UMC and HTC Work Together on High Speed Wireless Internet Service
The University of Minnesota, Crookston (UMC) and Halstad Telephone Company (HTC) will work together on an initiative to bring wireless broadband Internet service to businesses, industry, and residents of Crookston and the surrounding rural area. The target date for offering the new service, providing speeds of up to two megabits per second and higher, is June-July, 2001.
UMC will serve as a terminal point where HTC’s fiber optic cable will connect with one of the serving antennas, which will be located on the campus along with some of the supporting electronics. The remainder of the electronics will be housed in the Halstad Telephone Company office in Halstad, Minnesota. Both locations will be served by a redundant fiber optic cable route. Another antenna will be located within the city limits of Crookston. The service will be provided and maintained by HTC.
|
|
The high speed service is being developed, in part, with money from a $32,000 grant from the Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic Development’s Technology Catalyst Grant Program. The grant money, secured by Kay Hegge, an economic development planner with the Northwest Regional Development Commission, will help bring high speed connectivity to the rural areas around Crookston as far north as Euclid, Minn. Such rural areas have traditionally been underserved by these technologies.
UMC Chancellor Don Sargeant views the collaboration as a true win-win situation. Students and faculty at UMC will benefit from wireless broadband Internet service, which will provide additional Internet connectivity options. “It will allow our students to take part in the next step in mobile computing by connecting to the Internet anywhere on campus or in the community,” said Sargeant. “We already have all of our classrooms and residences halls wired to the Internet via traditional Ethernet connecting cables, but this wireless service will certainly allow room for more creative and flexible mobile computing options. We’re exited to see how we might incorporate this computer mobility into our equine management, precision agriculture, and natural resources courses, among other things.” Sargeant also expects that the move toward wireless connectivity will reduce telecommunication and related building remodeling costs.
Ron Laqua, General Manager of HTC, has been especially pleased about the collaborative effort. He said, “I want to thank all the people collaborating on this initiative for their continuing help to make this service possible. I feel that Halstad Telephone Company has been fortunate over the years to have established some very fine professional and personal services in this community.” Laqua added, “We are especially excited about the ability to serve the rural areas around Crookston. Too often the small towns and farms are neglected from receiving these advanced services.”
For more information about the wireless broadband service, contact Halstad Telephone Company at 800-457-2125 or visit www.halstadtel.com. For more information about the Northwest Regional Development Commission, visit www.nwrdc.org. For more information about UMC’s educational and technology programs, visit www.umcrookston.edu.
Posted 05/14/2001
Contact: Andrew Svec,
218-281-8435