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BalsamWest FiberNET, a public/private partnership
facilitating the deployment of high-capacity fiber-optic network
ring through Jackson, Macon, Swain, Cherokee, Clay and Graham
counties, is currently laying fiber in Webster.
By Lisa Majors-Duff
Southwestern Community College and Drake Enterprises of Franklin
announced last week the formation of BalsamWest FiberNET, a public/private
partnership created to facilitate the deployment of a high-capacity
fiber-optic network ring through Jackson, Macon, Swain, Graham,
Clay and Cherokee counties.
BalsamWest was formed to ensure that the southwestern region of
the state can participate fully in a global economy by providing
open and affordable access to state-of-the-art infrastructure,
according to SCC's Laura Pennington.
"BalsamWest FiberNET will give the region the tools it needs
to educate and train the work force of the future, support advances
in health care, improve the ability of local businesses to succeed,
and create opportunities to generate good jobs for the future,"
said Pennington.
"Our region must have adequate infrastructure in order to
be part of the 21st century economy," David Hubbs, director
of Internet Services for Drake Enterprises and manager of Dnet
Internet Services said. "By the end of this decade nine out
of 10 jobs will require the use of computing and communications
technologies.
"Business, education, law enforcement, government and the
medical community will depend more and more on access to affordable
and reliable high speed data transport," he continued. "Without
it, our region will not be able to compete. A fiber-optic ring
will fulfill this need with virtually unlimited capacity and maximum
reliability."
According to Pennington, BalsamWest will bring virtually unlimited
capacity to, from and through the area.
The network is to be deployed in five segments connecting the
six westernmost counties of North Carolina.
Construction of the first segment is under way, connecting Jackson
and Macon counties with a "fiber-optic backbone."
As for SCC, the fibers will be used to connect the college's campuses
in the three-county area, she said.
"Right now were are leasing infrastructure," she said.
"It's very expensive and not always reliable."
While SCC plans to offer Internet service to its students and
faculty, neither the college nor BalsamWest will be in the business
of Internet service provider, Pennington said.
"We will be making the fiber available to anyone in the region,"
she said. "But we are not selling service; that's important
to note."
Both Pennington and Hubbs pointed out the collaborative four-year
effort to bring high-speed fiber to WNC instead of relying on
large service providers like Verizon and BellSouth to provide
the service.
"If we wait for the telecommunications giants to determine
when our region merits the investment, it will be too late,"
said Hubbs. "With a public/private partnership such as BalsamWest
Fiber
Net, our community can do this now. Drake Enterprises is proud
to be part of this effort."
When the first phase of the project is completed in mid-November,
business and homeowners could begin to experience the benefits
of faster, more reliable Internet service when local ISPs like
Drake offer the service to its customers. Business-to-business
digital transactions, which are quickly becoming the norm, will
also be easier over the new fiber-optic lines, she Pennington.
BalsamWest has selected the Education and Research Consortium's
Asheville MetaPoP as its upstream connection to the Internet.
BalsamWest's network will connect the area west of the Balsams
to the Asheville MetaPoP, a second tier Internet network access
point funded through the efforts of Congressman Charles Taylor.
"In a new model of innovation and collaboration, BalsamWest
FiberNET is creating an open infrastructure available to the public,
private and non-profit sectors - a model other rural regions might
want to consider," said Pennington. "The availability
of this network promises to help rural Internet service providers
to better serve home and business customers through better access,
lower prices and higher quality."
"Western North Carolina has much to offer high tech companies
but will be overlooked unless it has access to this type of high-speed
network at prices comparable to metropolitan areas and a highly-trained
labor force," said Hubbs.
SCC's commitment to education and community development has driven
its involvement in improving telecommunications infrastructure
in the region - with the new Macon campus being connected in the
initial deployment, said SCC President Cecil Groves.
"Infrastructure like this will allow the college to tap into
advanced teaching tools, provide education virtually anytime,
anywhere, and help our public partners (such as the schools and
libraries) access resources anywhere in the world," said
Groves.
The Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, which have an interest
in the southwest region and a technological vision for the future,
have taken formal steps to be part of this enterprise. Increased
government efficiency will be the Eastern Band's first goal, said
tribal planner Brandon Stephens.
As a partner in the corporation, the tribe will also concentrate
on using the availability of high-speed fibers as an economic
recruiting tool, Stephens said.
"It used to be that if you built water and sewer into an
area, industry would come," he said. "That's not the
case anymore. Now you need the high-tech infrastructure."
Tribal leaders would also like to prevent out-migration of area
residents, he said.
"Right now people are getting high-tech degrees and they
are leaving us to find work," said Stephens.
BalsamWest is also exploring ways it can support the work of AdvantageWest,
which received funding from the Rural Internet Access Authority
for middle mile infrastructure deployment in Jackson, Macon and
Clay counties. The $1 million grant was awarded to AdvantageWest
based upon strategies developed through the Appalachian Access
initiative, a three-year effort led by SCC, the WNC Knowledge
Coalition, Appalachian Regional Commission, N.C. Rural Economic
Development Center and AdvantageWest.
BalsamWest invites companies from anywhere in the world to tap
directly into the ultra-high-speed capacity of its fiber backbone
and its connectivity to the high performance supercomputing capacity
of the Asheville MetaPoP, said Groves.
"We can connect their employees in our area with others anywhere
in the world, allowing them to work together in real-time just
as if they were in the same room," Groves said.
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