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August 25, 2004 Research Park firm helps Indiana cities and towns develop telecom strategyWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A Purdue Research Park information technology company is working with several Indiana communities to enhance the telecommunications infrastructure necessary for economic development in a knowledge-based economy. InfoComm Systems has teamed up with the Greenfield, Ind.-based economic development and strategic planning consulting firm Thomas P. Miller & Associates to investigate both the supply and demand sides of advanced telecommunications markets in South Bend/St. Joseph County, Shelby County, Rush County, and the cities of Indianapolis, Bloomington, Columbus, Evansville, Lafayette-West Lafayette, Michigan City and Noblesville. "On the supply side of the equation, we perform detective work to uncover telecommunications assets that may not be widely known among the business/industrial community," said James Goldman, InfoComm System's executive vice president and the professor who started the telecommunications and networking technology degree program at Purdue University. "We also look for telecommunications assets of which communities may be aware, but that are undervalued for their potential economic development impact." Beyond existing phone and cable companies, examples of unknown or undervalued assets include competitive local exchange carriers (carriers that compete on a selective basis for local exchange service as well as long distance, international Internet access and entertainment services such as cable TV), carrier-neutral telecom hotels (facilities that provide the infrastructure critical to housing equipment for telecom-related needs, which are owned by companies that are not allied with any particular telecommunications provider), "meet me rooms" (neutral locations for carriers to cross-connect efficiently with each other and with customers), and/or "dark fiber" providers. In contrast to optical fiber, which conveys information in the form of light pulses, "dark fiber" is optical fiber infrastructure (cabling) that is in place, but not being used. Dark fiber providers are companies that had proactively installed optical fiber along routes, which they anticipated would be in high demand from telecommunications carriers or enterprise users. "The economic recession prevented the intended clients of many fiberoptic companies from purchasing or leasing the already buried dark fiber in order to "light" it themselves," Goldman said. "Lafayette-West Lafayette is a good example of a community that will gain access to increased bandwidth by connecting to previously 'dark' optical fiber." By working with a dark fiber company willing to install infrastructure from Indianapolis to the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, InfoComm Systems is providing solutions that complement economic development initiatives such as Indiana's Certified Technology Parks, Goldman said. "Knowing that a client firm from our business incubator is helping other Indiana communities address their need to develop high-tech hubs adds one more dimension to Purdue's economic development initiatives at the Purdue Research Park," said Joseph Hornett, senior vice president and treasurer of the Purdue Research Foundation, the entity that administers the park. In addition to providing fiberoptic implementation solutions, InfoComm Systems is helping communities address some of the problems that come with upgrading telecommunications infrastructure. As a result, many of these communities have formed oversight committees to not only administer the fiberoptic infrastructure and plan for its expansion, but also to forge public/private partnerships that encourage the shared utilization of existing city-county assets. For instance, InfoComm Systems is helping Evansville promote competition within its Downtown Digital Enterprise Zone by recommending that the city require the zone's infrastructure providers to cross-connect with other telecommunications providers at a neutral Internet peering facility. This peering facility, which InfoComm Systems is recommending be created, allows the sharing of telecom capacity between major telecom users (even if they are competitors) to deal with peak-load problems and for the exchange of Internet traffic. All of these "new economy" telecom assets and strategies combine to provide a wider variety of advanced services at more competitive prices to both industrial and consumer markets, said Thomas Miller, president of Thomas P. Miller & Associates. "The availability of such competitive advanced telecommunications resources can be a key differentiating factor in attracting the types of high-tech businesses characterized by a knowledge-based economy," Miller said. Evidence that advanced telecommunications infrastructures are positive economic drivers for communities can be found in a study commissioned by the state of Indiana's Intelenet Commission. In this report, entitled "Analysis of Advanced Telecommunications Infrastructure Investment Impact on Economic Growth," the team of InfoComm Systems and Thomas P. Miller & Associates offers specific metrics and a methodology to more objectively measure the causal link between investment in telecommunications infrastructure and economic growth. In addition, the team's reputation has spread beyond Indiana's borders. A Charlotte, N.C., economic development initiative has chosen InfoComm Systems and Thomas P. Miller & Associates to assess the current state or readiness of the community's telecommunications infrastructure. Advantage Carolina is Greater Charlotte's strategic plan designed to help the city capitalize on its growth while ensuring its high quality of life. Since its founding in 1991, InfoComm Systems Inc. has provided clients with network strategy, engineering, security and research consulting engagements. InfoComm Systems has established core competencies in the areas of community networking, municipal telecommunications strategy and metropolitan optical network design. InfoComm's customer base includes Fortune 100 and 500 corporations, municipalities and service providers. Writer: Jeanine Phipps, media relations, Purdue Research Park, (765) 494-0748, jeanine@purdue.edu Sources: James Goldman, (765) 497-3090 or (888) 734-6888, jegoldman@tech.purdue.edu Thomas P. Miller, (317) 894-5508 or (866) 351-8762, info@tpma-inc.com |
