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Modern Networks, Innovation and Cities – Jeff Christensen, EntryPoint – TEDx Riverton, Mar 22nd

We can't separate the story of infrastructure to the story of economic development. Communication is the economy....’

The Internet Disruption Every City Needs – Jeff Christensen, EntryPoint – TEDx SLC, Sept 9th 

The traditional broadband model is broken because consumers are powerless.  This needs to change...

Skinny Wire Magazine Article Highlighting Our Technology

EntryPoint's technology platform highlighted in lead article in Teleco trade magazine Skinny Wire. September 2016. 

American Prospect Publishes Municipal Broadband Article

American Prospect article discussing EntryPoint's unique approach to broadband networks. 

Houses with Tails: Another Way to Disintegrate

"Back in 2009, Derek Slater and Tim Wu published an article with an interesting thesis... Homeowners would buy their fiber drop from the municipality or their service provider, either with a lump sum up front, or a monthly fee tacked onto their bill." - an article by Robert Wack. 

Vertical Disintegration: The Future of Telecom?

"Telecom industry... will transition from a vertically integrated industry dominated by local monopolies to a vertically disintegrated one" - an article by Robert Wack. 

Bye-Bye Broken Market

Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) published an article detailing some of the advantages of Ammon's new fiber network.  Quote: "I’ve lived in a lot of places — Maryland, Hawaii, Germany — and this is by far the best, fastest and most reliable internet I’ve had,” ... This is the future.” 

How did Ammon get a $10 ISP and Achieve 70% Take-Rates that Continue to Rise?

EntryPoint just released the white paper:  The Value of Choice and Ammon's $10.00 ISP.  From the paper: "Since going live 10 months ago, ISP prices in Ammon have fallen from $44.95 to $9.99 (per month) for a 100 X 100 Mbps ISP connection." 

National Science Foundation Report – Speaking EntryPoint’s Language

A Report by the National Science Foundation outlines the future of Broadband Networks.  This is report provides relevant guidance for future-proofing a broadband network. 

Active Shooter Application Demo – Powerful Public Safety Tech

The City of Ammon, ID demonstrates their award-winning School Emergency Screencase Application... very powerful public safety technologies. 

Ammon’s Model – Next Century Cities and ILSR

Must view video released by ILSR and Next Century Cities describing "Ammon's Model" a revolutionary new approach to Municipal Fiber (powered by EntryPoint's FlowOps).  Municipalities which are in the process of deploying broadband networks will benefit from watching this mini documentary. 

10 Reasons Why Broadband Should be a Municipal Utility

A White Paper outlining why municipalities should play a central role in deployment of the next generation broadband networks. 

Open Access in Today’s Cloud World, Redefining the Meaning of Open Access

Traditional open access networks lack sufficient automation and software control to enable a dynamic marketplace and true competition.  This White Paper outlines a powerful new definition and approach for Open Access... Automated Dynamic Open Access. 

Why Municipal Networks Should Be Disruptive – Broadband Communities Magazine, Oct 2017

The traditional telecom model is not working.  For a locality (city/county) to succeed with a municipal broadband alternative, it can’t just duplicate the incumbent model. 

Harvard University – Research Report on Municipal Broadband

Harvard University - Research Report on Municipal Broadband
After 12 months of research, Harvard University released a Case Study on creating competition for services in a municipal fiber network.  Report Conclusion: By providing virtualized fiber network access as a public utility, Ammon has created a platform that allows an extraordinary level of competition, innovation, and experimentation. And Ammon’s model provides very little, if any, financial risk to the city. 

“The Cost of Connectivity in Ammon, Idaho” – New American-Open Technology Institute, Jan 2020

One of the most affordable broadband markets in the country.  Across the city, customers are logging into high-speed gigabit connections with advertised prices as low as $9.99/month.

Ammon Named “The City With the Best Fiber-Optic Network in America” – Fast Company, Oct 2019

Community broadband creates competition and better service and choice—along with giving local residents ownership.

NEXT GENERATION NETWORKS

In the next 10 – 15 years, the technologies that are in their infancy now will move from science projects to mainstream society. These are things like self-driving cars, the blockchain, a grid that is dominated by renewable energy, education and healthcare automation and virtualization, and virtual reality technologies. The construct that is “the internet” is going to look very different in 10 years than it looks today. Many of the large technology companies (Tesla, Apple, Facebook, and Google) are focused on a different set of fundamental technologies than we have today. An important question every municipality should be asking is what kind of network will be needed to support these emerging technologies and how can the community anticipate these emerging technologies?

The technologies and models used in municipal networks today have seen very modest changes in the past 20 years. Most networks built today still follow the model established decades ago of shared infrastructure (neighbors share a network connection), asymmetrical (much slower upload than download speed), using very little network automation and virtualization, suffering from vendor lock-in, and are hardware defined rather than software defined. These networks are organized for profitability rather than utility and the lack of a competitive threat has allowed incumbents to preserve the status quo.

Further, in legacy hardware-defined networks, the network is siloed, and you must build a new physical silo for every problem you want to solve. With a Software Defined Network, problems get solved in software at a much lower cost and much faster speed.

A key economic development value differentiator for networks going forward will be resilience to future technology. Networks that are software defined, open to any service or innovation, organized as utility infrastructure, and designed with a data center architecture will likely offer distinct economic development advantages over static networks missing these attributes.

A municipally (publicly) owned fiber network provides the resilience, flexibility, and cost savings needed to attract and foster businesses dependent on advanced digital infrastructure. This also allows municipal leader to put in place long term solutions to lower costs and connect all residents and businesses. The key enabler to connect everyone is for municipalities to own and control its digital infrastructure. Setting policies and utilizing powerful technological tools gives community leader the ability to drive desired outcomes.

Municipal utilities exist to provide services that are critical for societal success. Like water, sewer, and electricity, internet access is crucial in today’s modern economy. Providing digital access as a public utility will result in the maximum level of service at the lowest possible price. The need for a utility-based approach stems from the fact that ISP-controlled internet access has led to gaps in affordability, availability, and quality of service at the lowest possible price. The need for a utility-based approach stems from the fact that ISP-controlled internet access has led to gaps in affordability, availability, and quality.

MODELS THAT WILL NOT SOLVE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

  1. Rent Seeking
    • Monopoly / Duopoly Control
    • Cartel Pricing
    • Treated as an Amenity
    • Unreliable Legacy Infrastructure
    • Vertically Integrated Systems and Services

    MODELS THAT CAN SOLVE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

    1. Seeks Highest Value at Lowest Cost
    2. True Competition Among Service Providers
    3. Competitive Market Pricing
    4. Treated as am Essential Service
    5. Dedicated Fiber Optic Connections (not shared)
    6. Infrastructure and Services are Separated
    7. Infrastructure Managed as a Utility