Illinois Broadband Deployment Council (BDC) Minutes

December 12, 2007

CHICAGO (THOMPSON CENTER) ATTENDEES:

Sara Bianco, Equip for Equality; Charles Boyce, Mae Johnny Communications; Charles Brough, Nortel; James Carlini, Carlini & Associates; Melia Carter, MCC and Associates; Pierre A. Clark, Chicago Digital Access Alliance Inc.; Marty Cohen, Office of Governor Blagojevich; Bill Cusack, Motorola; Darcy Davidsmeyer, Motorola; Jerry Field, ITT; John Owrey, Joseph Academy; Jim Flanagan, IL Chief Technology Officers; Victor Herrera, Chicago Public Schools; Tony Hylton, Cook County; Sharnell Jackson, Chicago Public Schools; Melanie Kostic, Adesta LLC; Alan Kraus, NIU Broadband Development Group; Chris Lentz, Motorola; Joe Mambretti, Northwestern University International Center for Advanced Internet Research; Bruce Montgomery, Montgomery & Co.; Elias Mossos, Office of Attorney General Madigan; Layton Olson, Howe & Hutton; John Owrey, Joseph Academy; Doug Power, NIU Broadband Development Group; Frances Roehm, Skokie Library; Don Samuelson, DSSA; Deborah Strauss, Lumity; Ray Wiliams, DCEO; Bob Stapleton, Illinois Wireless Association

Staff Attendee: Marlena Jentz

SPRINGFIELD (STRATTON BUILDING) ATTENDEES:

Joe Annett, Alcatel-Lucent; Herb Bayer, SmartSynch; John Cinelli, Norlight; Lynn Betts, Sterling Group Services; Faith Bishop, Illinois State Board of Education; Skip Brinkley, Norlight; Michael Cheney, Institute of Government and Public Affairs; Ken Cohen, Hughes Network Systems; Tim Collins, WIU IIRA; Bruce Cooper, NOW Wireless; Emma Danielson, Sprint Relay Service; Michael Dickson, WIU; Doug Dougherty, Illinois Telecommunications Association; Marion Dramin, ITAC; Ronald Duncan, Shawnee Community College; Amy Edwards, ISBE; John Frietag, Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives; Ed Golden, Medcom Information Systems Inc.; Bud Green, Illinois Commerce Commission; Jeffrey Hoagg, Illinois Commerce Commission; Brad Housewright, RidgeviewTel; Jody Johnson, University of Illinois Extension; Louie Midiri, IDOT; Scott Koteski, City of Rochelle; Patty Kress, ITAC; Marybeth Lauderdale, Illinois School for the Deaf; Tiffany Macke, University of Illinois Extension; Kirk Mulvany, CMS; Mayor Chet Olson, City of Rochelle; Deno Perdiou, at&t; Karen Poncin; WIU IIRA; Ernie Slottag, City of Springfield; Sharon Stidham, Sterling Group Services; Terry Sullivan, Shiloh CUSD # 1-Edgar County CUD #6; Philip Wood, Verizon; Pete Wagner, ICC; Clyde Kober, Norlight Communications; John Cinelli, Norlight Communications; Dan Greenbank, Norlight Communications; Kim Harber, FrontierNet; Jim Zolniereil, ICC

Staff Attendees: Carolyn Brown Hodge (CBH), Holly Copeland, Rudi Hancock, Ryan Croke

TELECONFERENCE ATTENDEES

Sascha Meinrath, New America Foundation; Keenan Leesman, Broadtech Solutions; Justin Cajindos, Office of State Senator Mike Frerichs; Gary Larsen; Mary Lou Kenny, NTIA; Karen Lee, USDA; Peggy Jones, IL Stroke Task Force; Jim Ehr, at&t; JoAnne Johnson, Consolidated Communications; Sonja Reese, Town of Normal; Charles Benton, Benton Foundation; John Scrivner, MtVernon.net; Dan Hamilton, MtVernon.net; Pete Schiel, City of Kankakee; John Lowrey, IAEC; Joel Mulder, Adesta; Mediacom; Joanne Hovis, Columbia Telecom Corporation; Nori VanElzen, Columbia Telecom Corporation; Doc Mueller; Kay Shipman, FarmWeek.

Croke called the meeting to order at 2:05 pm

Johnson moved to accept the minutes from 7/18/2007. Sullivan seconded the motion.

FCC Rural Health Pilot

Kraus: The Illinois Rural HealthNet received a $21 million ($7 million a year for 3 years) grant from the FCC to connect healthcare providers to those areas where there is an acute need for telemedicine services. This was the third largest such grant in the nation. It will link statewide and regional networks to a nationwide backbone. The FCC will fund up to 85% of the cost of construction for the project. HHS and CDC can use the network in case of emergency. The pilot program will be run by USAC (which oversees the Universal Service Fund) but is not going to be handled exactly as E-rate is. A technical analysis will be conducted to see what projects can be done in the first and proceeding years. For more information visit www.illinoisruralhealthnet.org

Digital TV Transition

Kenny: The U.S. is moving from analog to digital television broadcast at midnight, February 17, 2009. Depending on what numbers you use, between 13 and 20 million households have analog (non-cable) broadbast television service. People who rely on analog broadcast are disproportionately poor, rural, seniors, minorities, and people with disabilities.

To keep their TV signal after the switch, analog broadcast users can:

§ Buy a converter box

§ Buy a digital tuner

§ Subscribe to cable

Starting January 1^st, $40 coupons will be available to households to buy digital converter boxes that will allow analog TVs to continue working. Coupons and more information are available at: dtv2009.gov

Governments have many ways to help:

-Organize key resources to get the word out to rural communities

-Create a website to link to the DTV switch website

-Engage students in schools about the transition

-Put flyers in grocery bags at stores

-Post fliers in state offices

-Develop a strategy so the people of Illinois can make the transition possible

Federal Broadband Bill

Croke: Senator Durbin’s office provided a summary of a proposed broadband grant program in the farm bill. We will continue to work with Senator Durbin’s office to keep those interested in this bill informed of its progress.

Core Infrastructure Plans

Mambretti:

Illinois and other states are well versed in developing infrastructure for economy. Roads, bridges, canals and airports are examples. Many policies and funds help those infrastructures. As the economy becomes more dependent on digital information, digital infrastructure becomes increasingly important. States have not paid much attention to this. Critically important is optical fiber. Infrastructure in this context means means optical fiber, conduit, concrete footings and intersections – not much beyond that. Anything beyond that is more changeable. Much fiber in the ground is either inaccessible; most is not lit and therefore not used. In some areas there is a glut but it’s inaccessible. Other areas have no fiber. Healthcare, education, economic development all suffer when It is Important for the state to formulate policies related to large-scale infrastructure so everyone can have access to fiber. IN the next few years there will be a revolution in devices, protocols and services but they will be inaccessible without a good fiber infrastructure. The current common Internet is becoming an antique – the second and third generation Internet and beyond depends on a fiber infrastructure.

Core Infrastructure Goals

Carlini: There are three critical issues facing Illinois today: network infrastructure, job erosion, and education. Since 911 in Illinois have fallen short compared to the national average and states surrounding Illinois in job creation. Local network infrastructure is tied to regional sustainability and global competitiveness and jobs. The 2016 Olympics in Illinois will require world-class infrastructure. We should start aiming for at least a gigabyte of speed in our design goals. 100 megabits is not where we should be aiming. We can’t do this without a substantial commitment from state and local governments. An April 28-30 conference in Dallas will address municipal and commercial technology infrastructure issues.

Lt. Governor Quinn: If we want world class infrastructure, a 21^st century plan will have to be laid out in very specific terms for the legislature. Where else in the country or in the state have leaders recognized this need?

Carlini: Dupage National Technology Park is an 800 acre park with fiber optic connectivity coming to it from multiple carriers at 40 gigabits per second. To attract large coroporate facilities we need gigabit technology. To sum it up, economic development equals broadband connectivity and broadband connectivity and broadband connectivity equals jobs. If you’re a politician, jobs equal votes.

Lt. Governor Quinn: In a capital bill how much is it going to cost to improve broadband infrastructure statewide?

Carlini: A billion or more.

Mambretti: I disagree. There are so many variables that we should table this question and reply to the Lt. Governor with something more definitive related to specific locations related to specific costs for specific items.

Lt. Governor Quinn: We do not want a 20^th century capital bill. We don’t want ideas about advanced infrastructure to get missed by this year’s capital bill. We have to have ideas of what our infrastructure needs to be, and where it needs to go or legislators will listen to us with a dazed and confused look and they won’t do anything.

Perdiou: Companies like at&t and others are investing significantly in infrastructure.

Fiber Optic

Cinelli: Skip Brinkley and Dan Greenbank are with me.

Greenbank: We met with Jason Bird in Princeton and he introduced us to Carolyn. We want to introduce a new wing of our company – government services. While we’re doing some government projects, we’re not new to state efforts. We are a single source fiber optic broadband service provider and we have invested over 30 million in fiber infrastructure Illinois. We have a 10-year history providing broadband Internet in Illinois. We built Wisconsin’s BadgerNet for education and DLS services. We serve seven counties in rural Kentucky to provide broadband to rural and undeserved areas. This is similar to the goals of the DeMuzio broadband project. We’re working in Illinois and in the other 22 states we serve to k-12 providing gigabit fiber wide are anetworks to permit school to school communication. We are working with the ICN and at the federal level that will require SONET and other private networking opportunities in the state. We have a strong history of serving rural communities.

Bill Update

Williams: Rep. Connie Howard secured $5 million for the DCEO Community Technology Center grants. It will start in mid-January.

Senate Bill 766 calls on DCEO to enlist a nonprofit organization to implement a comprehensive, statewide, high-speed Internet strategy. Four million is to be transferred from the ICC Digital Divide fund to a new DCEO fund. The bad news is that the $4 million has not been transferred, the new fund has not been established and there were problems appropriation language that gives DCEO authority in HB3866 will require a supplemental bill. Once the funds have been transferred, DCEO will have to promulgate rules and come up with an RFP process so a nonprofit can be selected.

Perdiou: When the proposed rules come out, will you distribute them to this group?

Williams: Yes.

Electric Co-ops & Broadband Technology

Frietag: We surveyed members about broadband technology for the last few years. In our 2007 survey we surveyed 22,000 consumers and and received roughly 8,000 responses. Two-thirds of those who responded reported having home Internet access. Of those with access, only 40% were using dial up, which is a significant drop from last years results of 80% with dial up in 2004. We attribute this to the growth of wireless and DSL usage. We serve in over 85 downstate counties, so this is probably pretty representative of downstate Illinois.

Sullivan: Did the survey ask anything about user satisfaction with the various services?

Frietag: No.

Scrivner: Is it available online?

Frietag: We’ll send the relevant part to Carolyn Brown-Hodge and then everyone will get it.

Illinois Chief Technology Officers Organization

Flanagan: ILCTO is a new group that represents CIO and CTO types in schools and educational institutions across the state. is about leadership development and technology advocacy in K-12 school districts, regional offices of education, IMSA and the IL Virtual High School. We’re most concerned about

1n 1995 the state set to provide connections to every school by 1999. Since then, most schools have had no increase in bandwidth beyond an additional T1. Especially in Chicagoland, schools have benefited from new options from at&t and Comcast. But there are so many new applications in education today – video specific to the needs of teachers and students, with multiple high-definition screens. Schools that happen to be located outside of at&t and Comcast territory should not be stuck with a single T1 line at very high costs.

Lt. Governor Quinn: Your association needs to weigh in on the capitol bill right now about schools with inadequate infrastructure options.

Illinois Century Network Update

Mulvany: In terms of dark fiber implementation, we’re continuing to implement dark fiber on the ICN backbone. CMS has been talking with the new state CIO Greg Wass and the Illinois Department of Transportation to form engineering partnerships and share information about our fiber optic footprints to take advantage of existing infrastructure.

Secondly, at&t has a new fiber based service offering pricing that will improve options many of our schools, libraries and other nonprofits. We looked at at&ts’s footprint and technical capabilities within each of their local exchanges across the state. Our legal team is working with at&t legal to get language into the existing state master telecom contract to offer the new pricing soon to all of our customers. We’re also working with Verizon to find out more about Verizon’s footprint. Verizon said there’s a good concentration between Carbondale and Cairo so they’ve suggested upgrading service offerings there first. We’re very interested in talking with all of the other vendors as well.

Lt Governor Quinn: The Illinois Community Action Agency is partly government, partly non-profit and they have dozens of offices across the state. Are they eligible for the ICN?

Mulvany: Yes, any nonprofit is eligible.

Lt. Governor: Some of the state’s anti-poverty work requires broadband.

Perdiou: The at&t Metro Ethernet service makes 10mb scalable to 1gb available in an expanding portion of our territory. Currently it’s available in more than half of our territory.

Satellite and the Enterprise broadband Toolkit

Cohen: For state agencies and organizations, people need to be reached wherever they are in case of a pandemic or service end. Most terrestrial services come up short in some of these areas. Satellite may be a tool that can augment, supplement and complement some of the existing infrastructures. Satellite can assist businesses. Wal-mart and Walgreens have been using Satellite technology for 20 years.

Lt. Governor: Have you worked with any of our rural co-ops?

Cohen: We have not. I represent the government side of our business. If they will service DMVs, or other state departments

Lt. Governor: Municipals? Will the rural co-ops furnish a DMV or national park?

Broadband Service Mapping Study

Loomis: A preliminary report was published in the summer. The goal of the continuing study is to produce a statewide map of available broadband by five digit zip codes. It intends to track progress we are making in Illinois from year to year. We appreciate cooperation from Internet Service Providers in providing further information for the study. To contact me, write to [email protected]

Speeding Broadband Deployment in Illinois

Hovis: We’ve made careful, modest, cautious, attainable recommendations of practical steps to facilitate broadband in upcoming years in Illinois. There are three recommendations: the state should work to enforce laws and protect the right and capability of local governments to build networks. Local governments have been instrumental in ensuring the deployment of communications infrastructure through the cable franchising process and in recent years as wireless and fiber using a variety of business models. This is a trend that should be reinforced by the state despite bad publicity because the net bandwidth has increased as a result of localities. Second the state should consider recommending and adopting a set of uniform standards for cost-effective construction of fiber optics during any capital improvement or maintenance project. This is common in some localities and could be extremely useful on a statewide basis. If the state provided guidance with respect to specifications and practices for taking advantage of all capital projects with equipment either on poles or in-ground, the results could be dramatic. The real cost of fiber construction is in the labor and time, not the fiber itself.

Lt. Governor: This is a key time for us to act on that recommendation.

Hovis: The cost of building fiber during other capital projects is 10% of what it would be to start from scratch. Any construction by IDOT is a perfect time to do that. Our final recommendation is that the states consider disseminating standards and recommendations for modest wireless hotzone projects. Citywide and countywide projects have received a lot of hyped, negative publicity that misunderstands the success and innovation of many other projects. Small modest projects undertaken by countless US municipalities including many in Illinois is much less expensive and much less complicated a matter to set up hot zones downtown or other areas. This is much simpler than attempting citywide projects. Communities like Skokie have cost-effectively used wifi technology to bring free internet connectivity downtown. These strategies could publicized with standards for planning, design and purchasing equipment to enable other places to follow suit.

Lt. Governor: Wireless main streets are something we can do a lot of in the coming year.

Samuelson: A briefing book could be assembled to help legislative leaders understand telecommunications infrastructure and make the world’s thinking available to Illinois.

Strategies to describe practical benefits and aggregate demand

Samuelson: What are the practical benefits of broadband? Lessons from the TOP program, Connect Kentucky and other national programs can shed light on the needs and uses of broadband in education, workforce development and other segments of the economy.

Northern Illinois Technology Triangle

Olson: NITT was developed in 2003, goes from Rockford to Rochelle down I-39 and includes Ogle, Boone, Winnebago counties and the cities of Rockford and Rochelle. Construction of the last leg of the triangle, down I-39 was completed by IDOT in November. We secured a 20 year network lease with the tollway authority on I-88, 294 and 90. We’re evaluating equipment vendors and are working with the IMBCA and we’re building a 160 acre technology park in Rochelle just off of I-39. Allstate Insurance plans to locate a major data center there and other businesses have expressed interest. Our goal is to complete the network mid year 2008. Learn more at www.thenitt.org

Wi-Fi Automated Metering Infrastructure

Bayer: SmartSynch has a long history of using public wireless networks to collect and deliver smart meter data for utilities. In the past we used GPRS cellular technology, but we became interested in Wifi as a new mode of data transfer. This is an application that municipally-owned utilities can use to prevent brown-outs and black-outs. While we are now using it for commercial utility customers, in 2008 the smart meter can go into homes and cut the demand down for electricity. The City of Burbank Water and Power is a premiere example of what we’ve done, and their municipal manager, Fred Fletcher would be happy to share his experiences with other interested municipalities.

Lt. Governor: Smart meters, municipal utilities and rural coops can work together. This can help cities manage the peak. These applications can become part of our emergency preparedness agenda.

Broadband Technology in Chicago Public Schools

Jackson: The Mayor’s Committee on the Digital Divide’s report called “A City that Networks” focused on high speed low cost broadband and everyone should take a look. It is online. San Francisco and Philadelphia were consulted to develop this report. In CPS, we have Internet through e-Rate but now that’s not enough. We need more bandwidth to accommodate new applications in high school and elementary schools alike. Teachers are bringing more curriculums into digital, online form. It’s a challenge to make sure students with laptops have home Internet access. More technology access will mean less students in detention centers because it will improve quality of life. Thank you Lt. Governor Quinn for moving the Technology Immersion Pilot Project (TIPP) project forward.

One Lap Top Per Child

Croke: TIPP brought 5,000 laptops to middle school students in Illinois for roughly 10 million dollars. Low-cost laptops make it possible to equip more kids for less money. The Western Illinois University Foundation made “One Laptop Per Child” XO laptops available to all 40 elementary school students at the Illinois School for the Deaf in Jacksonville. Also, third graders across the state are competing for one of three laptops in an essay contest. The essay contest goes until the 21^st of December.

Lauderdale: Thank you from all of our students. Technology is the great equalizer. Could we have a sister school to communicate with?

TechKnow and TechCrew

Herrera: Over 2,000 students participate in Dell’s TechKnow and TechCrew programs and many are part of TIPP, but many don’t have access to a home Internet connection. This limits student learning at home. Last year 87% of students that participated in the program qualified for free or reduced lunch.

Bishop: We are bringing in an evaluator for TIPP to quantify that challenge. 7 districts and 17 schools participate.

Schools that contribute their own resources to the program are really making a difference. Lincoln Magnet School in Springfield was selected as an Apple exemplar because it has really made a positive impact on learning.

Vince DeMuzio Broadband Pilot

Power: Vince DeMuzio was a public servant in rural Illinois. This project, in his honor, asks the private sector to respond to a state-led business case for rural broadband in Macoupin & Montgomery counties. Five competitive vendors providing wholesale and resale prices to states have provided funding. We’re in the final stages of ranking respondents and will pick a winning vendor to provide wholesale and retail services. This is an outsourced approach, will involve a local nonprofit who will work with the winning vendor and we’re excited because vendors who focus on rural broadband came forward.

Connect SI

Housewright: If you didn’t get our newsletter, go to www.connectsi.us for updates. Connect SI Draws in education, healthcare, business and government leaders to stimulate and identify demand in rural Illinois. With 20 plus providers Connect SI uses advanced mapping tools to show providers where service should be made available. I would encourage everyone here, including Norlight, to participate.

2016 Olympics and Broadband Technology

Olson: We need city, county, regional, state and multi-state cooperation to bring the Olympics to Chicago. Infrastructure and Security are heavily tied to communications. One Laptop Per Child’s fulfillment center is in Chicagoland. Transport and land use planning is in CMAP. There’s a lot of IT money in the transportation sector. One laptop per child –track how much is shipped. C-map all regional planning agencies evolved here on the ground floor-where the money is-capital bill- a lot of IT in transportation sector. Inject infrastructure build out-cut cost by 90%(one trench solution)

Bob Illinois wireless association-

Lt. Governor: CMAP should participate in these meetings?

Olson: Yes, Ron Thomas from NIPC should participate.

Perdiou: What network shortcomings would preclude Chicago from winning the Olympic bid? If there’s a need for additional investment, we’re ready to commit to that. We’re not going to stand in the way of the city getting the Olympics. What are your specific concerns?

Olson: We need to talk with Northern Indiana and Southern Wisconsin to address this, and address it in the infrastructure committee.

TECH 2008

Sullivan: May 7 is the date for Tech 2008, a day when schools doing something innovative in the classrooms bring students to Springfield and showcase what they are doing in the classroom. Kindergarteners to seniors in high school show their stuff in front of legislators and exhibit why funding for technology, including broadband, is critical.

Lt. Governor: We should have a Tech 2008 student blue ribbon commission to make recommendations on how to improve technology.

Broadband-Enabled Complete Medical Records

Ed Golden: MedCom is an information technology and research company. We have a project in Ft. Wayne designed to show what a Complete Intelligent Medical Record (CIMR) is. We chose Ft. Wayne for its fiber optic infrastructure. A CIMR lays the foundation for patient centric smart homes and smart clinics. The goal is to put patients at the center of doctors’ universes. We’re hoping to identify people interested in healthcare and work with anyone in this field to improve medical outcomes using broadband technology.

Key Pad Kid

Boyce: I’m the only cartoonist in the group. I can help enhance the state marketing about phone and telemarketing industry. The KeyPad Kid is doing well in California. The goal is to establish the character as a nationwide mascot to educate the public about the future benefits and dangers of communication technology. AT&T supported the creation of the KeyPad Kid.

Lt. Governor: We have a big year ahead of us. We need to have some major breakthroughs and be creative to increase what we have done as a group in 2008. Maybe the Keypad Kid will list our accomplishments and salute everyone at the end of 2008.

Telemedicine and Stroke Treatment

Jones: Dividing into subcommittees to focus on telemedicine issues is a good idea. In southern Illinois there are no certified stroke centers. We need telemedicine to give proper care to people in Bloomington and Peoria, for instance. The Heart Association will be here to work with you on this.

Citizen’s Library of Illinois Portal Project

Roehm: I’ve been an advocate for quality online content for years. The Citizens Library of Illinois (“Illinois Clicks” or http://illinoisclicks.org/ ) is developing an easy-to-navigate web portal for anyone to receive homework help, information about quality health care, jobs, laws, travel and business. But the project needs funding, and we are working to secure $100,000 of $175,000 which was originally earmarked for this statewide portal project. Thanks to Rep. Lou Lang and the Lt. Governor for their support.

Croke: Adjourned the meeting.