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FUN FIBER FACTS: Jane Patterson -
The Networking of North Carolina
P
resident Obama announced in his State
of the Union speech in January that he
wants to see 15,000 schools connected
to broadband. Tat's great! But it is not an
easy task. Look at North Carolina to see how
far we have come on
connectivity to schools
– in the number
connected and in the
cost efciency.
After more than
20 years of efort,
North Carolina has its
2,700 public schools, its 16 public universities,
22 of its 37 private universities, and all of its
community colleges on the North Carolina
Research and Education Network, along with
100 health sites with connectivity funded
through the FCC's Federal Rural Health
Project. As we move more to personal health
monitoring at home, this fber based technology
and distributed networks will enable better and
less expensive health care.
North Carolina is the tenth most populous
state, with more than 9.8 million inhabitants.
Many of its counties are closer to capitals in fve
bordering states than to their own capital in
Raleigh. From Manteo to Murphy it is more than
700 highway miles to
cross the state. Only
Texas has more citizens
living in rural areas.
In the early 1990s
we were paying about
$2,000 a month for a
T1 (1.5 Mbps) through
our nonproft carrier, MCNC – more in rural
areas, less in cities. So the cost was about $1,000
to $2,000 a meg. Statewide, we are now down
to $3.50 a meg and some carriers charge as little
as $1.50 a month in urban areas. Tat is pretty
good for our state. How did it happen in North
Carolina?
A lot of folks and institutions have
collaborated to make that happen over a long
period. It was also a personal odyssey for me.
Above:
Jane Patterson
President
Te View Forward –
Go Forward
Above right:
Jane's presentation at
the 2013 Summit really
drew the attention of
all attendees.
Jane will be conducting
a panel and an in-depth
workshop at the Summit.
Register Now
www.bbcmag.com
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