KC's Digital Diet Will Soon be High in Fiber

Google's decision to introduce ultra-high-speed Internet service in the Kansas City market has the potential to transform the regional economy.

Kansas City has long been a cradle of entrepreneurship and innovation. Now it’s poised to take that reputation to a whole new level.

In early 2011, officials with Google announced that Kansas City, Kan., had been selected from more than 1,100 other communities across the nation for development of the first Google Fiber network, bringing ultra-high-speed Internet service to Wyandotte County. Days later, Google announced that it would be a bi-state effort, as well, with fiber throughout Kansas City, Mo.

The advent of that service, expected to start in mid-2012, will have far-reaching ramifications for life—and business—in Kansas City.

“Broadband completely transformed our experience of the Web—the kinds of applications that are possible, how we entertain ourselves, learn and work,” says John Lundgren, director of innovation strategies for digital marketing giant VML. “Ultra-high speed will transform the Web once again—and while doing so disrupt some key industries, such as broadcast and cable television. Remember what it was like when the shift from dial-up to broadband occurred? We are talking about a similar shift from broadband to ultra-high-speed.”

VML, he said, is directly dialed in to the digital economy, and “from our perspective, lagging progress in this area holds U.S. businesses and innovation at bay,” he said: With virtually everything project a digital one, there is an obvious relationship between capacity, speed and success.

The Google project signals opportunities for other companies similarly reliant on large-file data transfers, such as video production companies and data storage centers. It promises to deliver Internet speeds of 1 gigabit per second—as much as 100 times faster than traditional broadband service.

“It’s kind of hard to overstate how big this announcement is to our city,” said Kansas City’s mayor, Sly James. “We’re not changing the game, we’re creating a new one.”

Gary Hall, CEO of the data storage specialist Arsalon Technologies, expressed absolute confidence that the project would be a magnet for area companies.

“The availability of abundant and cost-effective fiber connectivity provides strong incentives for many companies who are data intensive such as financial, medical and legal organizations” to consider establishing operations in the metro area, Hall said.

Those benefits will extend to far more than new companies. “Increased Internet connectivity will provide a core fabric of technology that will allow all business, governments, school districts and other organizations to be much more efficient in their day to day processes. They will be able to leverage the power of the Internet to provide their customers, citizens and students with products and services they weren’t able to previously.”

Carl Schramm, CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, saw similar potential, saying that the “technology promises limitless possibilities for the innovators who now have the opportunity to pioneer a whole new future for not just our area, but the world. Google’s high-speed network will greatly enhance the incubation of innovative entrepreneurial ideas and applications that will transform lives.”

Maybe even in ways yet unanticipated, economic-development professionals say.

“With Google coming in, I think that we will see so many new companies and innovations that we can’t yet imagine,” said Ann Smith-Tate, economic development director for the city of Independence.

Arsalon’s Hall said other communities would benefit as well, even if they’re not part of the first phase with the two Kansas Cities. Google Fiber, he said, “has the potential to provide our community with Internet connectivity that is far beyond what is normally available which will create opportunities for the entire area to see tremendous growth.”

But Google, said James, could be the means to another end, something “we can use as talking points in order to lay the foundation for a regional conversation. How do we work together to maximize the return on this investment? That’s something that I think has real value.”