A2 Fiber: Ann Arbor joins gold rush for Google fiber project
It’s a modern-day gold rush, except the prize is high-speed access to information.
Communities throughout the U.S. are mobilizing to respond to Google’s request for applications from cities hoping to secure a fiber optic network capable of Internet speeds 100 times faster than commercially available service.
In Ann Arbor, city officials, business executives, residents and University of Michigan leaders have resolved to bombard Google with requests related to the fiber optic competition.
Google co-founder and 1995 University of Michigan graduate Larry Page greets U-M President Mary Sue Coleman during the spring commencement ceremony in Ann Arbor in 2009.
File photo | AnnArbor.com
The “A2 Fiber” campaign continues at 7 p.m. Monday, when Ann Arbor City Council plans to hold a public hearing for residents to “help us tell Google why Ann Arbor is the perfect fit.”
Google is getting besieged with interest. The city of East Lansing, for example, isn’t hesitating to point out that Google co-founder Larry Page is an East Lansing High School graduate.
Page, of course, is also a 1995 U-M engineering grad, and he’s known to speak occasionally with U-M President Mary Sue Coleman. In fact, conversations between Page and Coleman led directly to Google’s decision to launch a sales operation in downtown Ann Arbor in 2006.
Will Coleman make a call to Page? A university spokeswoman wouldn’t comment.
The university, however, has thrown the full force of its marketing power behind the “A2 Fiber” campaign, encouraging residents to visit A2Fiber.com, follow the initiative on Twitter and Facebook and sign up for e-mail alerts.
“I believe the university is 100 percent behind the application,” Ann Arbor City Council member Christopher Taylor said. “They have worked hand in glove with the city.”
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For its part, Google said it would favor communities that stand out as places where Web activities and companies would flourish as a result of vastly improved Internet access.
Derek Mehraban, owner of Ann Arbor-based Ingenex Digital Marketing, believes Ann Arbor fits that description.
“Ann Arbor has such a vibrant tech community. Just the density of programmers, developers, people that really work every day on the Internet, I think, makes us unique,” he said. “Plus, the whole fact that Ann Arbor is reinventing itself and helping to reinvent the state of Michigan as a technology, startup community. There’s a lot of exciting things that would happen from the Google fiber.”
Contact AnnArbor.com’s Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com or follow him on Twitter. You can also subscribe to AnnArbor.com Business Review's weekly e-newsletter or the upcoming breaking business news e-newsletter.
Comments
trespass
Sun, Mar 14, 2010 : 3:25 p.m.
@v A SJTU student claimed credit for a similar hack a few years ago. SJTU has an entire institute dedicated to "Internet Security" (i.e. censorship & hacking). They sponsor seminars and lectures on hacking. They have student hacking clubs. If a UM student did that they would not only be expelled but they would be in jail. Even if we never can find proof enough of the Google hacking to win a court case, we have ample evidence that their official behavior does not conform with our student code of conduct. In addition, if SJTU was not involved, they would cooperate with an investigation rather than a simple denial without an investigation. The UM doesn't even have the courage to ask for a joint investigation even though the students involved may end up with a UM degree through their "joint program"
spm
Sun, Mar 14, 2010 : 12:03 p.m.
Well I for one want high speed internet service from Google so I nominated Ann Arbor for fiber optics. Thanks AnnArbor.com for providing the link.
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball
Sun, Mar 14, 2010 : 9:16 a.m.
Can you just imagine the City Council and Zoning Dept. trying to "fast track" all the permits and inspections! Ha ha ha ha ha ha.. The 'TRACK RECORD' for Ann Arbor development speaks for itself. Lawsuits, rejections, NIMBY's, massive revisions, "it's too big - it's too small - it's too high - more parking - too dense - we need more density - protest's, shouting matches, etc. etc.. If I were Google, I would look to find a city where the development process - and the city in general - actually favored people investing in the town, as opposed to fighting any new construction and then forcing all those "rain gardens" and 100% unused bike lockers etc. onto crazy 30 year old 'city Master plans' on the developers.. Ann Arbor has a bad reputation.
Moose
Sun, Mar 14, 2010 : 9:04 a.m.
Radical conservative spin-meister Jonah Goldberg is a wing nut. By far, conservatives have long supported corporate welfare more than "liberal fascists". Google should cooperate with Wireless Washtenaw instead of steamrolling into town like they own the place.
Technojunkie
Sun, Mar 14, 2010 : 8:57 a.m.
The government relationships with AT&T and Comcast would be better examples of "corporate welfare", with regulation and/or franchise agreements (taxes) used to suppress competition. Google is big enough and popular enough that these traditional corrupt practices won't work. It looks like Google just wants FTTH networks built to support its services and the only reason they're doing it themselves is because AT&T and Comcast won't. Even Verizon, with their FiOS service, is holding back. I will not be surprised if Google writes up a best practices document (tutorial) on how local governments can build and run their own FTTH networks based on their experience with this experiment.
InsideTheHall
Sun, Mar 14, 2010 : 7:16 a.m.
This will be interesting to see Ann Arbor rationalize engaging in "corporate welfare" with Google. Hint: Read the book Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg for the answer.
trespass
Sun, Mar 14, 2010 : 6:56 a.m.
If the University of Michigan wants to show Google that they seriously want to work with Google then why don't they sever their ties with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which is the home of the hackers who stole Google's source code?