Gloucester VA Links and News: Internet access

Showing posts with label Internet access. Show all posts

Friday, June 6, 2014

Governor McAuliffe Announces Selection of Virginia for School Broadband Pricing

Internet Access Here Sign (Photo credit: Steve Rhode)

Governor McAuliffe Announces Selection of Virginia for School Broadband Pricing Project

Goal to Lower Costs and Increase Bandwidth for School Divisions

Governor Terry McAuliffe announced today that Virginia has been selected to participate in a pilot project to help school divisions lower the cost of high-speed Internet access and increase digital learning opportunities for students.

EducationSuperHighway (ESH) — a San Francisco-based non-profit dedicated to improving Internet access in schools — selected Virginia because of the commonwealth’s leadership in digital learning and because of data suggesting that Virginia schools are paying more than the national average for Internet access and network connectivity.

According to ESH, average monthly megabits-per-second costs for Virginia school divisions are $26 for Internet access and $7 for network connectivity, compared with respective national averages of $22 and $3. ESH data also indicate that the percentage of Virginia schools with less-than-ideal access and bandwidth exceeds the national average.

“Ensuring that all Virginia communities have equal and affordable access to broadband technology is a critical component in developing a 21^st Century Virginia economy,” said Governor McAuliffe. "I am grateful that EducationSuperHighway has selected Virginia for this important project which will use transparency to drive down broadband costs and provide greater opportunities for innovative learning in classrooms across the Commonwealth.”

“Virginia is leading the nation in the effort to lower school broadband costs across the state," said Evan Marwell, CEO of EducationSuperHighway. "We are thrilled to partner with Governor McAuliffe to ensure that all of Virginia's students have access to high-speed Internet for 21st-century learning."

School divisions are using an ESH online portal to report detailed information by the end of August on Internet access and broadband pricing. After analyzing the data, ESH will produce a comprehensive report in early 2015 on access and pricing for all participating school divisions.

“School divisions will have the ability to compare and evaluate prices across the state and determine whether they are getting their money’s worth in access and bandwidth,” Secretary of Technology Karen Jackson said.

Working with the secretary of technology, Secretary of Education Anne Holton and the Virginia Department of Education, ESH will identify factors and practices driving up costs for school divisions and provide technical assistance to school divisions on cutting costs by promoting transparency, encouraging competition, and identifying new service options.

“Every student in Virginia deserves access to high-quality digital content,” Secretary Holton said. “Our strategy for closing achievement gaps must include a concerted effort at both the state and local levels to make sure that slow connection speeds and inadequate networks don’t bar the way.”

EducationSuperHighway says the broadband pricing project will include two states, with the second state being named later this summer.

Last month, ESH and the Washington-based Consortium for School Networking called on the Federal Communications Commission to increase federal E-rate funding for schools and libraries by $800 million annually to support much-needed improvements to wireless networks. E-rate provides subsidies to school systems and libraries through fees paid by telecommunications companies.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Governor McAuliffe Announces Virginia’s Continued Progress on Telehealth and Broadband Expansion

Terry McAuliffe by David Shankbone, New York City

Terry McAuliffe (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Center for Innovative Technology’s Annual 2013 Health IT Survey Shows Virginia Remains a National Leader in Telehealth, Broadband speeds

Today Governor Terry McAuliffe announced the results of the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology’s 2013 Health Information Technology (IT) Assessment, which once again demonstrates Virginia's national leadership in telehealth initiatives. It also documents faster broadband speeds across the Commonwealth and an increase in adoption rates of electronic health records by Virginia physicians.

“Expanding access and use of cutting edge technologies to grow Virginia’s economy and improve our quality of life is one of my highest priorities,” said Governor McAuliffe. “I am encouraged by this report showing that Virginia is a national leader in telehealth initiatives that will keep communities healthier and that will encourage more entrepreneurs, families, and businesses to locate in the Commonwealth. I look forward to building upon the progress we have made so far to continue to expand broadband access and health technology infrastructure to every region across Virginia.”

The annual assessment identifies gaps in broadband access, trend data related to how gaps are closing and the development of health IT initiatives in Virginia. It also identifies changes in broadband connectivity across health care provider segments, generates new data used to populate the Commonwealth’s Broadband Map for healthcare facilities and providers, and classifies progress in adoption of key health IT capabilities across the Commonwealth, such as electronic health records (EHR), health information exchange (HIE) and telehealth services.

Dr. Bill Hazel, Virginia’s Secretary of Health and Human Resources, said, “Virginia continues to be a strong leader in the application of health IT, and we are looking forward to accelerating our efforts in this area.”

Important findings include:

· Virginia is a leader in telehealth adoption and utilization;

· The HIE marketplace in Virginia is more dynamic and has a larger provider pool relative to many states;

· Virginia ranks third nationally in EHR adoption among the hospital sector; and

· Virginia ranks third nationally in download speeds (11.1 Mbps > national average of 8.7 Mbps), which is critical for successful HIE.

The assessment shows that Virginia continues to make progress in broadband deployment. Since last year, the Commonwealth has risen from 8^th to 3^rd in national rankings for average download speeds. Moreover, average broadband speeds have more than doubled since 2010, and Virginia has jumped from 5^th to 3^rd in its national ranking for hospital-based adoption of Electronic Medical Records over the past two years.

Virginia’s Secretary of Technology Karen Jackson said, “This assessment once again shows that we are continuing to grow the health IT marketplace by building the infrastructure, innovation and expertise needed for sustainable growth.”

The CIT Broadband service line completed the survey in partnership with Broad Axe Technology Partners and in conjunction with the Secretaries of Health and Human Resources and Technology. It was funded by CIT’s State Broadband Initiative grant awarded by the National Telecommunication and Information Administration.

The findings of the 2013 Health IT Assessment can be viewed online at http://www.wired.virginia.gov/broadband_health_it.shtml .

About the Center for Innovative Technology, http://www.cit.org
Since 1985, CIT, a nonprofit corporation, has been the Commonwealth’s driver for innovation, technology and entrepreneurship. CIT accelerates the next generation of technology and technology companies through commercialization, capital formation, market development and revenue generation services. To facilitate national innovation leadership and accelerate the rate of technology adoption, CIT creates partnerships between innovative technology startup companies and advanced technology consumers. Follow CIT on Twitter @CITorg; and add the Center for Innovative Technology on LinkedIn or Facebook.