TMCnet News
THE GIGA PIPLLINE [Corrected 09/30/14] ; AT&T's plan for lightning-fast Internet service launches hope of influx of tech-related business [Florida Times Union](Florida Times Union Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) AT&T's announcement that GigaPower is coming here will launch Jacksonville into the small but growing ranks of U.S. cities with Internet speed so fast that "ultra" and "lightning" and "blinding" are among the words used to describe it. GigaPower's connection can download 25 songs in one second, a television show in less than three seconds, and a high-definition movie in 36 seconds. For a city that isn't regarded as one of the nation's most wired cities, AT&T's decision gives Jacksonville some bragging rights. Mayor Alvin Brown and JAX Chamber leaders hail AT&T's move, saying it will help the city attract young entrepreneurs working on the cutting edge of new technology. But whether blistering Internet speed can usher in equally fast growth of tech-related businesses remains to be seen. GigaPower can download up to 1,000 megabits per second, which is 100 times faster than the national average for Internet speed. It's so fast that the tech world is trying to catch up with ways to harness that power. "It's not a matter of if, but when," said Mike Bradshaw, director of the Company Lab, a business incubator in Chattanooga, Tenn., which dubs itself "Gig City" because its utility company built its own giga-speed network to every home and business. Bradshaw said he's heartened when he sees what AT&T plans to do, plus what Google is doing to install super-fast Internet in cities because that will show investors there is a growing market for developing next-generation products using gig speeds. "We find in Chattanooga that our opportunity is really just coming along," he said. "The age is coming and it's coming quickly." "Where it does help is they get a peek into the future," said Matthew Marcus, co-leader of Kansas City Startup Village, which benefited from Google's launch of its Google Fiber network in Kansas City. "They know what's coming in the next five to 10 years that will become mainstream." In Jacksonville, AT&T's announcement comes on the heels of initiatives such as the One Spark festival, the KYN business accelerator for start-ups, and Co-Work Jacksonville, which lets start-ups share office space. Co-Work Jacksonville Executive Director Paige Calvert saw first- hand the impact of gig speed when she went to the national convention of co-work organizations in Kansas City. Usually, that convention has been in Austin, Texas, which has long been known as a tech hub. Tech-oriented people are "looking at Kansas City and Chattanooga places that are a little off the map, but definitely on the map as far as having access to those crazy high speeds," Calvert said. Getting that much Internet speed in Jacksonville "absolutely is a selling point, and the more we're ahead of other cities, it's definitely a competitive advantage," Calvert said. "If you're a company looking for that kind of access, you would see Jacksonville on that list with a few cities that will have it." But even as AT&T's announcement has caught the attention of Calvert and others in Jacksonville's tech community, there's no guarantee AT&T will bring GigaPower into downtown, which is where Co- Work Jacksonville has its office. Kristen Sell, spokeswoman for the mayor, said attracting private investment to downtown is a top priority for Brown. She said the company's decision on where to start GigaPower is "primarily driven" by AT&T's expectations of customer demand. "We are encouraging AT&T to make the broadest outreach possible within its business model and hope to see this ultimately expanded for all Duval County citizens," Sell said. Others are waiting to see how it pans out. "I tend to be a little skeptical about whether it will actually happen and what its cost will be," said Charlie Cauthen, lead software engineer at Ignite, a downtown-based company that calls itself the "innovation lab" for parent company Adecco. Ignite's office is loaded with computers and video-conferencing setups. Cauthen said Ignite wants to boost its Internet service from 50 megs per second to 100 megs. Beyond that, he said, gig speeds would be good if the price is reasonable, but it's not essential. "I would say it's marginally better to be ahead of the curve, and significantly worse to be behind the curve," he said. "The status quo continues to get higher and higher, so if you don't have it, you would be pretty disappointed." The key to gig speed is the installation of an all-fiber network, replacing the typical mix of fiber and copper wiring to bring the Internet to customers. Fiber-optic cable transmits at speeds far faster than copper, but copper is typically the wiring that runs through neighborhoods and up to buildings. JEA, the city-owned utility, has had preliminary talks with AT&T about the company using some of JEA's 600-mile fiber network to speed up implementation of GigaPower. JEA has excess capacity in its fiber network and has been looking at ways to generate income from that surplus. "All the whats, whens and hows have not been decided," said Cindy Edgar, director of technology infrastructure for JEA. GigaPower would be a huge leap for AT&T's Internet offerings in Jacksonville, which currently range from three megabits per second to 45 megabits per second. Comcast's Infinity service offers Internet speeds from 3 megs per second to 105 megs in Jacksonville, according to its online page. AT&T charges $70 a month for GigaPower Internet service in Austin. The price in Dallas is $120 a month for residential customers. The company hasn't said what it will charge in Jacksonville. Currently, the cost of its top, 45 meg service in Jacksonville is $64.95, so GigaPower would offer speed that is 20 times faster at roughly twice the cost, if the Dallas pricing model were used here. Whatever neighborhoods get GigaPower would have a shot at becoming tech hot spots, based on what's happened elsewhere. In Chattanooga, the city's public utility company built an all- fiber network in 2010 that lets all 150,000 homes and businesses connect to the Internet at gig speed for a monthly cost of $70. Chattanooga branded itself "Gig City," and young tech entrepreneurs moved into warehouses that had been abandoned when the city's old manufacturing base collapsed. "They've been repopulated with a bunch of crazy start-up people who have created this great energy, and that in turn attracts more people, and that brings in stores and restaurants and coffee shops and the development of nightlife," Bradshaw said. Google Fiber ushered in a similar scene. The Kansas City Startup Village is based in a cluster of houses in a that resembles Springfield and Riverside-Avondale in Jacksonville. "People hear about the village because they've heard about Google Fiber," Marcus said. "They want to come for a tour or visit us, and when they do, they see entrepreneurs gathered close to each other and say, This is fun, this is cool. I might not use Google Fiber to its fullest extent, but this is a nice community I want to be part of.' "David Bauerlein: (904) 359-4581THE NETWORKS OF THE FUTUREAT&T and Google are two of the major players developing gig-speed Internet. Here's where they're operating and plan to go next.AT&T GIGAPOWERIn operation: Austin, Dallas, Fort WorthUp next: Jacksonville, Miami, Overland Park, Kan., St. Louis, Nashville, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Greensboro, N.C., San Antonio, Houston, San JoseGOOGLE FIBERIn operation: Austin, Kansas City, Provo, UtahUp next: Nashville, Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, San Antonio, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Jose, Portland, Ore.MEasuring Internet speedInternet speed today is usually measured in megabits per second. 1 megabit is equal to 1 million bits of data. A gigabit is 1 billion bits per second. But what does this mean when you're at the computer? Here are some examples:DOWNLOAD A 5 MEGABYTE MP3 SONG:1 Gbps Less than a second45 Mbps Less than a second10 Mbps 4 seconds56K modem 12 minutesDOWNLOAD A 40 GIGABYTE VIDEO GAME:1 Gbps 5 minutes45 Mbps 2 hours10 Mbps 9 hours56K modem 66 daysSTREAMING VIDEOHere are Netflix speed connection recommendations:3 Mbps SD quality5 Mbps HD quality25 Mbps Ultra HD quality CORRECTION: Correction - September 16, 2014 (c) 2014 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |