Kalamazoo Pushes for Involvement in Google Fiber Testing

By Jonathan Kleyer

The City of Kalamazoo, is positioning itself to join an exciting new development introduced by Google, to improve internet speed.

Google announced its plans to launch an experimental network that will significantly affect internet speed for users. Google created Google Fiber, an ultra-high speed broadband network, which utilizes 1 gigabit per second, equivalent to 100-200 times faster than current internet speeds. For example, a typical full-length, high definition feature film would take approximately 2 hours and 11 minutes to stream on a typical cable modem internet connection. With Google Fiber, the same file could be streamed in less than 2 minutes.

The Google Fiber Project will be tested in municipalities throughout the country. The City of Kalamazoo has applied to be one of the charter municipalities selected to utilize this innovative technology. “This is an exciting time for Kalamazoo,” says Mayor Bobby Hopewell. “Google has provided our City with an opportunity that can move us further into the new age of technology and we are poised and ready to accept the challenge.”

With the project, Google would set the city up with this new network, providing the service to the city government for free—and to residents for a price that Google said will be comparable to other existing internet providers.
City staff is expected to complete and submit the application to Google by March 24, 2010. The application is 26 pages long, and asks for information about things such as the city’s population, income and public utilities.

According to Kalamazoo’s Information Technology Operations Manager Michael Cross, Google is looking for cities with populations of 50,000 to 500,000 to test the network work.
Residents can also nominate their City for this project by completing a nomination form online at http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options.

To stay updated with information about the progress of the Kalamazoo-Google Fiber Project, go online to the City’s website at www.kalamazoocity.org or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group .php?gid=300788754723.

For more information, contact kzoogooglefiber@kalamazoocity.org.