Broadband in Central Ohio
From:
Peter Shane
Date:
May 05 16:58 UTC
Short link
I recently came across the following story about an award to Scot
Rourke, CEO of the OneCommunity project (www.onecommunity.org) in
Northeast
Ohio.
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS155456+25-Mar-2008+PRN20080325
The story reads:
"As OneCommunity's CEO, Rourke led the successful effort to develop
an ultra-broadband community network serving first the city of
Cleveland and then the entire Northeast Ohio region. The effort began
in 2002 when Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University named Lev
Gonick as its new CIO. Believing that the region's nonprofits should
play a more active role in its recovery from industrial decline,
Gonick assembled a group of community leaders that founded
OneCleveland, OneCommunity's predecessor. Rourke joined the effort,
turning this vision into reality. Under Rourke's leadership,
OneCommunity forged partnerships with the region's telephone and
cable carriers. The OneCommunity network has expanded and will soon
connect 1,500 schools, libraries, governments, hospitals and
universities, cost-effectively delivering ultra broadband that
enables applications such as distance learning and telemedicine."
I am wondering how our region compares. Are there central Ohio
efforts comparable to this? I think there's a municipal wi-fi
project going on in Dublin. Any others? Who is leading the effort
to give our region the broadband capacity (and relevant public
policies) that we will need for the future?
Peter Shane
Columbus