Baltimore techies woo Google 

Posted: 7:30 pm Mon, February 22, 2010
By Robert J. Terry
Managing Editor/Online and Special Publications

It’s going to take more than creativity to land atop Google’s search rankings for cities to test a new high-speed broadband network.

A group of Baltimore technology entrepreneurs knows that winning the attention of the Mountain View, Calif.-based search engine giant and landing a coveted slot as a trial market for its super-fast fiber-optic network will mean highlighting assets that Google prizes — among them a friendly local regulatory framework, the willingness to build out the fiber-to-the-home network quickly, even the weather.

But the nascent effort is picking up speed in hopes of making Baltimore a test bed for a high-profile project spearheaded by one of the world’s best-known companies.

Google issued a call Feb. 10 to communities interested in being a test site for the network, touted to deliver Internet speeds on fiber-optic cables more than 100 times faster than the Web access enjoyed by most Americans. Google issued a request for information, or RFI, to identify government organizations and other groups that would be a good fit for the trial. Its application deadline is March 26.

Google hasn’t said how much it plans to spend on the network, though some estimates say it could top $1 billion.

The ultimate goal, Google says, is to make Internet access “better and faster for everyone” — instantly generating three-dimensional medical images over the Web, for example, or downloading a movie in five minutes. So, the Baltimore-based coalition hoping to take Google up on the offer is using 21st century organizing tools — Twitter, Facebook and Google itself, primarily — to get the company’s attention. They’ve also launched a Web site, www.bmorefiber.com, to get the word out that Baltimore is “teeming with creative people who are ready for ultra-fast broadband.”

“It’s an amazing opportunity for the city because of what Google is promising,” said Mario Armstrong, a media personality who contributes regularly to CNN and National Public Radio. “We’re hoping we can really identify ways to leverage the speed [of the proposed network] in ways that can impact areas of social need in Baltimore.”

To that end, organizers say a staffer in Deputy Mayor Andrew Frank’s office has been designated to be the city’s point person in the effort. Frank oversees neighborhood and economic development for Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Calls have gone out to Donald C. Fry, chief executive of the Greater Baltimore Committee, high-ranking officials in the Baltimore City Public Schools and other business leaders.

Getting those stakeholders singing from the same song sheet is the biggest challenge the effort faces, said one prominent tech executive in the region.

“There are several different axes that would make [a Baltimore proposal] attractive to Google,” said David Troy, CEO of Roundhouse Technologies and founder of Beehive Baltimore. “The key next step is to firm up a strategy in conjunction with the city.”

Even if Charm City comes up short, Troy said he sees a longer-term benefit in going after the project — the community development thrust of the application could be repurposed in the future to go after other grant opportunities.

“We’re putting a lot of energy behind building the region’s entrepreneurial culture,” said Tom Loveland, CEO of software firm Mind Over Machines. “It’d be fabulous in attracting and keeping people here.”

Competition will be fierce. Cincinnati, Seattle and St. Louis have all publicly thrown their hats in the ring. Washington, D.C., is vying for the project as well.

It will represent a significant investment to a city, one Troy estimates could top $1 billion. That’s based on the $10,000 per subscriber Verizon Communications reportedly spent to build out its FiOS high-speed network.

Google says its network will serve anywhere from 50,000 residents on up to 500,000 customers and will be competitively priced. The company wants to use the network to test “deployment techniques” that might get broadband to underserved communities faster, a federal government priority.

And the rollout promises to be closely watched because, tangentially, the push would ratchet up Google’s showdown with telecommunications companies such as Comcast Corp. and Verizon, which dominate the local market for broadband access. Google has been critical of telecoms and their network improvements, as well as on issues related to access and competition.