CENIC Takes Actions to Bridge the Current ‘Digital Divide’ in the Counties of Del Norte and Humboldt

Los Alamitos, California (August 12, 2003)—The Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) has released the findings and recommendations from a study, the “Northwest California Network Infrastructure Analysis: Del Norte and Humboldt Counties.”

The purpose of the study was to assess the need for broadband network capabilities and the existing network infrastructure, and to identify alternatives for increasing the availability of high speed connectivity in Del Norte and Humboldt counties. Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a San Diego-based research and engineering company, was retained to perform the assessment.

Since 2001, CENIC through its Digital California Project (DCP), has been focused on deploying a cohesive and seamless high-speed advanced services network for K-12 schools in all 58 counties in California to interconnect them with each other and with institutions of higher education throughout California. The extremely limited broadband network infrastructure in Del Norte and Humboldt counties first came to CENIC’s attention when it attempted to connect the two county Offices of Education to CENIC’s high speed statewide educational network, known as CalREN.

The findings of the review of the two northwest California counties are examples of the ‘Digital Divide’ at work. Humboldt and Del Norte counties, as with many other rural or sparsely populated areas, do not have the regional communication infrastructure to enable area residents to benefit from 21st century technologies enjoyed by other areas of the state. Broadband deployment has begun, but customer purchases have been impeded because network backbone connections could not support additional sales. With recently announced SBC fiber connectivity to Humboldt county, however, this problem should be reduced.

The analysis shows that education-related networking requirements, the domain of CENIC, represent a significant portion of the current and projected bandwidth markets in these counties. However, significant demands exist in other sectors, and economic development of the counties can only improve if the infrastructure of the area improves. The analysis suggests that the key to promoting network-driven economic development in the two-county region may be a united effort amongst the stakeholders to develop consensus on an approach for providing infrastructure that can be shared across education and other interests.

All interested parties, including CENIC and other education entities need reliable, redundant connections to both Humboldt and Del Norte counties. The SAIC report concludes that if the private sector cannot, based solely on traditional investment models, provide such capabilities, CENIC, in collaboration with the providers and interested community members in this region of the state, should explore alternatives to augment basic planned network connections from service providers. SAIC has identified a wide range of alternatives to meet the educational needs of CENIC in both counties.

“Our next step is to work with the community stakeholders and enter into a detailed planning phase, followed by an implementation plan for connecting those counties to a robust information telecommunications infrastructure,” said Tom West, president and chief executive officer of CENIC. He explained that “this is one of CENIC’s first challenges in realizing our broadband vision for California of one gigabit to every school, home and business by 2010. For this initiative to succeed, it must include rural populations.

There are several rural regions in the state that can benefit from similar, thorough broadband assessment studies, and implementation plans. As CENIC learns more about the status and needs of these regions, it can begin to understand what works, and how to adapt the implementation plan to work in other communities.

The State of California had awarded a grant to CENIC to focus on speeding one-gigabit broadband to all Californians by 2010. CENIC engaged Gartner, a research firm, to evaluate the economic potential of an acceleration of next generation broadband deployment in California. Last June, CENIC released the Gartner report, known as the “One Gigabit or Bust Initiative.” In it Gartner concludes that “California is on the threshold of a multibillion dollar opportunity. A $376-billion upside in gross state product (GSP) by 2010 is made possible with the implementation of a focused One Gigabit or Bust broadband initiative. Moreover, 2 million new jobs could be created.”

“Lack of broadband is hurting our region,” noted Tina Nerat, Board Member, Redwood Technology Consortium. “Attracting new businesses to relocate in our area is tough. Existing businesses have telecommunications needs not being met. Broadband has not been widely available to residents, and some are unable to even get dial-up access. Now, as a result of CENIC’s leadership, I’m much more optimistic that our community will indeed have a broadband solution that benefits education as well as our community and business interests.”

“The Del Norte County Office of Education would like to thank SAIC for their report,” said Dr. Frank Lynch, the Superintendent. “I would also like to thank CENIC for their continued support of all of the efforts that are being made to complete the DCP network connections to both counties. The unfortunate aspect to all of this is that the children of our counties do not have the same access to technology that their counterparts have in the other 56 counties of our great state. Our businesses also do not have the same access to technology as businesses have in other counties. Education and economic development in Del Norte and Humboldt Counties are being held hostage by our geographical location. With all of the great minds that we have in the Golden State a solution must be developed and implemented-quickly, because our future is at stake.”

Both the SAIC and Gartner studies are available on CENIC’s web site (www.cenic.org). CENIC is a not-for-profit corporation serving the California Institute of Technology, California State University, Stanford University, University of California, University of Southern California, California Community Colleges and the statewide K-12 school system. CENIC’s mission is to facilitate and coordinate the development, deployment and operation of a set of robust multi-tiered advanced network services for this research and education community.