NC State Joins Broadband Effort

NC State is partnering with a nationwide consortium of universities, including Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill, to improve broadband access for industries and communities in the Triangle. Called Gig.U, the project hopes to build upon high-speed infrastructure that already exists at universities.

“Our tactical plan is simple,” said Blair Levin, director of the effort. “Aggregate sufficient demand and then, through an intelligent conversation with current and potential suppliers, as well as a market-based mechanism, create incentives for private capital to deploy next-generation networks in a critical mass of university communities.”

The group foresees the following benefits:

• An improved platform for research
• An improved platform for small business development
• New ways to distribute the benefits of the information revolution to all parts of the country
• New approaches to health care, education, job training and other critical social needs

Levin, former executive director of the FCC National Broadband Plan, now works at the Aspen Institute where Gig.U will be based.