NYS Council for Universal Broadband Conducts Final Quarterly Meeting

ALBANY, NY (09/18/2009)(readMedia)-- The New York State Council for Universal Broadband held its final quarterly meeting on September 15, 2009. Council members focused on extending high speed Internet access to the unserved and underserved, urban and rural communities and the positive impact broadband access will have on the economy, education and families. The Council will be replaced with the Broadband Development and Deployment Council announced by Governor David A. Paterson in Executive Order 22.

"I sincerely thank the New York State Council for Universal Broadband for their tireless efforts to advance our state's broadband development. The Council has established a solid foundation that the new Broadband Development and Deployment Council will use to jumpstart their efforts." Governor David A. Paterson. "The new Council will continue to work diligently to ensure New York has a comprehensive strategy to provide high-speed, affordable broadband access to improve opportunities for economic growth and expand e-government services for citizens, businesses and visitors." The Council for Universal Broadband has met quarterly since its creation in 2007. The New York State Universal Broadband Initiative has concentrated on ensuring every New Yorker has affordable, high-speed access to the Internet, a major priority of Governor Paterson.

Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, NYS Chief Information Officer and Director of the Office for Technology who chairs the NYS Council for Universal Broadband said, "Broadband is a critical engine for communities to enhance their social and economic well-being. Effective use of the Internet and global broadband access for all New Yorkers is vital for New York to remain globally competitive."

Universal broadband capabilities enable governments, institutions and businesses to provide better and more cost-efficient services to our respective customers and constituents. In addition, broadband access provides opportunities for citizens, businesses and visitors to enjoy the resources available through the internet. This initiative also helps New York attract and retain the next generation of high tech leaders and workers.

Strategic oversight for the New York State Broadband Program was performed by the NYS Council for Universal Broadband. The Council included members from state and local government, libraries, municipal associations, economic development, as well as secondary and higher education institutions that came together out of a shared interest in improving the economic vitality of New York's communities. The Council created five Action Teams to develop and implement the New York Broadband Strategy.

"I am grateful for the hard work and dedication of the original NYS Broadband Council. With their passion and strategic thinking we took giants steps toward improving broadband access and online services for the benefit of all New York's citizens, businesses and visitors," Dr. Mayberry-Stewart said.

The Broadband Council developed a comprehensive and holistic broadband strategy that focuses on infrastructure build out, digital literacy, economic development, and expanded use of online government services.

During the final Council meeting, members heard from Michael Ridley, Director of High Performance Computing for the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR), who shared information on the New York State Innovation Economy Matching Grant Program.

"The NYS Innovation Economy Matching Grant Program creates an opportunity for eligible applicants to partner with the State making their proposals more attractive to Federal grant administrators. The intent of this program is to strengthen the competitiveness of good proposals and provide support for the match requirements for some of the federal programs like the 20% required match for the Broadband Technologies Opportunity Program (BTOP)," said Mr. Ridley.

The New York State Innovation Economy Matching Grant program provides a 10 percent match for federal stimulus dollars awarded to approved ARRA recipients including applicants for the Federal Broadband Grant. One hundred million dollars has been committed to this program which will leverage $1 billion in federal stimulus funding under ARRA. Funds from this program are only awarded to applicants for programs that are approved by the Governor's Stimulus Office. The Innovation Grants Program is administered by NYSTAR.

James W. Ransom, Tribal Chief, St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, who presented the Akwesasne Broadband Project said, "The NYS Innovation Broadband Matching Grant program will allow those in the most need to leverage federal stimulus funds by helping with the required 20 percent match for Broadband Technologies Opportunity Program grants."

William Pelgrin, Director, Cyber Security & Critical Infrastructure Coordination (CSCIC) shared information on the New York State Broadband Data and Development Program Submission. CSCIC applied for $4.3 million in broadband funding to continue broadband mapping throughout the state and provide funding for statewide broadband planning.

"New York State is applying for federal mapping funds with the distinct advantage of having already prepared state maps based on predictive broadband availability. Federal Stimulus funds will enable New York to continue broadband mapping of New York's unserved and underserved areas, enable dynamic updates to the maps as infrastructure is added, as well as measure broadband availability down to the granularity of Census Blocks," said Mr. Pelgrin.

Broadband Council members also heard Tom Jensen, General Field Representative of the USDA/ Rural Utility Service – Telecommunications speak on the USDA RUS Broadband Stimulus Program, and John Davies, Vice President, Intel Architecture Group Director, Intel Americas talk about Intel's World-Ahead Program to increase digital literacy across the globe.

During his presentation Bernard A. Margolis, State Librarian and Assistant Commissioner for Libraries in the New York State Education Department shared highlights of the joint NY State Library and State Education Department Broadband Proposal submitted for broadband stimulus funding. "Libraries are in the connection business and are often the first and only point of broadband contact and internet access for many users. The Broadband Technologies Opportunity Program has the potential to help us expand our free computing services to the public, including adding more public service computing centers and expanding digital literacy training programs at local libraries across New York State," said Mr. Margolis.

Although this was the final meeting of the New York State Council for Universal Broadband, efforts will continue under a new reconstituted Broadband Council established under Executive Order 22. Governor David A. Paterson signed Executive Order 22 on June 5, 2009 establishing the New York State Broadband Development and Deployment Council. This Executive Order formalizes the State's Universal Broadband Council to continue the development and deployment of broadband for all New Yorkers and to implement strategies to increase infrastructure, digital literacy, and stimulate demand. In addition, the Executive Order encourages public/private partnerships, economic development and creation of world-class, high-capacity and high-speed broadband networks. The new Council will have 13 members determined by the Executive Order. Supporting the work of the Council will be four technical committees focusing on the following areas:

    • Digital Literacy & Adoption - This Committee will address affordability, computer ownership and adoption, digital   literacy  and training, and consumer education;

   • E-Government - This Committee will improve and increase access to government services offered online and promote the development of open, simple and secure online applications with measureable outcomes;

   • Economic Development & Infrastructure - This Committee will focus on building stronger economies, promoting the economic growth of New York State by increasing business activity, identifying and implementing public/private partnerships, and determining strategies to create and maintain a skilled and professional workforce; and

    • Planning & Policy - This Committee will focus on optimizing public assets and locally-based initiatives to increase broadband penetration and use through current or planned assets and infrastructures.

The Broadband Development and Deployment Council will also oversee federal stimulus projects. The Federal government has also acknowledged the need for states to develop high speed Internet access to support economic development and educational opportunities. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act appropriated $7.2 billion and directed the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) to expand broadband access to unserved and underserved communities across the U.S., increase jobs, spur investments in technology and infrastructure, and provide long-term economic benefits. The result is the RUS Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and the NTIA Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP).

For more information regarding Executive Order 22, please visit

http://www.ny.gov/governor/executive_orders/exeorders/eo_22.html

For information regarding New York State's Broadband stimulus activities, please visit

http://www.nysbroadband.ny.gov/

For more information regarding the NYSTAR Innovation Grants Program, please visit

http://www.nystar.state.ny.us/matching/

For more information regarding the Federal broadband grant programs, please visit http://broadbandusa.sc.egov.usda.gov/

About CIO/OFT

The State Chief Information Officer and Office for Technology (CIO/OFT) provide statewide IT strategic direction, IT policy and centralized IT services to the state and its governmental entities. CIO/OFT provides IT enterprise services to support the missions of state agencies by operating four mainframe data centers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including more than 90,000 telecom users, 50 statewide mission-critical applications, a secure network of over 1,600 miles of fiber, including IT operations, telecommunications, Internet and Intranet services, enterprise email systems and support, IT training, networking, data storage and processing. In addition, the agency has a world renowned project management practice, develops and supports web applications and assists with application development. For more information, visit http://www.cio.ny.gov.