06-28-11 Redevelopment Commission Minutes

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South Bend Redevelopment Commission Regular Meeting—June 28, 2011 5. OLD BUSINESS (CONT.) A. Proposal from Radiant Networks continued... Mr. Gilot noted that the Metronet is a partnership of community organizations and the City of South Bend to provide a vendor-neutral last mile solution for very fast broadband connections in South Bend. The Metronet mission is to provide a 21st century differentiator for the community as we try to retain and expand employment here. The initial work connected all the large data centric employers in the area, such as Notre Dame, Memorial Hospital and the financial institutions. These employers hooked up with"laterals" that cost on the order of $8,000 to $12,000 which provide them with a circuit of fiber optic connections with which they can transfer a lot of data around the community or to the outside world very affordably. It's been an overwhelming success. It has exceeded the expectations of the early business plan. Beyond the data centric companies, we've tried a model where some service providers have taken a pair that form a loop (a circuit) around the community and have put numerous drops to help reach some of the medium-sized companies. But, still, not everybody again can afford the cost of the lateral, the $8,000 to $12,000. Mr. Gilot, as a city representative on the board of Metronet, does advocate for a more affordable lateral so that this advantage for business, for job retention, and job expansion, tax-base growth, can be affordable to small and medium-sized companies. In terms of applications, the technologies they can use, it's a real difference-maker. The City of South Bend started to think about the idea of wireless laterals to avoid that cost of digging and putting the conduit in. The Radiant Networks proposal was the best amongst the ideas looked at by Metronet. Metronet, looking regionally, came up with a 5