Governmental Relations

Chair – Greg Fagan  greg@sfcei.com

Mission: Create a technology “last-mile” strategy for South Florida communities.

Help communities on the InternetCoast meet the challenges associated with broadband connectivity data delivery. Assisting users to access wireless Internet systems by delivering high-speed communications to areas underserved by other methods including, dial-up and wired broadband.

The committee is also working on the InternetCoast Lambda Rail Multi-Gigabit Intranet (ICLR). This would include the development of a cohesive and seamless high speed advanced series network that would allow data exchange. Within the past year, consortia efforts at the state, regional, and national levels have created new opportunities to build high performance and cost effective data networks to serve the education, research, health care, and library communities. A number of Florida universities have committed financial support to position our state to play a lead role in these consortia and to be among the early beneficiaries of next-generation, fiber-optic based research and education networks. Participating institutions will include Broward Community College, Florida Atlantic University, Palm Beach Community College, Barry University, University of Miami, Miami Dade Community College, Florida International University and Nova Southeastern University.

The proposed ICLR also would enable the faculty of the South Florida’s Universities to form a productive link with the business community. Their collaborative effort would create a research consortium to attract and retain existing businesses in South Florida. Such a symbiotic partnership would prove beneficial to the regional economy and universities. This partnership would offer a level of collaboration among faculty, universities, and entrepreneurs. For the first time, researchers and entrepreneurs will become a learning community that would merge the special talents of the university community and the business community.