Broadband Stimulus Proposals for the 21st Century
Submitted: December 17, 2008 - 9:22pm
Last updated: January 8, 2009 - 12:44pm
Last updated: January 8, 2009 - 12:44pm
Source:
Free Press
Author:
S. Derek Turner
Free Press released a comprehensive set of proposals that would deploy a forward-looking national broadband infrastructure. "Investing in the information superhighway is a concrete way for President-elect Barack Obama and Congress to kick start the economy and secure long-term prosperity," said S. Derek Turner, research director of Free Press and author of the report. "But since future generations will be footing the bill for this stimulus package, Congress must ensure that these funds deliver the next-generation networks this country needs. There should be no blank checks." The policies detailed in the new report would allocate $44 billion over the next three years, immediately producing tens of thousands of new technology-sector jobs and generating hundreds of billions of dollars in economic activity. The proposed tax incentives and grant programs are designed to trigger new investments, not to fund projects previously planned by incumbent telecommunications companies. Free Press' broadband proposals address the problems of broadband availability and adoption, while also providing substantial immediate and future economic benefits. These proposals also stipulate that all networks constructed with or supported by broadband stimulus funding must be open, freely competitive platforms for ideas and commerce.
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REINVENTING AMERICA WITH A NEW INFRASTRUCTURE APPROACH
Given the current economic circumstances, the pressures on our transportation infrastructure and our concerns about the environment, investment in new ways to use information and communications technologies will yield multiple benefits. Now, more than ever, we must consider the potential to employ telecommunications infrastructure with greater usefulness. A logical starting point is to develop a more effective, secure and holistic approach to workforce deployment.
Distributed workplace, a network of strategically based work centers, is a higher order model than today’s teleworking approaches. These work centers contain multiple suites with each suite dedicated to 15-50 employees from one company or agency. With a dozen or more tenant organizations, each work center supports 500 to 1000 employees. Each work center is connected to other work centers and employers’ locations using dedicated, secure broadband technologies. By creating economies of scale, a central support technical staff provides infrastructure, training and security to the various work center clients. Community based work centers create the building blocks for other value added services such as workforce development, distance learning, telemedicine, and day care programs.
Every center will be unique based upon each community's individual requirements.
Each dollar invested in advanced telecommunications solutions expands access between employers and their knowledge based employees. Additionally, this results in improving access on our transportation infrastructure through congestion mitigation. Investments in creating new approaches to connect communities will improve mobility giving employees access to work from within their local communities immediately reducing reliance on fossil fuels and converting gasoline dollars into local economy dollars. These local economy dollars have a multiplier effect that will spawn a more rapid economic recovery.
Employers will find that a network of work centers will provide security for data systems and employees, while improving emergency preparedness and continuity of operations planning. As the recovery from recession takes hold, employers that have developed a network of distributed offices will find it easier to retain its existing employees and to attract new ones.
In order to leverage telecommunications infrastructure effectively, aggregate demand and opportunities must be assessed to achieve economies of scale. The initial focus on workforce deployment requires an understanding of the aggregate geographic hiring patterns of the area's major employers. Mapping the knowledge based workplace and assessing corresponding geographic density patterns is the first step.
The tenor of the new administration is to fund effective infrastructure programs. This new leadership also has enunciated an understanding of telecommunication’s growing significance. Effective telecommunications solutions have the shortest timeframe to implement and the greatest potential for rapid economic gain. Connecting communities in support of government and commercial employers lends itself to funding under public-private partnerships.
Communities that develop a collective approach to problem solving using telecommunications resources will differentiate themselves from other communities’ infrastructure proposals, accelerate their economic recovery and create a more sustainable balance of transportation (mobility), land use (proximity) and telecommunications (connectivity) methods of access.
www.pocketsnet.com
mshear@pocketsnet.com
Since this is to be a national program, what regulations will the government try to impose on us? So far every national program enacted has been the target of big government trying to expand its control over the populous. We all must guard our first amendment rights and not allow it to be constrained or controlled.
Best Regards
Vladimir Val Cymbal