BROADBAND COMMUNITIES is the leading source of information on digital and broadband technologies for buildings and communities. Our editorial aims to accelerate the deployment of Fiber-To-The-Home and Fiber-To-The-Premises.
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LESSONS FROM THE FIELD UC2B Rolls Out Fiber Urbana-Champaign Big Broadband is unusual in deploying FTTH in an urban setting – and even more unusual for addressing the digital divide by prioritizing low-income neighborhoods. This photo gallery shows the project team at work in July 2012. U C2B, or Urbana-Champaign Big Broadband, is the brain- child of Mike Smeltzer, the di- rector of networking at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. More than a decade ago, Smeltzer had a vi- sion of expanding the university's high- powered network into the surrounding community – the same vision that the Gig.U project is taking nationwide to- day – and when the broadband stimulus program made funding available, he saw his chance to realize that vision. Smeltzer spearheaded the university's funding application to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and helped put together a consortium consisting of the univer- sity and the cities of Champaign and Urbana. A host of other project partners – schools, libraries, other public agencies and a local telephone company – signed on as well. Teir efforts were rewarded in 2010 by an NTIA grant of $22 million. Ed Scharlau, vice chairman of Busey Bank in Urbana, explains the transformational power of fiber to members of the local business community. UC2B is primarily a middle-mile network that will connect a large num- ber of anchor institutions throughout the community. Efforts are now under way to encourage private ISPs to build last-mile networks that will give resi- dents high-speed access to these anchor institutions and to the Internet. However, unlike most BTOP- funded projects, UC2B has a last-mile component. To bridge the digital divide, it will provide direct fiber connections to 2,500 households in underserved neigh- borhoods – neighborhoods that are not likely targets for private providers. Te 2,500 households include single-family homes, apartments and mobile homes. UC2B's middle-mile component Fiber ambassadors sign up their neighbors for UC2B service and give them yard signs to help spread the word about the project. also aims to increase access for residents who are unserved today. As Brandon Bowersox-Johnson, an Urbana city council member and a UC2B policy board member, explains, "Of course we have included public-sector entities such 72 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2012 All photographs courtesy of Urbana Champaign Big Broadband.