IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

Connect Nevada has launched a powerful new broadband app in the effort to bring quality, high-speed Internet to the entire state. On Wednesday, Governor Jim Gibbons announced the public release of the state’s first comprehensive broadband map along with the launch of BroadbandStat, the interactive state mapping resource that puts all the latest information on the broadband landscape directly at your fingertips. Additionally, the Connect Nevada website (www.connectnv.org) offers several other interactive tools for broadband consumers.

According to today’s release from Connected Nation, the healthcare applications available on the Internet improve the quality of life of broadband users in Kentucky. Kentuckians turned to the Internet in search of healthcare information as broadband availability and adoption increased. The increased use of online healthcare is an advantage for Kentucky as it is often understood to be a relatively unhealthy state. Improved broadband penetration is a new asset that is helping turn that tide.

Today, Connected Tennessee announced the release of the nation’s first county-by-county reading of average Internet speeds across Tennessee. This county-based Internet speed map will give providers of broadband and Tennessee policy-makers a more accurate understanding of which Tennessee communities remain in need of higher quality service in order to utilize the latest applications that benefit local and state government as well as private industry.

It is impossible not to recognize the way technology has changed our lives, and soon, it may help save our lives. The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has devised a plan to provide a widespread broadband network, covering 20 million homes in the US. Even better? The plan includes provisions to extend broadband to medical facilities, even in most rural areas.

May has several upcoming events for those interested in learning more about broad band opportunities. May 9, an healthcare video conference will be held with Dr. Ann Bynum, co-director of the center for distance learning at UAMS, and Ken Tillman, rural health coordinator with Arkansas Farm Bureau. The topic will be enhancing health care through technology and innovation. The conference will be at 10:30 a.m. at the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope.

The study, which was conducted by affordable-broadband advocacy group Speed Matters, found that the nine states with the fastest median download connections are all located on the East Coast. Rhode Island (6.8Mbps) and Delaware (6.7Mbps) have the fastest, and nearly triple the national median download speed of 2.3Mbps. Rounding out the Top 5 states are New Jersey (5.8Mbps), Virginia (5Mbps) and Massachusetts (4.6Mbps).

The White County eCommunity Leadership Team, comprised of White County business and civic leaders, met June 17 to discuss the status and importance of broadband infrastructure to the development of the community.

Larry Raybon, Connected Tennessee’s eCS project manager in Middle Tennessee, led the meeting to identify certain benchmarks for broadband technology. Connected Tennessee’s goal is to accelerate the availability and use of technology toward creating a better business environment, more effective community and economic development, improve healthcare, enhance education and more efficient government.

The news could be a boon for the nascent telehealth industry. The FCC is calling for expanded reimbursement for e-care; increased pilot programs; revised credentialing requirements; and clarified regulations for converged communications and healthcare devices. Telehealth frequently uses smartphones and M2M technology in remote monitoring devices for patients.

The network could provide communication, entertainment and data-transfer services in the region. WCNH.net is comprised of Orford, Lyme, Hanover, Enfield, Springfield, New London, Sunapee and Newbury. Hanover Town Manager Julia Griffin says preliminary estimates are that the network would cost $20 million.

Wisconsin needs this expanded broadband to advance and remain competitive economically in a global environment. Though this project focuses on connecting public institutions, it will have a long-term impact on job creation and business development.

Widespread broadband deployment would be necessary to achieve these savings, according to the study, report author Robert Litan, vice president of research and policy at the Kauffman Foundation.

The 63-page report, “Vital Signs Via Broadband: Remote Health Monitoring Transmits Savings, Enhances Lives”, was presented at a press briefing by Better Health Care Together. The group seeks comprehensive changes in the health care system.

The session, "Measuring Broadband: What Metrics Really Matter?" used the controversial broadband penetration statistics issued regularly by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as a starting point.

In a move to bring about 100-megabit Internet connections to 100 million U.S. homes by 2020 the FCC wants to make remote medicine a reality.

The FCC's national broadband plan contains a 25-page chapter on health care, and calls upon the Department of Health and Human Services to make so-called e-care projects a "top priority." One suggestion is the creation of a health care broadband infrastructure fund to make sure all health care facilities — including rural ones — have adequate connectivity.

Idaho’s connection – called a GigaPoP – will enable the state’s researchers, educators, health care institutions and government agencies access to a vast array of resources for collaboration and innovation, and provide the foundation for a future statewide system.

The agenda "explains the purpose and timing of more than 60 rulemakings and other notice-and-comment proceedings the plan recommends for FCC action," according to the agency, and will "implement plan recommendations requiring rulemakings through a series of open, participatory notice-and-comment proceedings."

Progress on the plan's implementation can be tracked at www.broadband.gov/plan/broadband-action-agenda.html. An implementation schedule is also available at www.broadband.gov/plan/chart-of-key-broadband-action-agenda-items.pdf.

The commission voted unanimously to approve a notice of proposed rulemaking, or NPRM, designed to bring affordable broadband connectivity to more than 2,000 rural hospitals and clinics across the U.S. The purpose of an NPRM is to ask members of the public whether they agree with the proposed changes.