Local cities woo Google

<p>The South Bay may be home to Google, but Santa Rosa and Petaluma want to bring the Internet giant to the North Bay.</p><p>Google is offering to build an ultra-fast Internet network for residents in one or more lucky U.S. towns. It plans to run optical fiber — the backbone of the Internet — directly to homes.</p><p>Santa Rosa officials are jumping at the offer, and are asking residents to directly lobby Google on behalf of their hometown.</p><p>“This could bring economic development to the city,” said Eric McHenry, Santa Rosa's chief technology officer. “Whoever is selected for this will have huge advantages over other cities.”</p><p>Google's network could raise property values, attract businesses, create jobs and increase competition among Internet providers, he said. Plus, it wouldn't cost the city a penny, he said.</p><p>On Monday, the city launched a Web site — www.srcity.org/googlefiber — where residents can get more information on the effort and fill out an online form asking Google to consider Santa Rosa.</p><p>Petaluma announced Tuesday its intention to submit its name for consideration too, said Tim Williamson, the city's IT manager.</p><p>Many cities across the United States have stepped forward since Google announced plans on Feb. 10 to build the experimental Internet network.</p><p>It would make the new networks created by AT&T and Comcast look relatively slow. Both companies recently spent tens of millions of dollars in Sonoma County pushing fiber deeper into neighborhoods, but these networks still rely on old technology such as cable and copper phone lines in the final stretch to homes.</p><p>By running fiber directly to residential consumers, Google said it can deliver Internet speeds up to 1 gigabit per second — fast enough to download an entire season of TV shows in about 30 seconds or enjoy a high-definition video chat with far-flung friends. That is 10 times to 100 times faster than the average Internet connection.</p><p>It says it will build the network and “offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.”</p><p>Cities will not be asked to shoulder any of the construction costs. But the Internet giant has made clear it wants to work with a cooperative city, or as Google put it: “We're interested in deploying our network efficiently and quickly, and are hoping to identify interested communities that will work with us.”</p><p>Not all cities might welcome the intrusive construction that will almost certainly accompany Google's endeavour to run new utility lines to people's homes.</p><p>Google wants all submissions by March 26. It will announce the winners this year, but didn't provide a completion target date for the network.</p><p>Santa Rosa city employees have started putting together an official proposal — including plans for a YouTube video with local dignitaries making their case why Santa Rosa is the perfect place for Google's network. The City Council will vote on whether to endorse the proposal on March 9.</p><p>Google considers its proposal to be an experiment, showing people what is possible with faster Internet connections, and spurring Internet providers such as AT&T and Comcast to innovate and offer higher speeds, according to its statement earlier this month.</p><p>Dane Jasper, co-founder and chief executive of Santa Rosa-based Internet provider Sonic.net, said Google's experiment could benefit other providers.</p><p>“It seems like they want to show how it can be done, and they are using their deep pockets to demonstrate,” Jasper said. “It's an educational process and they plan to publish their findings. And I applaud those efforts.”</p><p>Google has said its network would be open for other Internet providers to use and deliver services, thus increasing competition.</p><p>McHenry acknowledges the city is a long-shot, but hopes that Google will seriously consider Sonoma County's largest city.</p><p>“We have a highly innovative and entrepreneurial community here,” he said. “If we let Google know that we'll be a welcoming place and have support from the residents, we have a much stronger shot.”</p>