After seeing Facebook pleas and flash mobs, and even cities temporarily renaming themselves “Google,” the search engine giant said Wednesday it has chosen Kansas City, Kan., as the first place that will get its new ultra-fast broadband network.
Google announced that the city would be the inaugural site for its “Fiber for Communities” program, which it says will be capable of delivering Internet access more than 100 times faster than the home broadband connections provided by phone and cable companies across the U.S.
The company envisions systems that will let consumers to download a high-definition, full-length feature film in less than five minutes, allow rural health clinics to send 3-D medical images over the Internet and let students collaborate with classmates around the world while watching live 3-D video of a university lecture.
Google’s service, which will provide Internet connections of 1 gigabit per second to as many as 500,000 people, will be offered in early 2012 while the company looks at other communities across the country.
More than 1,100 cities had made bids to become a test site for the company’s fiber-optic network, trying to catch Google’s attention and show their enthusiasm.
Milo Medin, Google’s vice president for access services, said Kansas City, Kan., was selected in part because of its solid network infrastructure and because the program would have an impact on the community, one of the poorest in the state.
“We believe gigabit broadband can be leveraged for economic development and educational gain, both of which are vital in the global economy that we live in today,'” Medin said. “We want to be able to build strong relationships and partnerships with local government and communities so that we can work together to use technology in a new way to make a city a better place to live in, a better place to work…
Acer AO532h-2588 10.1-Inch Onyx Blue Netbook – Up to 8 Hours of Battery LifeAcer AO532h-2588 comes with these high level Specs. Intel Atom Processor N450, Windows 7 Starter, 10.1-Inch WSVGA Acer CrystalBrit…
Acer Aspire One AOD255E-13444 10.1-Inch Netbook (Diamond Black)Acer AOD255E-13444 comes with these high level Specs. Intel Atom Processor N455, Windows 7 Starter, 10.1″ WSVGA LED-backlit Displa…
