1. PROJECT THOR Impact on the Region
Nate Walowitz
Regional Broadband Coordinator

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. Existing Connections

6. 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

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

8. NWCCOG PROJECT THOR

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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. Conversation