CENIC Announces Seminal Tool to Benchmark a Community's Readiness for Next-Generation Broadband

Cypress, California (July 23, 2004) - With One Gigabit or Bust (tm) as its battle cry, CENIC is galvanizing communities with a practical, effective tool any community can use to get going on the road to a gigabit:  On the Road to a Gigabit Broadband:  Are We There Yet?  A Self-Assessment Guide for Communities. 

Through its One Gigabit or Bust Initiative, CENIC is leading a bottom-up initiative to support innovators and early adopters in demonstrating the potential of one gigabit broadband.  With the goal of ubiquitous one gigabit broadband to every home, business, and school in California by 2010, CENIC is leading the charge by partnering with industry groups, initiating rapid prototyping to accelerate the transition to next-generation broadband and exploring the late-decadal market now.

A simple and inexpensive first step for communities, the self-assessment guide provides a clear map of the enormous economic potential of one gigabit broadband.  The availability of the 28 page self-assessment guide was announced at CENIC's third One Gigabit or Bust Roundtable meeting held in Oakland, California.

"The Guide provides communities with a logical path to one gigabit broadband," said Seth Fearey, president of Connected Communities, and a consultant contributing to the development of the guide.  "It describes a progression from dialup to DSL and cable modems, to WiMax and next generation technologies that will bring unimaginable new capabilities to every doorstep.  The Guide describes specific routes that are appropriate for schools, libraries, businesses, government agencies, and community-based organizations. The guide makes the Gigabit or Bust vision accessible - bridging the gap between techies and non-techies - and empowers communities to take a leadership role in achieving their own gigabit vision."

"This self-assessment guide is a seminal tool designed to provide a benchmark of a community's current readiness to participate in the enormous economic, social, governmental and personal changes that high-speed communications entail," noted Jim Dolgonas, president of CENIC.  "The research and education communities were early adopters of gigabit broadband networks. Now the education community throughout California and the nation are faced with a new challenge - how can we support a new family of advanced applications to meet the emerging academic requirements in research, teaching, and learning?  The guide acts as a catalyst for getting on the road to a gigabit - a future that enables faculty, staff and students anywhere, anytime electronic access to learning information."

The Guide is based on lessons learned by several consultants who have years of experience helping a wide variety of communities to develop strategies to connect to compete.

To download a copy of the guide and its supporting materials, visit http://www.cenic.org/guide