Springfield enters Google Fiber race

It’s official. Springfield is joining a nationwide wave of communities vying for the attention of technology giant Google.

A unanimous vote at the March 8 Springfield City Council meeting gave city leaders permission to file a Request for Information for Google’s Fiber for Communities Project, signaling the city’s desire to be considered as a location for the company’s ultra-high-speed broadband test. For those heading up Springfield’s bid to bring Google to the city, the key word is test.

“If you think about the way all businesses utilize the Internet, whether they’re doing purchasing or research, viewing webinars or videos, all of that would be enhanced by their bandwidth being increased 100 times. … I think Google wants to find out what communities would do,” said Jeff Coiner, director of information systems for the city of Springfield.

Todd Murren, director of SpringNet at City Utilities, is working with Coiner to complete the RFI, which is due by March 26. He also sees the Fiber test as an experiment to uncover the types of applications that may come out of ultra-high-speed broadband in residential areas.

“Google has made it very, very clear, that, ‘Here are the things we are not doing.’ They said, ‘We are not an Internet service provider. We are not a cable television provider. And we are not going to offer traditional telephone service.’ … They’re looking for the things a home user doesn’t use the Internet for today,” Murren said.

Springfield faces stiff competition for the opportunity to put its creativity to the test. It’s one of 91 cities, including St. Louis, Kansas City and Columbia, that have Facebook pages looking to lure the California-based Internet giant to the area. Topeka, Kan. has even changed its name to Google, Kan. to set itself apart from its competitors.

“There are an awful lot of communities applying for this,” Murren said. “We need to keep a firm grasp on reality.”

Google hasn’t decided how many communities it will choose as test communities or how much it will charge for the service, but the company’s Web site says it will offer Fiber to between 50,000 and 500,000 people at a competitive price. The company will announce the community or communities selected later this year.

Some of the questions asked within the RFI have Coiner and others involved in the process encouraged about Springfield’s chances of being chosen as a test community.

“They ask about anchor institutions like universities and health care. The fact that they have directly asked those questions in the RFI seems to us to possibly be an advantage to us because we have both things in our community,” Coiner said.

Bill Scorse, chief information officer at Drury University, said the talent within the medical and higher education systems may help drive some of the new uses Google hopes will come out of the test.

Springfield City Manager Greg Burris points to SpringNet as another selling point for Springfield.

“We already have quite a bit of fiber strung through the city,” he said.

SpringNet, City Utilities’ broadband service, has been around since 1997, Murren said, and has been delivering high-speed Internet access to anchor users such as city departments, universities and health care institutions since 2000. Expanding that access to residential areas, however, has been cost-prohibitive, Murren said.

“(Google) made reference to an experiment to residential subscribers. That’s wonderful. We have 400 miles of fiber cable already out today, and an operational history of 10 years delivering the type of network Google has said its going to serve to homes,” he said.

Other Council news
Also at the March 8 meeting, Springfield City Council members heard from the public about a resolution that would give residents a chance on June 8 to decide whether to renew the 1/4-cent Capital Improvements Sales Tax.

The tax sunsets every three years, said city Public Works Director Marc Thornsberry, and allowing it to lapse would create obstacles if it were to be reinstated at a later date.

The tax would create a projected $26 million in revenue for the next three years. Projects covered within the tax fall under three categories. Ongoing, or traditional projects which include street and sidewalk work, and street signs and markings, are budgeted for $13.1 million. Continuation projects, such as work on Packer Road, Republic Road and Grand Street, are expected to come in at $7.25 million.

The remaining $3.65 million can be allocated to new projects. Some preliminary projects, including making improvements to intersections that see high traffic counts, have been outlined on a list of priorities and presented at two public open houses in February.

Council will vote on the resolution at its March 22 meeting.