure your community is developing a strong census plan to assure accurate counts. The Census countdown has begun and it relies on your local communities for identifying hard to count populations. Learn how to develop your strategy for census activities.
Registration is $15.00 which covers lunch costs.
This seminar is sponsored by:
Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators (MAISA)
State of Michigan/Department of Information Technology
Michigan Association of Counties
Michigan Townships Association
Michigan Municipal League Library of Michigan
Dates and locations:
The Library of Michigan, with the sponsorship of the American Library Association - Office of Information Technology Policy in Washington, D.C. and the support of the Library of Michigan Foundation, held a Broadband Summit on May 20, 2009. The Summit took place at the Kellogg Center on the campus of Michigan State University.
The event was attended by nearly 200 librarians and community stakeholders such as county managers and city officials. Librarians came from across with the state including the U.P. with particularly strong representation of the upper 2/3 of the lower peninsula. The summit focused on providing information about how libraries, municipalities, businesses, hospitals and others could partner to bring broadband service to their communities.
Each summit segment is available in streaming video thanks to the Merit Network who provided some of the work as an in-kind contribution to the summit. Check out "Conference Sessions" on the left. Additional thanks go to AADL productions for the video "Bandwidth or Without" also found on the Conference Sesssions page.
This site hosted as an in-kind contribution by the Michigan Library Consortium (MLC).
Sponsorship
The Library of Michigan would like to thank the American Library Association Office for Information Technology Policy for their generous sponsorship of this program, in particular the close support of Carrie Lowe.
We also extend our thanks to the Library of Michigan Foundation, to the Merit Network for their partial in-kind contribution of the video of the conference and to the Michigan Library Consortium for hosting this site. Additional thanks go to AADL productions for the video "Bandwidth or Without" found on the Conference Sesssions page.
