PROJECT THOR Impact on the Region Nate Walowitz Regional Broadband Coordinator

Regional Broadband Drivers Economic Development Attracting and keeping businesses in Northwest Colorado Access to regional, national, and international economy and market Maintaining population base and young families by supporting their career and lifestyle choices Benefit for tourists and part time residents to drive business and tax revenues Increase property values Support education Increasing broadband speeds and capacity are needed

Why Project THOR? Network Availability Due to current provider network architecture A single fiber cut from Denver through the region causes the entire region to fail Fiber cuts are common and outages range from hours to multiple days Outages affect Government and Public Safety Schools Financial institutions and Businesses Internet providers and Cell phone providers Network connection and bandwidth costs

PROJECT THOR Objectives Access to reasonably priced resilient broadband network infrastructure Geographically diverse network Reliability of 99.9 % availability Reduced costs for access to multiple redundant connections to Denver and Salt Lake City Aggregation of bandwidth to reduce costs overall

Existing Connections

Network Development Approach Evaluate multiple paths to ensure reliability Assess and Aggregate Demand Demand (current and projected) for the proposed service area is critical for the business case Communities should quantify needs for prospective Middle Mile providers Compile location, number of anchor tenants such as local government, schools, and healthcare providers, and aggregated demand estimates

Network Elements Meet Me Centers Middle Mile Lit Fiber, Dark Fiber, IRUs Existing local networks Middle Mile Provider Contracts Local ISP Contracts for services

NWCCOG PROJECT THOR

Project THOR Management NWCCOG Regional Broadband Committee Network Operator Network Administrator Anchor Institutions and Last Mile ISPs

Financials Business Case Funding Non Recurring Expenses Limited deployment to match local government monthly recurring expenses (MRE) Basic network architecture still needs to be maintained to support resiliency Seed funding to support initial small user base MRE Funding Non Recurring Expenses Initial Funding (Seed Capital) Potential use NWCCOG Foundation DOLA, Federal, other State support

Considerations Some segments are already in place, local efforts already underway – how do we integrate? Rio Blanco County NCB Pitkin County How are Anchor Institutions charged for access? Some Anchors have multiple locations

Final Analysis and Moving Forward Evaluate RFP responses What will constitute a viable business plan? Payback on initial investment? Reduced costs to anchors? Perceived public benefit? What funding can be used to help make the business case? FCC Rural Healthcare funds E-Rate program for Schools and Libraries DOLA Grants Broadband Deployment Board Grants Self funded

Potential Regional Impacts Leverage both commercial and government value for Project THOR network architecture Provide additional redundancy with access to additional Internet POPs Provide additional synergies across multi site organizations and districts Potential Partners include: Region 10 SWCCOG CDOT State of Colorado

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