NEWS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 15, 2006

Metronet Enables St. Joseph County to Become National
Economic, Business and Technology Leader

Fiber-optic Network Offers S ecure, Cost-effective, High-speed Data Transmission

South Bend, Ind. – South Bend in north-central Indiana is poised on the forefront of a technological revolution that positions it as an area ripe for economic development as a leading technology center of the United States.

Lighting the way for that revolution: the dark fiber of the St. Joe Valley Metronet.

The Metronet is a state-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure consisting of a 40-mile network of fiber-optic cable initially running throughout South Bend, creating a high-speed data network with virtually unlimited bandwidth. When connected to it, businesses, schools, health care facilities and other entities can transmit data faster and easier than ever before while enjoying greater operational flexibility, cost savings and security.

Further increasing its enormous technological impact, the Metronet connects to the vast array of transcontinental fiber already running through St. Joseph County – one of the largest such concentrations in the United States – for powerful high-speed access to the rest of the country. The Metronet presents South Bend businesses with an opportunity to be two milliseconds away from the Chicago National Network POP via a single connection to any one of the multitude of long-haul carriers passing through St. Joseph County.

A nonprofit organization, St. Joe Valley Metronet, Inc. ( SJVMI) , oversees the Metronet's growth and development. “With the Metronet, it's been our goal to create alternative access to the Internet that's readily available and cost-effective in order to promote technology-based economic development,” said Gordon Wishon, SJVMI Chairman.

The Metronet provides subscribers with four major benefits, which include:

Capacity : Current subscribers are already achieving transmission speeds of 10 gigabits per second, which is 6,000 times faster than the speed of a T-1 line, with the potential for even greater speeds. The Metronet offers nearly limitless bandwidth, and provides the highest level of Internet backbone support.

Flexibility : The Metronet allows companies to set up physical facilities whenever and wherever they are most convenient; to connect their networks directly as if they were all in the same building; and provides the capacity to handle any new software and program applications , from full-time data back-up, to distributed learning, to full-resolution video for telemedicine applications.

Security : The Metronet's fiber-optic cables are designed with carrier-grade construction parameters to protect against tampering and accidents, then buried underground with municipal utilities and encased within steel conduit. The Metronet is also a ringed network, which means data continues moving even if there's a break or cut in the cable.

Cost Savings : While t he average cost for one-gigabit service in St. Joseph County previously ran from $3,000-$5,000 per month, the Metronet provides almost unlimited gigabit service for approximately $1,000 per month. Plus, SJVMI offers flat-rate pricing with no “per-mile” charges.

“An essential component to our success is keeping the Metronet vendor-neutral and providing only the infrastructure, so it's open to all service providers and subscribers,” said Wishon.

To save installation costs, SJVMI pulls its fiber-optic cable through conduit already installed by the city for traffic lights, utilities and other municipal operations. In turn, the city saves by using the Metronet's fiber-optic cable instead of spending taxpayers' dollars to install its own.

SJVMI began with funding from seven key organizations in South Bend: Madison Center, Memorial Hospital, Robert Bosch Corporation, Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center, South Bend Medical Foundation, Teachers Credit Union, and the University of Notre Dame. Each invested in the Metronet's initial construction so that they could receive its technology benefits – and in order to help bring a new era of economic development to St. Joseph County.

From a technology standpoint, the Metronet puts South Bend on a level playing field with Chicago, St. Louis and other large cities, especially since the options and type of Internet connectivity it offers is not available in mid-sized communities. The South Bend area also represents a safer geographical advantage, removed from the threat of the earthquakes, hurricanes, major floods and global political concerns that can affect technical centers along both coasts and larger cities.

Its high-speed connectivity and access to transcontinental fiber linking it to the rest of the country makes the region an ideal location for such high-tech business entities as data backup and disaster recovery operations, data and call centers, conference centers and research facilities.

“With information technology critical to the successful operation of businesses large and small, health care facilities, colleges, government and other organizations, access to the Metronet benefits subscribers with low-cost, high-speed transmission of endless amounts of information, and will create substantial opportunities for economic growth throughout the St. Joseph County area,” said Wishon.

With its operating structure established and, serving its initial founding members since the beginning of the year, the St. Joe Valley Metronet, Inc. is now opening the doors of its state-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure, cost-effective prices, and access to high-speed telecommunications to local businesses, education and health care institutions, and government agencies across St. Joseph County and its northern Indiana neighbors.

South Bend MetroNet Shows That Fiber is Good For You!

By Stephen Luecke, Mayor of South Bend
Inside INDIANA Business
October 2005

Transportation systems have always been critical to South Bend's vitality. From early days when traders and settlers used the St. Joseph River to move goods, through the heyday of railroads and the interstate highway system, to our multi-modal airport with bus and South Shore connections, we rely on good transportation for commerce, jobs and private investment. 

Why a Metronet?

South Bend Tribune
Sunday, Feb 6 2005

In 2001 Project Future and the St. Joseph County Chamber of Commerce , recognizing potential economic development opportunity in the emerging technology-driven "new economy", appointed a Technology Task Force to assess how well St. Joseph County is positioned to catch the "tech wave" and recommend strategies for assuring the area's technology competitiveness.

The Task Force conducted a survey within local organizations to evaluate their readiness to take part in the technology revolution. It also interviewed key employers to learn how they are using technology and begin a conversation about what local leaders can do to boost technology-based economic development.

Among the Task Force's findings, the following were especially important:

• Advanced information technology ("IT") is the one "new economy" technology that extends far beyond the pure technology sector. IT enables all kinds of organizations to cut costs, improve products and services, communicate with suppliers and customers, decentralize into separately located functional units, and establish relationships with other firms to perform functions formerly done in-house.

• Not only "new economy" companies, but also traditional industries represented by large employers in St. Joseph County—manufacturing, distribution, financial services, education and healthcare—are integrating advanced IT into their operations.

• Decentralization and outsourcing enabled by IT present an opportunity to attract functional parts of companies—from data processing to distribution—without having to persuade the whole company to locate here. Possessing widespread telecommunications infrastructure, a skilled labor force, and a good environment in which to live and work could give St. Joseph County a competitive edge.

• Local telecommunications infrastructure is inadequate. Even though fiber optic trunk lines owned by many of the long distance carriers operating in North America run through the area, St. Joseph County lacks widespread, high-capacity links between those trunk lines and local companies. Local employers said "both cost and access to broadband are prohibitive" and "there is no single network that can provide total and ubiquitous connectivity in St. Joseph County".

Because of these findings, Project Future's Board of Trustees appointed a Telecommunications Committee to specifically address the issue of the telecommunications infrastructure. The Committee learned from key local employers that:

• Advanced IT has become an integral part of higher education and research programs, is of increasing importance to cultural programs and K-12 curricula, and is becoming a necessity for businesses, healthcare institutions and government agencies.

• An essential part of the IT local employers want to use is high-speed connectivity that enables state-of-the-art communications and access to a wide range of information, resources, and services.

• Many organizations want access to "dark fiber" telecommunications infrastructure, which is largely unavailable in area. ("Dark fiber" provides only a fiber optic path between two sites. To use that path for communications, users have their own optical equipment or employ a telecommunications service vendor who provides equipment to "light" the fiber.)

Accordingly, the Committee concluded there is a need for an entity which supplies widespread dark fiber infrastructure in the local area, and it formed a non-profit corporation, St. Joe Valley Metronet, Inc., to serve that purpose.

The mission of St. Joe Valley Metronet, Inc. ("SJVMI") is to encourage technology-based economic development by providing state-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure at cost-effective prices. SJVMI's goal is readily available, cost-effective access to high-speed telecommunications for local businesses, education and healthcare institutions, and government agencies. As a non-profit corporation, SJVMI can pursue its mission and goal without ever having to choose between what's good for the community and what's good for a corporation's bottom line.

The infrastructure SJVMI will provide—the "Metronet"—is a dark fiber network linking local users to long-haul trunk line points-of-presence ("POPs"). The value of a dark fiber network comes from the POPs to which it connects. So, the Metronet will connect to POPs where many telecommunications vendors are accessible. Availability of more vendors gives users a greater array of service choices and better pricing.

The Metronet will be vendor neutral. That is, it will provide infrastructure only—no telecommunications services—and it will be open to all telecommunications service vendors and users who want to subscribe.

SJVMI can save costs by pulling its fiber optic cable through conduit already installed by local municipalities for governmental operations. Likewise, the municipalities can save costs by using SJVMI's fiber optic cable instead of spending taxpayers' dollars to install their own. Therefore, SJVMI will establish with each municipality an agreement under which the municipality grants to SJVMI the right to pull cable through its conduit in exchange for SJVMI granting the municipality no-charge use of SJVMI's cable.

SJVMI has the money it needs to fund construction of the Metronet. Seven of St. Joseph County's largest employers (Madison Center, Memorial Hospital, Robert Bosch Corp., Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center, South Bend Medical Foundation, Teachers Credit Union, and The University of Notre Dame) have pledged construction capital totaling $2,275,000.

SJVMI will fund its operating expenses with Network Access Subscription Fees paid by users of the Metronet. SJVMI expects fifty or more local organizations to subscribe. The worst case scenario would be that only the seven organizations funding construction become subscribers; and, even in that unlikely case, SJVMI would have enough revenue to be financially sustainable.

The initial Metronet installation will be operational in May 2005. It will serve South Bend’s Central Business District and East Bank District, IUSB and IVTech campuses; Blackthorn Development area, Notre Dame and St. Mary’s campuses, and Bosch/Honeywell area.

In summary, the Metronet will:

• encourage local economic development,

• pay its construction and operating costs with already-committed private funds,

• be open to all telecommunications service vendors and users,

• enable municipalities to save taxpayers' dollars by using its cable instead of installing their own, and

• never have to choose between what's good for the community and what's good for a corporation's bottom line.