TechHui

Hawaiʻi's Technology Community

Why Hawaii is an Ideal Choice for Google's Gigabit Network

Hawaii, home to nearly 1.3 million people, is the most isolated island chain on earth. Our state's unique geographic isolation presents special challenges in keeping our families, communities and businesses connected across our islands and to the outside world. The speed and quality of our connection to the net directly impacts our ability to communicate, educate, learn and conduct business. Despite the fact we are arguably the most dependent on connectivity, we rank 48th in the union in terms of average connection speed. A gigabit network in Hawaii would enable applications of particular importance to our state including telemedicine, distance learning (see
http://hvln.k12.hi.us) and early warning / disaster management systems for tsunamis and hurricanes. We are the also the site of many “big science” projects for the US including the country’s largest telescope projects. These instruments generate terabytes of data daily that could be utilized by research institutions around the world.


1. Hawaii is the most isolated and import-dependent state in the union. As such, it's imperative that its economic drivers shift from tourism and the military to the sale and export of locally-produced goods, content and intellectual capital. High-speed networking can help achieve this vision of sustainability per our state mandate (i.e. Lingle's Innovation Initiative.)


2. Hawaii represents a huge telemedicine testbed opportunity. Hawaii is the first state to offer online physician visits statewide. HMSA members (54% of the population) have access to online visits from their doctors. Kaiser was the first in the nation to operate mobile mammogram service in remote areas. Mammograms are transmitted in real time to physicians who can make a determination on the spot for follow up care. Availability of a high speed connection will allow Kaiser and HMSA to continue their innovation in this and other areas of telemedicine. HD video streaming is required for effective remote diagnostic and tele-surgery applications. This is obviously of particular importance to us given the fact our population is spread across the most remote island chain on earth.


3. Hawaii's speeds are among the worst in the nation. According to 2009 CWA report on Internet speeds and
http://www.speedmatters.org, Hawaii ranks 48th of all states in terms of average download speed.


4. Hawaii's geography has always been a driver for cutting-edge high-speed networking. It's why the influential ALOHAnet, the predecessor to Ethernet, was invented in our state. There are thousands of families and communities scattered across the Hawaiian islands. Fiber would provide incredible opportunities for them to stay connected and participate in shared cultural events and educational opportunities. Workers providing net-based customer support from home can provide services spanning Japan to New York within regular local work hours.


We were also leaders in spreading the internet to Asia. The University of Hawaii implemented the first IP connections to Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand working with academic colleagues in those countries.

5. Hawaii is one of the most culturally diverse states with Asians, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders comprising over half of the population. Over 22% of its citizens speak a language other than English at home, which presents an opportunity for real-time translation services and high-bandwidth experiences (such as streaming video with multiple language tracks) that enable cross-cultural communication and community building.


6. Google has offices in 17 states, but has no Hawaii presence. Why not? As mentioned above, Hawaii could be a great testbed for Google Health (
http://health.google.com). Our state is the perfect place for software engineers to escape the colder weather of mainland winters, and it's certainly one of the most inspiring places on earth.


The only drawback to our proposal is that Google's infrastructure team will be forced to visit Hawaii frequently and endure our white sand beaches, pristine rainforests, breaching whales, awe-inspiring volcanoes and the prevalent spirit of aloha. :-)

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Comment by Daniel Leuck on March 3, 2010 at 3:22pm
Hi Ken - Thank you. We really appreciate Scott's assistance with the PR work. We are actually planning to move the petition directly onto TechHui's front page as a lot of people seem to be having trouble with PetitionSpot and our numbers aren't where they should be. We'll update everyone on this shortly and do a second PR push.
Comment by Ken Berkun on March 3, 2010 at 12:19pm
Hey I saw the petition got a mention in the paper today, great work!
Ken
Comment by Daniel Leuck on March 2, 2010 at 10:55pm
@Ken LOL. I'm not sure how we can one up that one :-)
Comment by Ken Berkun on March 2, 2010 at 6:59pm
But wait there's more...
Topeka to change its name to "Google"!
http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/archives/196305.asp

I think Honolulu is a natural to be renamed: Google Wave.
Comment by Mika Leuck on February 28, 2010 at 10:16am
LOL! I definitely plan to blame Dan.
Comment by Daniel Leuck on February 28, 2010 at 9:33am
More like someone who got snookered into being the coordinator :-) Kevin, Jay, Evan, Olin, Scott and others are also doing plenty of work. I'm happy to help because I think its a really important initiative. Maybe on Monday I can talk Keiki-Pua into being the boss :-)
Comment by Ken Berkun on February 28, 2010 at 9:23am
Thanks Dan. Sounds like you're the boss!
Comment by Daniel Leuck on February 28, 2010 at 9:18am
> 1. is anyone from the city involved?
We haven't talked to anyone at the city level, but we plan to.

> 2. is anyone from the state involved?
Yes. We were contacted by Corrie Heck, the Governor's Chief Communications Officer, and have opened a dialog.

> 3. There is some kind of official RFP, right? Someone filled that out? Has more than one person/entity done so?
Yes. We (TechHui) responded to the RFI as have several communities and individuals. The Governors office said they have also responded directly. Google said they are interested in hearing from both government leaders and communities. The Gigabit HI page provides a link to Google's RFI.

> 4. There is a petition, but perhaps it needs wider distribution (thinktech/bytemarks/?)
There has been wider distribution. The PR firm Scott Foster and Associates put out a press release. You can see the contents on the updated Gigabit HI page. On Friday we received several phone calls from companies and unions asking how they can help. I'm responding as fast as I can. Of course, we can always use help spreading the word.

> 5. Who else is involved?
TechHui, Kevin Hughes (Sprout), Kanu Hawaii, ThinkTech, Evan Tector and Scott Foster on the PR side. I sent a note to Burt at Bytemarks last week. We just started a dialog with Scott from HOSEF and I plan on calling Keiki-Pua at HSTC and the Chamber of Commerce on Monday.

> 6. Is there a single point of contact? (Keiki Pau?)
Media contacts are listed on the Gigabit HI page. I'll be chatting with Keiki-Pua on Monday so we can get HSTC on board. I'm sure she will be the primary contact for them.
Comment by Ken Berkun on February 28, 2010 at 8:56am
Can someone please recap:

1. is anyone from the city involved?
2. is anyone from the state involved?
3. there is some kind of official RFP, right? Someone filled that out? Has more than one person/entity done so?
4. There is a petition, but perhaps it needs wider distribution (thinktech/bytemarks/?)
5. Who else is involved?
6. Is there a single point of contact? (Keiki Pau?)
Comment by Mika Leuck on February 28, 2010 at 8:52am
You are right Ken. We see a lot of cities and states doing campaigns. If Hawaii is going to win this, we really need to step up our efforts.

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