Newburyport Needs Some Fiber

We’ve all heard that fiber is a needed part of our diet, but many of you may not know it can also be an asset to your internet service.  Dictionary.com says it’s “an essential character, quality, or strength” If newly elected city councilor at large Ari Herzog has anything to say about it, fiber will be an integral part of our lives, our virtual ones at least…  Councilor Herzog has spearheaded an effort to bring Google Fiber to Newburyport. He is simultaneously maintaining a blog, Facebook Fan Page, and Twitter outpost, all in an effort to woo citizens to vote for Newburyport to used as a testing ground.  

So what’s all the fuss about?  Google says, “Our goal is to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better and faster for everyone.” Sounds pretty good to us…

Councilor Herzog has been collecting quotes from business owners and interested parties around the city, he was kind enough to pass along what others have had to say about why Newburyport would benefit from testing Google Fiber.

• The Tannery’s co-owner, David Hall is fond of saying, “High speed cabling is to tomorrow what highway construction was to the 1950s: an essential part of business infrastructure. He added, ”Businesses will locate and thrive where there is a capacity for handling large volumes of traffic, this time, we are anticipating bits of information rather than cars.”

• “Newburyport Business is all about speed,” writes Melanie Wold, the managing editor of the new internet journal. “We want breaking stories uploaded onto the website and shot out to our readers as fast as possible. If Newburyport had high speed fiber optic service, Newburyport Business would be a faster service, offering more timely news. This would equate to a better service for our readers, and a more profitable business for us.”

• Mark Kavanagh, the director of the Newburyport Information Services Department says that implementing Google fiber would enable city departments to extend their services and communications with technological applications not possible with current limitations.  The benefits to the city, “may include inter- and intra-department bandwidth-intensive collaborative applications incorporating various forms of media, and live-streaming government meetings and other public events. This could further serve to promote and market Newburyport as a primary destination city for visitors and entrepreneurs alike.”

• Don Skane, technology operations manager for the Newburyport School Department, adds that current classroom materials are limited to downloadable content because streaming videos and other multimedia applications are impossible with the current available bandwidth. As web content and usage increases, schools need to add more bandwidth to satisfy the demand. “We as a district are moving to more “software as a service” models and fiber internet will further increase the required bandwidth”.

• The internet is getting bigger, and newer applications, audio and video in particular, require faster bandwidth. Sarah Hayden, the interim executive director at PortMedia, recognizes the limitation of the status quo and supports the desire to bring Google fiber to Newburyport.  She says,”Currently we are streaming both for our delivery and for our users receiving it, and we share programming by both uploading from members’ homes and downloading from other access centers. A faster connection would make streaming broadcast-quality video easier”.

• “As a local business dependent on the growth of Newburyport, we’re always looking for projects to get behind that promote our city,” adds Newburyport Pedicab co-owner Blake Harris. “Google’s fiber initiative will do just that. For residents, Google aims to provide a faster, more open, and reliable connection to the Web. When paired with the city’s other great amenities, Google fiber will put Newburyport on the map for tech-savvy home buyers.””We know that businesses in Newburyport are some of the most innovative on the North Shore,” Harris adds, “Employees at these companies would not only be able to create a new breed of web applications with Google Fiber at their fingertips, but with the newfound bandwidth, be able to better utilize bleeding edge technologies from across the world – effectively giving companies located here in Newburyport a leg up over their competition”.

• “I believe that Google’s broadband network would be a great asset to the city,” writes Art Currier of Currier & Associates. “This will allow us to be prepared for marketplace demands for increased speed and capacity in the face of exponential increases in the volume and complexity of information and communications.”

• Councilor Herzog point out that several years ago, Newburyport was a national test market for Comcast internet service, before it was rolled out across the country. He says, “If you remember connecting to the web with a dial-up modem, you recognize how much faster your cable or DSL modem is today. Google wants to increase today’s speeds by a factor of 100 — enabling us to do things with fiber that we can only dream.”

Individuals, business employees, and community groups are asked to nominate the city; and if you visit http://fibernbpt.com you can read information how to do that. The deadline for all submissions is March 26.

Please visit http://fibernbpt.com for more ideas why Newburyport is attractive to Google, and to learn how you can join your colleagues to nominate the city. Please email fibernbpt@gmail.com with any questions.

Thanks to councilor Herzog for spearheading this effort and passing on the information to this article.  We hope that you’ll vote so we can all get our fill of Fiber.