Vendors responding to the Gig U Project

After heading the FCC's National Broadband Plan, Blair Levin floated an intriguing idea: would leading universities and broadband providers come together to build truly high-speed test-bed networks and related applications in communities adjacent to those universities. He dubbed the idea Gig. U and signed up 37 universities.

More recently, Gig. U says it received "received 'dozens' of formal replies to its request for information (RFI), a process by which the group sought any and every idea on how such networks might be built" in order to accelerate the deployment of ultra-high-speed networks to university communities around the country.

The next step is to hold workshops on ways to move forward based on business models and technical plans submitted as part of the RFI process, and hopefully to move forward with formal request-for-proposals to support test-bed networks.

Gig. U home page

Vendors Intrigued by Gigabit Network Project (Light Reading, Dec. 9, 2011)