
Fast, affordable Internet access for all.
Entrepreneurs in Chattanooga now have a new space where they can try to answer the question, "What does one do with a gig?" The Chattanooga Public Library officially opened its GigLab in November.
The public space offers gigabit access in a lab environment so developers can take their ideas to the next level. The lab is supported by the Mozilla fund and the National Science Foundation. A recent Chattanooga.com article reports that:
The general public will now have access to enterprise level gigabit connected hardware, as well as a variety of short session and hands on courses regarding networking as a whole, and other gigabit focused projects.
Sean Brewer, one of the GigLab founders, writes on the blog:
The hope for The GigLab is to be a place where people can experiment, build prototypes, or just learn how to use hardware that they wouldn’t have access to. I am helping start a group that will be working through “Parallel and Concurrent Programming in Haskell”. The book has an entire section devoted to GPU computing, and I am excited that we will have access to this hardware at The GigLab to explore. Education removes the magic of the mysterious. I feel The GigLab can do that for high-performance computation.
Lexington, Tennessee is the latest U.S. city that will soon see the expansion of more affordable fiber thanks to the city-owned utility, Lexington Electric System (LES). LES’ recent $27.49 million state grant award will be the backbone of a new initiative that will both improve the utility’s electrical services, and deliver a long overdue dose of broadband competition to the area. The plan is deploy over 2,100 miles of fiber to bring high-speed Internet access to 22,000 residents across Henderson, Decatur, Benton, Carroll and Hardin counties that already receive electricity service from the utility.
Tennessee cooperatives and utilities came out at the top of the heap in the latest round of awards from the Tennessee Emergency Broadband Fund, netting nearly half of all money awarded for the expansion of more affordable broadband statewide. The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) awarded $446.8 million to 36 applicants, who are now tasked with deploying improved broadband service to 150,000 unserved homes and businesses across 58 Tennessee counties. All told, TNECD said that 218 applicants applied for a total of $1.2 billion in broadband funding. Of the $446.8 million in awards, utilities and cooperatives walked away with $204.4 million.
Join us live on Thursday, September 22, at 4pm ET for the latest episode of the Connect This! Show. Co-hosts Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) and Travis Carter (USI Fiber) will be joined by regular guests Kim McKinley (UTOPIA Fiber) and Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting).