Director’s

Corner

By Judith Dumont As the calendar turns to 2013, I cannot help but reflect on how much effort by so many people has gone into getting us to this point, the precipice of connect-ing a region with much needed infrastructure. In July of 2010, the MBI was awarded federal stimulus funding to build a large middle mile network that will serve as a backbone for connectivity to the 21st century global economy. At the time, 2013 seemed like an eternity for those without adequate con-nectivity, but for those of us tasked with making it happen we knew the days would fly off the calendar and we would be wishing we had more time. We are now a short few months away from the first segment of the network being lit or operational. Soon after, as the kids are getting out of school for the summer, the entire region will have connec-tivity and an important bridge to connect the unconnected in the Commonwealth will have been built.

 

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I S S U E 0 1

J a n u a r y 2 0 1 3

Looking back, 2012 was a great year for the Massachusetts Broadband Institute and the effort to close the digital divide across the Commonwealth. Over the last 12 months we made steady progress on our main initiative, the MassBroadband 123 network and our other important initiatives, including broadband mapping, last mile investments, and the launch of our two broadband adoption projects - MassVetsAdvisor and the Small Busi-ness Technical Assistance project.

We believe all of this contributed to the MBI being named 2012 Community Broadband Organization of the Year in October by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors. You are a part of this success. The support and contributions of all of our partners and collaborators, from Governor Patrick and Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray, to the MBI Board of Directors, the federal and state legislative delegations, and particularly our community representatives, made the accomplishments of 2012 pos-sible. Thank you.

MassBroadband 123

The network will become operational in segments starting in March. We are finalizing the schedule at this time and expect to release the detailed schedule soon.

Here is a look back at the progress we have made in 2012.

The year started with a mild winter for which we were very grateful. Mother Nature has played some havoc in the region during the project lobbing in everything from snow and ice storms to hurricanes and tornadoes. All of the weather events have caused the com-pletion of make-ready work to slip a bit as utility workers were required to restore service both here in MA and most recently in NY/NJ as a result of Hurricane Sandy. The make-ready work is about 80% complete with our target to be finished by the end of January.

As the year ends, we have over 20 crews working on installing the messenger strand and fiber on the utilities poles we have licensed. We currently have 50% of the strand in-stalled and almost 30% of the fiber hung. The crews are also doing the underground work necessary for new conduit installation. Our aerial installers can keep working through the winter as long as the snow banks do not get so big that the bucket trucks can not safely park on the side of the road. The underground work will be slowed and/or stopped now that we have snow on the ground. Cities and towns stop this type of work once the snow hits until the end of winter, normally in March.

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Massachusetts Broadband Institute 2012 in Review

Director’s Corner continued

MMMost of you who live or travel through the

project area are seeing signs of MassBroad-band 123 network construction activity throughout western MA. Crews from our contractor, G4S, are putting network equip-ment in schools, libraries, and other commu-nity facilities and stringing strand and fiber along utility poles across western and central Massachusetts. There are over 100 people working on the network on any given day -- working to bring the region better broadband access. It really has been exciting to see these plans becoming reality.

Axia, our network operator, has been very busy signing up service providers who plan on using the network to deliver advanced services to towns, schools, libraries, and pub-lic safety entities. At this point, 27 service providers have signed up to use the Ax-iaMassBroadband 123 network.

We will be announcing the roll-out schedule later in January and are planning to meet with each town to make sure they are pre-pared to utilize this state of the art network. We will continue to update you on our pro-gress on the network project as well as our other projects that will combine to close the digital divide in the Commonwealth.

Sincerely,

Judy Dumont

 

MBI Did You Know…. 

A typical cable of fiber used in the MassBroadband 123 network is made up of 288 strands of individual fiber op c glass. Each strand is as thin as one human hair. And, more amazingly, all of the phone traffic in western MA can be carried over one thin strand of fiber. 

Year in Review from page 1

WWWe also have been busy installing equipment in each of the approximately

1,000 unique Community Anchor Institutions (CAI) locations. We are mak-ing good progress on this front as equipment has been installed in over 65% of these locations. In preparation for the network launch, the MBI, along with WesternMA Connect and Axia, hosted several forums for the technolo-gy decision-makers of the CAIs. The goal of the forums was to provide information to these decision-makers about the network capabilities and to discuss advanced services available on next generation networks. These forums were very well attended and we are planning a second series for the first part of the year.

In September, two milestones occurred related to MassBroadband 123. One was the “lighting” of the I- 91 fiber network and the second was the celebration of the first customer to use the network. This 55-mile stretch of fiber runs from the Vermont to the Connecticut borders. Its installation pre-dated the MassBroadband 123 project and was done in partnership with the Mass Department of Transportation. The I-91 deployment was high-lighted in the 2010 National Broadband Plan as a model for collaborative fiber-optic deployment.

Local service provider Crocker Communications became the MassBroad-band 123 network’s first customer this summer when they purchased ser-vices from network operator Axia NGN to upgrade service for an existing customer using the I-91 network.

Last Mile Initiatives

In 2011, the MBI gave out last mile grants to either develop broadband plans or deploy broadband services. We started to see the results of those grants in 2012. These grants will serve as models for other towns that may want to move forward with their own initiatives.

At the end of April, the Town of Leverett voted to approve the deployment of a municipally owned Fiber to the Home network serving all of the resi-dents in the town. Leverett issued a Request for Information and is now in the process of developing Requests for Proposals to select the necessary vendors to build, maintain, and operate the network.

In October, the MBI traveled to Tyringham to meet with town officials, Senator Ben Downing, Representative Smitty Pignatelli, and Crispin Tresp from WiSpring, to learn about the launch of new wireless service in town. The group toured the new tower site that WiSpring constructed as a result of the Last Mile award from the MBI in 2011. After the tour, we met at the town hall with local residents and WiSpring to discuss the new service.

 

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Year in Review From page 2

The towns of Princeton and Warwick are both using the grants to increase the footprint of their service area or to increase their network capability. The town of Royalston has mapped out a town-wide wireless system in a phased approach. Also, Access Plus has installed its equipment and has started to provide service to customers in the Savoy/Hawley area.

FFFinally, Wired West was quite active in 2012 as they worked to bring new towns into the Cooperative, performed detailed engineer-ing studies, and aggressive marketing and demand aggregation campaigns.

Broadband Adoption and Availability

Just in time for Memorial Day, we launched one of our favorite initiatives - MassVetsAdvisor.org. This is a website we created to help drive broadband usage and digital literacy in the Veterans community. The MBI was joined by Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray, Attorney General Martha Coakley, and Secretary of Veterans Services Coleman Nee at Bunker Hill Community College to showcase the new web portal. Since then, the MBI has traveled around the state holding training sessions and demonstrations, including visits to Pittsfield, Newton, Chicopee, Bedford, Boston, Springfield, Haverhill, and Cape Cod. If you are or know a Vet-eran, please visit and share the site to learn what benefits and services Veterans and their family members are eligible to receive.

Over the summer, the MBI selected four Community Development Corporations (CDC) to lead our small business technical assis-tance program. The program will help small businesses and nonprofits better utilize the Internet to manage and grow their busi-nesses. Lieutenant Governor Murray joined the MBI for a visit to the Community Economic Development Corporation of South-eastern Massachusetts in New Bedford to kick-off the project. The other three CDC’s are the Dorchester Bay EDC, the Pittsfield Economic Revitalization Corporation, and the Quaboag Valley CDC. The CDC’s are each receiving $150,000 grants to provide technical assistance and support for small businesses to help them incorporate technology and train their employees so they can grow and succeed in the digital economy. Small businesses are a large part of the Massachusetts economy, but many lack the re-sources needed to fully integrate new technology and get the most from it. This program will be an important model for building the technical capacity of businesses and their employees.

Also in the fall of 2012, the MBI Geographic Information Systems (GIS) team began work on a new address data project. The MBI received funding from the State Broadband Initiative at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to develop address level data for mapping broadband availability. The GIS team is currently developing an address database and in-teractive mapping interface to support both last mile network planning and deploying and broadband adoption.

Outreach

In November 2012, the MBI partnered with TechNet and the MIT Enterprise Forum to host a Broadband Summit surrounding the release of the TechNet State Broadband Index that shows Massachusetts has the 2nd best broadband connectivity in the nation. The report showed that Massachusetts has made significant improvement since the last report was compiled in 2003.

The MBI and Axia have also launched a cable show on broadband adoption and its importance to our communities. We taped two shows in 2012 and both can be viewed on our website.

Conclusion

As 2012 came to a close, it marked the beginning of the new era of affordable, high-speed broadband Internet access in western Massachusetts, but also the end of one as we say goodbye to retiring Congressman John Olver. Congressman Olver was a tireless champion of the MBI and we owe him a huge debt of gratitude for his leadership and commitment to the region. Congressman, you will be missed and we wish you well.

2012 was a busy and productive year. Working together we have accomplished a lot towards completing the MBI’s mission to con-nect the unconnected. Looking forward, 2013 will be even busier. The MBI’s first priority will be the successful completion of the MassBroadband 123 network. The first half of the year promises to be a sprint to the finish line. There will be a lot of activity as the network segments are finished and the community anchor institutions come on line with high speed Internet service that will bring connectivity to every corner of the MassBroadband 123 service area.

Thank you all for your help and support in 2012 and we hope we can count on your continued support in 2013.

MBI Did You Know... 

The MBI will use 1,078 miles of new fiber op c cable to build a state of the art high speed internet network in western and central MA. That is enough fiber to stretch from Plymouth Rock to Disney World. 

There are nearly 400,000 Veterans who call Massa-chusetts home. Many of these Veterans are over the age of fifty and do not use the internet on a con-sistent basis. Through a grant from the National Tel-ecommunication and Information Administration’s State Broadband Initiative, the MBI teamed up with the Massachusetts Department of Veterans’ Services, the Red Sox Foundation, and the Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program to launch MassVetsAdvisor.org. The website, launched in May 2012 prior to Memorial Day, is a collection of over 360 benefits and services that Massachusetts Veterans, and their families, are eligible for and deserve.

MassVetsAdvisor.org utilizes several search programs, including a faceted search that allows users to an-swer some simple questions, such as branch of service and conflict era, to streamline their search to find exact-ly what they are eligible for. This unique website also includes action plans that allow users to save searches, download applications, and email service providers from the comfort of their own homes, on their own time. The results so far have been noticeable – in less than six months after its launch, there have been over 100,000 page views on MassVetsAdvisor.org.

  

Watch the latest MBI cable

show Axia MassBroadband 123 and

learn all about MassBroadband

123. This episode features an over-

view and update of the project.

We welcomed special guest Tone

Nunes of the Mass Library System

who will discuss how high speed

broadband will positively affect the

library system and the opportunities

for the library patrons.

Team MBI proudly show off their award. Broadband Or-ganization of the Year by the National Association of Tele-

communications Officers and Advisors (NATOA)

Events 

January 25 and 26: 34th Massachu-setts Municipal Association Annu-al Meeting and Trade Show at the

Hynes Convention Center.

To register visit the MMA website