Cisco to release plans to help speed up the internet

Cisco Systems is reportedly readying to unveil a plan to work with service providers to build super-fast broadband networks that could run at 1 Gbps, according to published reports.

The announcement, expected March 9, would mirror a similar infrastructure announcement made by Google in early February, and will come just ahead of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan.

While the plan to bring faster internet service is similar in speed to Google’s, the two companies differ in execution.

Google is seen as taking on the current telecom and cable providers with its open-source service, while an unnamed Cisco source told Reuters that “the technology would help telecom service providers like phone companies offer better, high-speed internet service.”

The speeding up of the internet is a clear intention of the FCC as it recently said it wants minimum internet data transmission speeds of 100 megabits per second to 100 million homes within the net 10 years, compared with current industry estimates of less than 4 Mbps, Reuters reported.

The FCC had previously put the cost of upgrading current networks and building new ones at as much as $350 billion.

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Stimulus funds aid Ohio broadband development

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland announced recently that OneCommunity, an Ohio nonprofit organization, received $11.7 million from the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act to expand the availability and performance of broadband internet access in the state. More than 14,000 people in urban and rural areas of Ohio cannot access high-speed internet. The funds will go directly toward narrowing the state’s digital divide. OneCommunity has received nearly $19 million recently for projects that will also help Florida, Michigan, Mississippi and Kentucky. “In this increasingly technologically-driven economy, we are committed to expanding broadband access to all Ohioans and eliminating the digital divide,” Strickland said. “Broadband creates educational opportunities for disadvantaged Ohioans in urban, suburban and rural areas.” OneCommunity’s stated goal is to accelerate the availability of broadband internet to boost educational and economic opportunities for disadvantaged populations. Similar efforts were announced recently in Washington state and Utah as part of the ARRA. Improving national availability of broadband access was one of President Barack Obama’s stated educational and technological initiatives in his State of the Union Address in January. The funds are not being awarded to every state that applies, however. The Baltimore Sun reported recently that Maryland failed in an attempt to receive federal funding for its broadband initiatives.