Missoula to angle for Google high-speed network Play Video
Posted: Mar 8, 2010 12:36 AM
Updated: Mar 9, 2010 7:13 AM
MISSOULA - Missoula leaders are going to see about making a pitch to land a community fiber optic network project sponsored by Google.
The Internet search and advertising-based company has been expanding into a variety of ventures the past couple of years, and recently announced it would start shopping for a community to host ultra high speed connections. The Google Fiber for Communities project was launched early last month with a goal of finding a city "of at least 50,000" people and potentially up to half-a-million to test such a network. That's prompted dozens of cities across the country to start applying for the project, including Bozeman, which formally entered the race last week.
Now, Missoula Mayor John Engen tells Montana's News Station he wants the Garden City to also enter the competition. Engen tols us over the weekend he'll broach the idea at a staff meeting on Tuesday. It's expected that plan would include a complete sales pitch promoting the area's diverse economy, including the University of Montana and local tech firms.
The proposed Google network is definitely fast, even by fiber optic standards. While cable modem and DSL customers in Missoula routinely see their connections topping out at no more than 6 to 8 megabits per second, the Google fiber would operate at a blazing 1 gigabit per second, which would be hundreds of times faster.
You can read more about the Google project here.
