Google Fiber Redux?

With a rising stake as a destination for entrepreneurs, as well as continually being heralded as great place to live and visit, Durham is again catching the eye of internet search giant Google.

Durham vied hard to get the company to bring its gigabit fiber optic network to Durham back in 2011.  The project drew national attention for its efforts.  Now, Google is looking at 34 communities to next bring their service to, and Durham is on the list along with some neighboring communities. 

In 2010 more than 1,000 people showed up at
the Durham Bulls Athletic Park to show their
support for Google to bring its Gigabit Fiber
Optic Internet Service to Durham.

The service fees are competitive, and the service speeds exceed what is currently offered. Among several options currently offered in Kansas City is one gigabit per second download speed for $70 per month.  

While no public influence project like the one launched in 2011 has been announced, Durham fans are encouraged to use the hashtag #DurhamWantsGoogle in social media posts to demonstrate their interest in the possibility of the company bringing its project here.

"Public sentiment ran very high during that project," according to Sam Poley, Director of Public Relations and Communications for the Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau, and who helped spearhead Durham's efforts in  2010. "Durham is a prime spot for this project, it aligns with Google's goals of innovation and collaboration, and it's already on the company's radar for investing here," Poley added referring to the fact that the American Underground in Durham is one of seven Google Tech Hubs in the US.

So, will Durham catch Google this time?  Who knows, but show support with #DurhamWantsGoogle.

Google, are you listening?

It's Official...Google's Going to Kansas

In an official announcement made this morning on their blog, Google reports they have inked a deal with the fine folks in Kansas City, Kansas for their ultra high-speed broadband network.

Nearly 1,100 communities put applications in, Durham being one of them, over a year ago to lure the world's most used search engine company to bring internet speeds 100 times greater than what most in the Durham enjoy to the home...every home.

"I always believed Durham to be a top contender in this race," said Sam Poley, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau who led the application committee's community engagement efforts.  "I'm confident that Durham put its best foot forward on the application, and so did every other location.  The competition was stiff." 

So, hats off to Kansas City.  You won.  This time.  Now, wait until we get you on the basketball court.  This will NOT hold back Durham, the place where great things happen, though.  Stay tuned...you never know what might be coming down the pike.

Google Bits - An update

It's not much, but at least now there's an update from the folks in Mountain View.  Here's the copy of their message to the organizations that completed applications:

Hello from Google,

Earlier this year your community expressed interest in our experimental ultra high-speed broadband network, and I wanted to send you a quick update on where that project stands.

First, I’m excited to announce that this week I joined Google as Vice President of Access Services, where I’ll be overseeing the Google Fiber team. So far I’ve been getting up to speed on the progress our team has made over the past several months – from experimenting with new fiber deployment technologies here on Google’s campus, to announcing a “beta” network to 850 homes at Stanford – and I’m excited for us to take the next step of bringing our ultra high-speed network to a community.

Second, this morning we plan to announce that Google will be delaying the announcement of our selected community or communities. We had planned to announce by the end of this year, but the level of interest was incredible – nearly 1,100 communities across the country responded to our announcement – and exceeded our expectations.

We’re sorry for this delay, but we want to make sure we get this right. To be clear, we’re not re-opening our selection process, but simply need more time to decide than we had anticipated. Stay tuned for an announcement in early 2011.

Thank you again for your enthusiasm and interest in our project.

Milo Medin

Vice President, Access Services

Google

So, fingers crossed...still.