Forward Janesville - TheReport - First Quarter 2020

When one thinks about Economic Development and marketing sites as “shovel ready” as we do here in Janesville and throughout Wisconsin, it is easy to identify the obvious elements. Roadways, utilities such as water, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, electricity, and natural gas are all things that come to mind. As our world continues to become more interconnected and dependent upon immediate communication and connection to the internet at faster speeds, the availability of broadband services becomes more critical than ever before. When site selectors provide their extensive questionnaires of site attributes (sometimes more than twenty pages worth), the question of availability of fiber to the internet is always one of those obvious infrastructure-related questions. Companies need to have high-speed internet available for everything, such as basic communications (phones, emails), managing the building’s utilities, uploading operating software for specialized equipment, or allowing a production equipment manufacturer to troubleshoot an issue or manage inventory and distribution of a product in real-time. The list grows every day in many scenarios. When I purchased my first computer connected to the internet in the mid-1990s, I never imagined how much the internet would eventually be ingrained in everything I do or how much the internet over time would change my life. Now apply those thoughts to how businesses have changed with the continued evolution of the internet. First, we had external emails available. Today, we have full data sets for operations in the cloud. Considering the evolution, you begin to see the business impact on a business without access to high-speed internet. This issue is especially difficult for rural areas in Wisconsin because without access to broadband, it would be unlikely for a company to locate in a particular area or make investments in an existing facility. This is why the City of Janesville is applying to the Public Service Commission for a Broadband Expansion Grant to expand the City’s existing fiber network. This grant application is being submitted with the intent to make fiber available to the City industrial parks and market the availability of the fiber as another available utility within those parks. Having high-speed internet ready and available within the industrial parks provide one more competitive advantage over other locations. Over the long-term, we would like to make fiber available beyond the City industrial parks and connect all of the industrial parks within the County to the network after turning over the infrastructure to a community area network that operates as its own system. Having all of the industrial parks in the County interconnected with fiber makes Rock County that much stronger as an economic development entity and further increases the desirability for companies to locate here. When you turn on your computer or your smart television tonight, consider how much life has changed with the internet being available in your home and think about what your business or workplace would be like without it. We encourage the membership to support the City’s long-term goal of expanding broadband availability throughout the City and eventually the County. Gale Price City of Janesville Economic Development Director