Newark, NJ, August 31, 2021 – Edge, a nonprofit research and education network and technology partner, has announced a partnership with IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity. The two organizations will collaborate to offer increased awareness of institutional subscriptions to IEEE DataPort — a web-based, cloud services platform supporting the data-related needs of the global technical community — making it available to academic, government, and not-for-profit institutions across the United States.
IEEE DataPort provides a unified data and collaboration platform which researchers can leverage to efficiently store, share, access, and manage research data, accelerating institutional research efforts. Researchers at subscribing institutions will gain access to the more than 2,500 research datasets available on the platform and the ability to collaborate with more than 1.25 million IEEE DataPort users worldwide. The platform also enables institutions to meet funding agency requirements for the use of and sharing of data. [Read the full announcement at Edge | News]
Read More...September 2, 2021 – The California Department of Technology today announced that the State of California has retained CENIC California Middle-Mile Broadband Initiative, LLC as the California Middle-Mile Broadband Network Third-Party Administrator (TPA).
“California is bridging the digital divide by facilitating equitable, affordable access to high-speed internet service throughout the state,” said Amy Tong, Director, California Department of Technology. “CENIC California MMBI has the experience and reach to deliver an open-access middle-mile broadband network throughout the state.”
Governor Newsom and the state legislature partnered on a historic $6 billion multi-year investment that will give more Californians access to broadband coverage. The legislation provides $3.25 billion over the next three years to build an open access, middle-mile network made of high-capacity optical fiber that carries large amounts of data at high speeds over long distances between local networks and the global Internet.
As the TPA, CENIC California MMBI is the partner responsible for developing the fiber network, creating rural exchange points, and collaborating with the California Public Utilities Commission and Caltrans.
“We are honored to be a part of the most ambitious state digital equity effort in the history of the public Internet,” said Louis Fox, President of CENIC California MMBI. “The COVID-19 pandemic underscored how access to broadband is now a social determinant of health, education, work, and economic security. Our goal, in partnership with the state, is to ensure that every community – rural, urban, tribal – has access to broadband technologies and to do this work with alacrity.”
Read More...Lubbock, Texas (August 24, 2021) – Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Akbar Kara, Bill Hetherington, and Hatch Smith, Jr. to the Governor’s Broadband Development Council (GBDC) for terms set to expire on August 31, 2026. The GBDC was established in 2019 in order to study and identify ways to provide Internet to underserved areas of Texas. The council’s duties include: research the progress of broadband development in unserved areas; identify barriers to residential and commercial broadband deployment in unserved areas; study technology neutral solutions to overcome barriers identified under Subdivision; and analyze how statewide access to broadband would benefit economic development; the delivery of educational opportunities in higher education and public education; state and local law enforcement; state emergency preparedness; and the delivery of health care services, including telemedicine and telehealth.
Read More...I am truly humbled by this opportunity to serve my fellow Texans in rural and underserved
regions – Akbar Kara, President and CEO of LEARN.