Broadband experts from California and across the U.S. converged in Mountain View on Tuesday for a wide-ranging discussion about how to continue building out connectivity in the state's urban and rural areas.
The daylong California Broadband Workshop was hosted by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
Michael Ort, on the Board of Directors for the California Broadband Cooperative overseeing the Digital 395 middle-mile project, perhaps summed up the tenor of the day when he said there's no "pure" model for partnering on broadband projects but rather a continuum on public-private spectrum of options.
Attendees heard from representatives from small telephone companies, the largest Internet service providers, stakeholders working on digital inclusion initiatives, broadband funding experts, and state, local and tribal governments IT officials.
Jory Wolf, CIO for the city of Santa Monica, credited a muni broadband network the city has developed over the last 17 years for helping spur the community's economy and the Silicon Beach phenomenon. He said businesses, hospitals and hotels now have access to a 100 gigabit network at affordable rates.
Elliott Ellsworth, IT director for the city of Ontario, said the city is partnering with Inyo Networks to launch this week a high-speed network on 12 square miles of annexed property that used to be dairy land. The network will be available to 47,000 dwellings, Ellsworth said.
