Google announced today that Kansas City will be the first city to get its super duper 1Gbps Internet service. Crazy people like me who spend their days involved in online marketing and helping clients grow their Internet presence are doing backflips, we’re so excited.
Google will be working with a number of local organizations including KCNext, the University of Kansas Medical Center and the Kauffman Foundation, among others, to build community relationships and deliver high speed Internet speeds that’ll hopefully make our heads spin.
As reported by Forbes, Google’s announcement states:
We’re planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States. We’ll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.
Although the service awaits approval from Kansas City’s Board of Commissioners, it’s unlikely given the excitement of the community and its leaders that there will be any roadblocks there, and rollout is expected to begin sometime in 2012.
Bo Fishback, VP of Entrepreneurship for the Kauffman Foundation said it nicely, when he remarked: “It’s going to be probably the most buzzed event in the history of Kansas City on the day it’s announced. That’s awesome. That’s pretty amazing.” Yes, Bo. Yes, it is.
Google’s goal is a simple one: Delivering great connectivity to ordinary people. And driving the economy around it. And, according to Google CFO, Patrick Pichette, making things “not sucky.”
As a long-time Kansas City resident, hearing Kevin Lo, GM, Google Access, say that the Google team responsible for selecting a city to launch this Internet service were blown away by the leadership of our city, Mayor Joe Reardon, the City staff, the utility and others involved in the process — well, it makes me pretty proud to say I live here.
As Pichette mentioned, connectivity that doesn’t suck is a huge step forward. For our community, for local business, for teachers and students, for entrepreneurs, for our Economic Development Council — really, for pretty much everyone.
Here’s the announcement from Google:
Sergey Brin, Google’s Co-President and Founder wraps up it nicely when he says, “It is a privilege to deploy his high speed network together with the people of Kansas City.”
Trust me, Sergey, it is our privilege, too.
Nerd on!
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”