Industry News

It all began with the sounds of a dial-up modem screeching as it connected to the Internet. Then these connections graduated to a vast cable infrastructure. But what’s the next big technology for connecting an increasingly data-hungry world to the Internet?  Read more in the Washington Post.

In his State of the Stated Address on February 1, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn unveiled an initiative to bring more superfast connectivity to his state.  "Today, I’m also announcing a $6 million dollar statewide competition to build ultra-high speed broadband in neighborhoods across Illinois.  Through this challenge, we want our neighborhoods to become Gigabit communities with Internet connections more than 100 times faster than today!

(From The Wall Street Journal)  Many Internet service providers have laid claim to the title of "fastest" broadband speeds over the years. But who's right?  By most standards, it's hard to argue with Verizon Communications Inc. Its FiOS service offers faster Internet service than other major providers—up to 150 megabits per second, compared with the highest advertised from a cable operator of 105 Mbps offered by Comcast Corp.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel is often referred to as "Startup Nation," thanks to its long history of high-tech breakthroughs produced by scrappy little companies. But in one critical area, the speed of Internet connections, Israel has fallen behind other tech-savvy countries. In the coming months, Israel's state-owned electric company hopes to change this by rolling out a nationwide, high-speed broadband network. Exploiting the small size of the densely populated country, the effort aims to put Israel at the forefront of the next generation of Internet technology.

“Back in my day, you called the phone company, we hooked it up, gave you a phone book and left,” said Paul Holloway, an area manager based in Denton, Tex., and a 30-year employee of Verizon, which offers phone, Internet, television and home monitoring services through its FiOS fiber optic network. “These days people are connecting iPhones, Xboxes and 17 other devices in the home.”  Read the story in the New York Times.

You can pay $40 a month for 1.5Mbps “high-speed” internet from a provider like Comcast or, if you’re lucky, you can be part of Sonic.net’s 700-home roll-out of fiber lines that pump internet into your home 600 times that fast for less than twice the cost.  Read more in Forbes Magazine....

ST. LOUIS, MO, Nov. 14, 2011—Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced funding for telephone utilities to build, expand and improve broadband in their rural service territories across 15 states. The announcement was made on the Secretary's behalf by USDA Rural Utilities Service Deputy Administrator Jessica Zufolo during an address at the annual meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners in St. Louis, MO.

CORNING, N.Y., Oct 11, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Corning Incorporated GLW +0.90%  and Lightwave recognize Shane Trotman of Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative (FTC) as the winner of the Eighth Annual FTTXcellence Award. The award was presented at the 2011 FTTH Conference & Expo's closing session and luncheon in Orlando.  Read more....