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Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Mass Innovations, From The Beacon, December 2009
Towns on Cape Cod may be among the winners when telecom-related federal stimulus funds are awarded this winter, thanks to collaboration among local officials, business leaders and institutions such as Cape Cod Hospital and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Under the umbrella of the nonprofit OpenCape Corp., the region has applied for a $32 million grant from the federal Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program. OpenCape already has secured $8 million, including $5 million from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute.
Central to the project is a “backhaul” network that would cover the entire Cape and extend through southeastern Massachusetts to Brockton and Providence, R.I., where it would link up with the “fiber backbone” that enables high-speed data transmission up and down the East Coast. While much of the Cape already has access to broadband Internet service, the fiber backbone will enable transmission speeds “many quantities” greater than what is currently available, according to Gary Delius, the information technology director in Truro.
Delius, who serves on the 11-member OpenCape board along with Brewster Town Administrator Charles Sumner and Sandwich Board of Selectmen Chair John Kennan, said faster data transmission speeds could have a catalytic effect on the economy of Cape Cod and Plymouth County. Businesses, he said, would be in a better position to retain and expand their workforces once they had access to the same data-transmission capacities available to their counterparts in more heavily populated areas. Computational powers would be enhanced, he said. And it would be far easier for Woods Hole researchers working halfway across the world to connect with the research center’s data and devices, for example.
In July, OpenCape chose RCN Metro Optical Networks to build out and operate the fiber backhaul. OpenCape itself will own the network. The assumption is that as a nonprofit with significant financial backing, OpenCape would be able to negotiate more favorable rates among Internet service providers and their customers.
“We’re looking for a break-even status,” Delius said. “Our goal is to reduce costs for our members, the ratepayers.”
He said towns would be able to form “municipal area networks” that link town halls with schools, libraries, public safety departments and other public buildings. In addition to improving convenience, the links could generate cost savings in phone usage. The municipal area networks themselves, Delius added, could be combined for purposes of sharing resources such as GIS, permitting software and assessors’ data.
“There’s a whole range of things that small towns have a difficult time affording, but that they need,” Delius said.
Towns also would benefit from enhanced emergency preparedness.
The project would build “redundancy” into the Cape’s emergency warning system, which is regarded as being vulnerable in a hurricane or severe winter storm. Individual communities also would be able to ensure that critical emergency functions would continue to function, by backing up data and equipment in what is known as a collocation center.
Routine public safety functions would be enhanced by the backhaul network as well, according to Delius. Using wireless technology, an ambulance would be able to transmit a patient’s vital signs to a doctor in the emergency room. The technology, Delius said, also could aid police in their cruisers, as well as firefighters who need to know if there are combustible materials in a building they are about to enter.
For more information, contact Gary Delius at (508) 349-7004, ext. 12.