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WEST VALLEY CITY -- Hey, Google! A number of Utah mayors want to know if you really meant it when you said you wanted to create the Internet of the future.
Mayors from the 16 cities that are part of the UTOPIA (the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency) fiber optic network in Utah met Wednesday in West Valley City to send that message to Google.
The web giant said last week it wants to partner with cities across the country to experiment with a high-speed network, saying government needs to step up and provide high-speed connectivity with open access, fiber-to-the-premise service.
UTOPIA does that on a smaller scale now in cities like Midvale, Orem and West Valley.
Midvale Mayor JoAnn Seghini compared the development of fiber optics now to the very beginnings of the interstate system.
"When I was in the fourth grade, there was a ‘Weekly Reader' article that said the first cloverleaf in the interstate system would be in Midvale, Utah. That was a big deal when we saw the interstate, and we've seen it grow and change and become a part of our lives without which we are incapable of moving from one place to another," Seghini says. "Being part of UTOPIA is like being part of the interstate system. It's allowing us to give people a window to the world and allow them to compete, because they can transform information. All we're doing is providing the road."
The UTOPIA cities are hoping their gathering Wednesday gets Google's attention and gets them in on the ground floor of the experiment.
CEO of UTOPIA Todd Marriott said you can't even imagine what the Internet of the future looks like. He talked about being able to diagnose and begin treating a child's ear infection without leaving your home, or even being able to smell a pear to test its ripeness online.
Google will be accepting applications online from cities to become part of its proposal through March 26, 2010. UTOPIA has set up a Facebook page to bolster its chances and is asking people to tell Google to pick UTOPIA for its test location.
E-mail: bbruce@ksl.com
