FCC's National Broadband Plan Endorses Unified Community Anchor Network (UCAN)

March 17, 2010--EDUCAUSE commends the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and its chairman, Julius Genachowski, and Blair Levin, executive director of the Omnibus Broadband Initiative, for the ambitious agenda set forth in "Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan", released to the public on March 16.

EDUCAUSE, which works on behalf of its college and university members to advance information technology in higher education, has long advocated a national broadband strategy that would extend high-speed, affordable broadband connectivity nationwide. Among its many benefits, nationwide broadband will enable our members to provide flexible and diverse education to all Americans and to support research across geographic boundaries, thus augmenting our national creativity and international standing. The release of "Connecting America" marks a major milestone in the journey toward that goal. The Omnibus Broadband Initiative gathered evidence and testimony documenting where we are today and where we need to be in the future, and offered commonsense recommendations on how to get from here to there.

The six long-term goals, paraphrased below, lay out a clear vision for this country over the next decade. By 2020, the United States should have:

1. Affordable access to 100 Mbps at 100 million homes
2. The fastest and most extensive wireless networks in the world
3. Citizens with the means and skills to subscribe
4. Service 1 Gbps to all anchor institutions
5. A nationwide, broadband, wireless, interoperable public safety network
6. The ability to use broadband to track and manage our energy consumption

EDUCAUSE supports all of these goals. We underscore the goal of 1 gigabit-per-second connectivity to all anchor institutions. The report endorses the Unified Community Anchor Network (UCAN) that EDUCAUSE, along with the Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition and several others, proposed in comments to the FCC in January. Internet2, NLR, ACUTA, and many other peer organizations also strongly support this creative and economically sound plan to extend high-speed broadband into the hearts of our communities.

UCAN builds on existing research and education networks at the national, regional, state, and local levels. It will coordinate their efforts and help gather the resources needed to interconnect and extend these networks to the over 200,000 anchor institutions in this country. The FCC recognized that anchor institutions play a key role in providing broadband connectivity to communities, yet these same institutions often lack sufficient resources. UCAN, as envisioned, will provide a nationwide high-speed network focused on the unique demands of anchor institutions. "This is immensely good news," said Gregory Jackson, vice president for policy and analysis at EDUCAUSE. "It cements the informal collaborations that already have brought high-speed Internet to many anchor institutions in our country, using their seasoned expertise to extend and improve services to those communities still in need."

On behalf of our members, EDUCAUSE thanks the FCC for taking this bold and difficult first step, and looks forward to helping the nation move forward to achieve all of these important goals.

About EDUCAUSE

EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association and the foremost community of IT leaders and professionals committed to advancing higher education. EDUCAUSE programs and services are focused on analysis, advocacy, community building, professional development, and knowledge creation because IT plays a transformative role in higher education. EDUCAUSE supports those who lead, manage, and use information technology through a comprehensive range of resources and activities. For more information, visit www.educause.edu.

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