Kansas City, Kansas is on the Fast Track!

According to the Kansas City Star, Google executives have named Kansas City, Kansas the first site for its ultra-fast broadband network. Beginning in the first quarter next year, it will bring homes and offices gigabit-speed data - about 100 times faster than the broadband connections most Americans have now.

And Kansas City, Kan. will be the only player, for now. More than 1,000 cities across the United States campaigned to be Google's first site. Google announced last October that it was providing high-speed broadband to about 850 homes associated with Stanford University as a beta test site, but KCK will be the initial test city for this deployment.

Google will use existing utility poles and underground conduit to deploy fiber for the system; this reuse lets the company save money and time. Google will begin installing the fiber later this year, after all approvals are in place.
Schools and other public locations will be able to use the service for free. Kansas City, Kan., Public Schools Superintendent Cynthia Lane said the difference will be immediate, especially at the district's high schools, where every student is issued a school laptop.

Chamber officials are already prepared to use the system as a tool to attract and retain businesses. Google said it will work closely with local organizations, including the Kauffman Foundation and the University of Kansas Medical Center. Google officials said they would also let third parties offer their own services on the network.

It's hard to know what this speed boost will mean, but like the change from dial-up to broadband brought us streaming video, this new technology promises some game-changing uses. Although the local KCK network will be ultra-fast, connection to the outside world will not speed up much. So, the "killer apps" will have to be localized in nature, at first. Businesses will probably benefit much more than individuals. But, at least for now and the near future, Kansas City, Kansas has a special place on Google Maps!

REFERENCES:

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/03/30/2763299/google-picks-kck.html

http://www.google.com/fiber/kansascityks/index.html