February 3, 2006
For Immediate Release
Oregon Coast Community College Goes High Tech due to CoastNet Fiber Partnership
From The Lincoln County Development Alliance
Oregon Coast Community College held an electronic ribbon-cutting using the college’s new videoconference linkage between its campuses in Lincoln City and Newport.
Lincoln County Commissioner Terry Thompson (third from right) wields the scissors inaugurating OCCC's new videoconferencing system at the Newport campus, while folks at OCCC's Lincoln City do the same. Aiding the ribbon cutting are: Dr. Pat O'Connor, president of OCCC; Central Lincoln PUD general manager Paul Davies; Greg Palser and Doug Updenkelder, co-owners of CoastCom; Central Lincoln PUD board members Curt Abbott and Ron Benfield; and Economic Development Alliance board members Dale Schmidt, president/CEO of the Oregon Coast Aquarium, and David Green, vice president and coast district manager of West Coast Bank.
On video screen in photo:
In Lincoln City, Economic Development Alliance of Lincoln County board member emeritus Dr. Ed Parker also cuts a ceremonial ribbon via videoconference, aided by Alliance board member CPA/financial planner Bryan Fitzsimmons (left) and Alliance executive director Chris Chandler DiTorrice at the Taft campus of OCCC.
"This is an exciting opportunity for distance education delivery in Lincoln County," said the college’s president, Dr. Patrick O’Connor. "We know our students won't miss the 40 minute drive between these campuses, and we are looking forward to the classes, conferences, and workshops we’ll be able to offer--thanks to this new connectivity."
Videoconferencing without enough bandwidth can mean frozen video images, and poor sound quality, making such systems difficult to use. New equipment secured by a successful Rural Utility Services federal grant effort co-directed by volunteers Dr. Ed Parker and his wife, Fran Spigai, and sponsored by Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital, coupled with CoastNet capacity means that Oregon Coast Community College has a truly viable videoconference system, allowing instructors to teach students in both locations simultaneously.
What is CoastNet? Twelve years ago, the Central Lincoln PUD invested in a fiber optic network to manage its electricity operations. That network offered enough capacity that Central Lincoln could share some of it for public benefit and economic development purposes, and CoastNet, a coalition of nearly 40 government and nonprofit entities, was created. Lincoln County signed an intergovernmental agreement with the Central Lincoln PUD to lease PUD fiber, with the Economic Development Alliance of Lincoln County contracted to secure vendors for it.
Today, partnerships between utilities and governments to provide telecommunications services are common. A decade ago, however, they were not. Conventional telecommunications companies challenged CoastNet in court. As the case wound its way through the legal system, one such company, Qwest Communications, not only dropped its objections to the network, Qwest became CoastNet's first and largest customer. Verizon Communications, however, took the matter to the Oregon Supreme Court, where Lincoln County Assistant Counsel Rob Bovett prevailed, defeating Verizon.
But CoastNet still faced difficulties. The "dot-com" industry collapse reduced demand for broadband services, and the slowdown of the U.S. economy further impacted companies hoping to provide services to businesses and others on CoastNet. A year ago however, CoastCom, a Newport company affiliated with Action Networks, an internet service provider, signed a contract to utilize CoastNet fiber, serving education, health care, business customers and others.
"More and more businesses, nonprofits, and government entities have learned they must have reliable and affordable high-speed connections," said CoastCom co-owner Greg Palser. "Demand has grown sharply, allowing us to make investment in localized infrastructure linking our customers to CoastNet fiber, offering such services as dedicated network connections between coastal entities and other areas in Oregon and ultra high speed Internet access. We are committed to providing these services to the communities in Lincoln County and as well as the coastal communities in Tillamook and Lane Counties."
Recently, the Central Lincoln PUD board of directors determined that it supported the utility’s continuing its partnership with CoastNet for the next ten years due to economic benefits to the PUD's service area offered by the use of the PUD’s excess "dark fiber" – the backbone of CoastNet.
"We are very pleased by the Central Lincoln PUD’s ongoing involvement, and that CoastCom is aggressively marketing CoastNet’s capabilities, serving the needs of the public and private sectors," commented Dr. Ed Parker, a driving force behind the CoastNet project, and board member emeritus of the Economic Development Alliance of Lincoln County. Parker's book, Electronic Byways: State Policies for Rural Development Through Telecommunications outlines how telecommunications partnerships such as CoastNet can boost economic development in rural communities that would otherwise lack telecommunications infrastructure required to be competitive in today's economy.
"This partnership is the fruition of many years of work, and it is wonderful to see more and more customers utilizing the CoastNet fiber, allowing local companies to be more profitable, and nonprofits and government entities to better serve their constituents."
CoastCom, CoastNet's service provider, can be reached at www.coastcom.net, or at 574-6117.
For more information, see www.lincolnco.info or contact Chris Chandler DiTorrice, Economic Development Alliance at 765-4380.
About CoastCom, Inc.
Based in Newport, Oregon, CoastCom owns and operates several fiber based networks in communities in Tillamook, Lincoln, and Douglas Counties on the Oregon Coast. They are a Distribution Channel Partner for LS Networks and have the ability to connect business, schools and government to the Internet and to LS Network’s state of the art network which has one of the largest footprints in the State. More information can be obtained from CoastCom's website at www.coastcom.net.
