SOURCE: Triangle Business Journal Blogs (Raleigh-Durham,NC)DATE: 01-25-2013

HEADLINE: Exclusive: Gig.U details for Triangle to be unveiled

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Exclusive: Gig.U details for Triangle to be unveiled

Larry Page and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), here's your unofficial invitation to the Triangle.

Three Triangle universities, Duke, North Carolina State and UNC-Chapel Hill, are among 29 Americanuniversities trying to build ultra-high-speed computer networks in their neighboring communities, and Pagecan help them do it, says Mark Hoit, chief information officer for NCSU.

"We would love for Google to participate and submit a proposal," he says. "But there are other companies."

The universities have formed a steering committee - the North Carolina Next Generation Network - and willsubmit a request for proposals Feb. 1. They've already nabbed support from municipalities including ChapelHill, Raleigh, Durham and Cary - and are hoping the communities will actively participate in the project.

"Neither universities nor municipalities are actually purchasing anything," Hoit explains. "We are takingexcess assets that we have, commonly known as dark fiber, and we are making that available to an entity thatwants to come in and provide that service."

That service would be building an infrastructure of Internet service several hundred times faster than what iscurrently available - similar to what Google did in Kansas City following a national competition for theproject.

Larry Conrad, CIO at UNC-Chapel Hill, says the team has already informally sent feelers out - and had 50companies respond positively.

Called Gig.U, the original plan was introduced in 2011.

What's taking so long?

Part of it, Conrad says, was the "playing field law," which was intended to put curbs on what entities couldbuild such networks. That "spooked" municipalities.

"It made it very difficult for a municipality to try to proceed ahead with a local broadband initiative," heexplains, but adds that lawyers read the law carefully and saw that it wouldn't prohibit Gig.U.

Conrad says the Triangle is perfect for this type of innovation.

"To be candid, Research Triangle Park has clear cash," he notes, on top of obvious reasons such as universitypresences.

"The triangle is one of the hot high-tech innovation hubs of the nation and therefore the world," Hoit adds. "We want to be one of the leaders, not followers in having that infrastructure and that advantage to keep usstrong."

The team has been selling the idea to the communities over the past few years and Monday plans to make apublic announcement, when Gig.U's executive director, former FCC Chief Blair Levin, will be among those

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speaking at a press conference on the initiative at MCNC in Research Triangle Park.

And then the next step? It's finding people to implement the plan.

Traditional entities, such as Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWX) and AT&T(NYSE: T) are options, but so isGoogle.

This week, Google CFO Patrick Pichette said, "we are going to continue to look at the possibility ofexpanding," regarding the Google Fiber rollout in Kansas City.

Should a bid be accepted by October, implementation in the Triangle could happen by the end of 2014,Conrad says.

Wake Forest University is also participating in the initiative.

Lauren Ohnesorge covers technology, biotechnology and Durham County.

Highlights: NC, NORTH CAROLINA, North Carolina, MCNC

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SOURCE: Triangle Business Journal Blogs (Raleigh-Durham,NC)DATE: 01-28-2013

HEADLINE: Gig.U's course material fraught with opportunities, assumptions and big money

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Gig.U's course material fraught with opportunities, assumptions and big money

For a while, Gig.U President Blair Levin sounded like a technology preacher.

If you stay still, you actually will fall behind, he said referring to the need and demand for more bandwidth inevery community. Levin was meeting with a few reporters at MCNC in RTP on Monday.

The Gig.U project wants to implement high tech broadband in communities surrounding DukeUniversity,North Carolina State University,UNC-Chapel Hill and Wake Forest University.

This is not about the expenditure of more public dollars, he says. This is really about leveraging pre-existingassets more effectively to drive an upgrade.

While it's a nationwide project, Gig.U is unique in how it's happening in the Triangle.

Several municipalities, such as Chapel Hill and Carrboro, are working together. When the request forproposals is released Friday, it will be the first time that a region has cooperated for the technology, Levinsays.

It's about foresight, he explains, and he uses Research Triangle Park as an example, noting how the park wascreated in the 50s.

People realized the traditional economy was changing, he says, adding that they created a space to addressthat need. They didn't say, well, gee, that's too bad. They said how do we take advantage of it in the neweconomy?

Companies aren't looking to upgrade the bandwidth because consumers have not recognized the need, Levinadds.

You can't feel it until you've experienced it, he says, noting that the slowest speed you want is the fastestspeed you have experienced.

And, unless the new technology is embraced, the United States could lag behind other countries in the nextdecade.

Google Inc.(Nasdaq: GOOG) did something similar in Kansas City, but Levin says this regional approachmakes more sense.

You have to hit the right size to make this thing work, he notes. Having it be regional... makes it moreeffective.

But is Google a potential player?

Definitely. "We've been talking to Google all along," Levin says. While he doesn't know if they'll come onboard, he says "I'm quite certain they will notice this RFP." And this could just be the beginning for NorthCarolina.

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I certainly wouldn't be surprised to see other communities along the (I-40) corridor join in, he says.

Lauren Ohnesorge covers technology, biotechnology and Durham County.

Highlights: NC, NORTH CAROLINA, MCNC, North Carolina

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