Visiting http://www.masvf.com/forums/index.php allows one to visit the Minnesota Business and Technology Forums and observe what is available.  However, in order to become a member of the community, one must register.  Registration is simple and has several advantages.  First, you can search for other members in the community using names, IDs and keywords related to industries.  Second, you can identify yourself to the community through the use of keywords and interests.  Third, you can subscribe to certain "threads" and receive email when these threads experience activity.  You may also unsubscribe from any thread at any time.  Fourth, you can post to the Forums.  This is extremely powerful.  Members can post their opinions, information and engage in online discussions.  Jobs can be posted.  Events can be posted.

NetSuds encourages members to choose usernames which readily identify one's self to the community.  For example, the username "johnsmith" identifies the member as John Smith (or at least we hope!).  Use of IDs to hide one's identity is not encouraged in these Forums.  Remember, this is a professional Web Forum and not some adolescent, rumor-spreading chatroom.

Even after you register you can alter your user profile in the "CP" section along the top of the Forum webpage.

4.2   Water, Sewer, Internet - Spotting A Trend?

Municipal Internet growing ... by Dave Roepke

The Forum - 01/02/2005

Brad Mayer can tell when a television network or major newspaper does a piece on the budding trend of cities doubling as Internet providers.

His phone rings off the hook the next day.

“You can’t talk to everyone, but we try to accommodate most people,” said Mayer, who manages the city-run wireless Internet network in Chaska, Minn., a Twin Cities suburb of about 18,000 people.

Since the network went online in September, Mayer has fielded calls from about 75 groups interested in the wireless service offered in Chaska, one of the first cities in the nation to build a mobile wireless network for public use.

Some of those calls have come from Moorhead Public Service, the city’s public utility, which unveiled in October a proposal to offer wireless Internet service citywide to residents for $23 a month and businesses for $29.

If the utility approves the ambitious proposal, it will be walking a relatively new but not uncharted path. A growing number of cities nationwide, about 20 by one expert’s estimate, have built networks offering Internet access to residents.

Proponents argue the increasing pervasiveness of the Internet justifies cities’ efforts to improve access to what they call an essential service.

“Five years ago, a lot of people could get by without Internet,” Mayer said “Today it’s become almost as important as electricity.”

Critics say the trend is a troubling intrusion by local government into an already crowded industry.

“As much as I believe in the technology business, I wouldn’t go so far as to call Internet an essential service,” said Dave Ekman of Multiband, a Fargo-based Internet provider. “So are groceries. Does that mean the government is going to start selling groceries and compete with Hornbacher’s?”

Moorhead’s proposal is not a done deal.

The City Council gave the $2.2 million project an implicit go-ahead in December when it unanimously passed an ordinance allowing the utility to sell Internet access.

The utility board, however, has the final say. It hopes to vote on the $2.2 million project in February.

WIRELESS JUMP

Utility board President Ken Norman, the board’s self-described top critic of the plan, said he thinks the plan has a 50 percent chance of being approved.

“Are we leaning in that direction? Yeah, we are, because we’ve tried to be a progressive utility,” Norman said.

Moorhead’s municipal wireless initiative is indicative of a larger trend, said Esme Vos, founder of MuniWireless.com, a publication that covers municipal wireless networks.

“The number of cities offering these networks has gone up dramatically,” she said.

In a report published last summer, Vos listed 20 cities who built wireless networks for public use. In most cases, the city or the municipal utility company also acts as the service provider.

Vos said the report was not exhaustive, but she knows of no clearinghouse that tracks the number of city-built wireless networks.

The increasing ubiquity of the Internet and the emergence of mesh wireless technology are probably driving the rising number of city networks, she said.

A mesh network, which is the type being considered in Moorhead, deploys numerous radio transmitters over a wide area, allowing users to access the Internet anywhere in the network.

A fixed wireless network, which has been available for many years, requires users to have a permanent antenna with a line-of-sight to a tower transmitting signals. This limits access to where the antennas are set up.

Most systems have been built in cities similar in size or smaller than Mo orhead, where the cost of building a citywide network is not prohibitive and other Internet options have been limited, Vos said.

“Governments don’t get into it because it’s a hobby. They usually do it because something’s missing,” she said.

That is what happened in Buffalo, Minn., a town of about 10,000 between St. Cloud and the Twin Cities, said City Administrator Merton Auger.

Buffalo built a $1.2 million fixed-wireless network in 2002 after begging providers like Qwest to bring in broadband access.

Access to the Internet that was always on and high-speed was direly absent in town, Auger said. Banks wanted to use it to communicate with branch offices. An implement dealer needed it to order parts.

“We started our own system because nobody else was doing it,” he said.

In Chaska, the other Minnesota city included in the MuniWireless.com report, the city has been selling Internet to businesses for six years , Mayer said.

“We pride ourselves in being a progressive city. We do a lot of things other cities might sit back and hem and haw about,” he said.

In April, Chaska officials began studying a mesh network to sell access to residential customers, Mayer said.

After some initial hiccups, the network was up and running by September, he said. Projections called for picking up 200 customers a month.

With utility bill inserts being the only advertising, Chaska.net attracted 1,500 users almost immediately.

The service now has 2,000 users and will pay off in two years the $650,000 it cost to build the network, Mayer said.

“We initially figured if we ever got to 2,000 we’d be doing well,” he said.

The efforts in other cities, especially Chaska, will be helpful to officials in Moorhead as they consider proceeding with the wireless plan.

“It’s always nice to have a beta test site, if you will,” Bill Sc hwandt, the utility’s general manager, said of Chaska.

“Chaska has been absolutely invaluable to us,” Norman said.

For instance, Chaska had some initial problems when it started because it hadn’t fully tested its equipment before it started selling subscriptions, Norman said.

Moorhead Public Service officials will make sure not to make the same mistake if they go ahead with the wireless service, he said.

“We want to make sure everything’s right before we get too far down the pike,” he said.

Chaska has been so instrumental to the utility’s plans that two separate contingents have toured Chaska.net, one comprised of utility officials and another of City Council members, business leaders and others.

It was a November trip to Chaska that convinced Councilman John Rowell to back the wireless proposal.

During the first two meetings concerning the plan, Rowell was the most skeptical council member.

He peppered utility officials with questions about market share projections, which require the utility to eventually capture 40 percent of homes and 28 percent of businesses just to break even.

He questioned whether one customer service agent can handle service calls and if the $18,000 annual budget for marketing and promotions was large enough.

Seeing Chaska’s service thriving using similar plans made Rowell comfortable with the proposal.

“I’m the kind of guy who actually has to kick the tires,” he said.

There are still critics, both nationally and locally.

“Sometimes when we get impatient for things, we make rash decisions that we later regret, like putting taxpayers on the hook for government-owned broadband networks,” wrote Tom Giovanetti, president of the Institute for Policy Innovation in the Oct. 30 issue of the Chicago Tribune.

Ekman of Multiband said he has philosophical objections to the proposal .

“I don’t like the idea of a municipality competing against a private business when those services are already being offered by the private sector,” he said.

Scott Geston, general manager of CableOne, said the utility’s plan is flawed, citing many of the objections initially raised by Rowell. He also questioned the ability of a government entity to adapt in the fast-changing Internet industry.

Like Ekman, he also doubts Internet access is essential.

“Internet service is a luxury and probably will remain so for a long time,” he said.

Unlike Geston, Ekman thinks the utility’s plan will work.

“I think it could work, and it would be a great offering for the consumer,” he said.

Readers can reach Forum reporter Dave Roepke at (701) 241-5535

Biggest Broadband Telephony Provider Netted More than 300,000 Lines in 2004  

Edison, NJ, January 5, 2005 – Vonage, the leading broadband telephony provider, today announced it has exceeded 400,000 total lines on its network, doubling its subscriber base in less than six months since reaching the 200,000 line mark.  The company ended 2004 with more than 390,000 lines in service having added 115,000 lines in Q4 2004 alone.

“Again, Vonage has set the benchmark, proving its value proposition to a marketplace starved for full-featured, cost-effective alternatives to the incumbent local exchange carriers,” said Jeffrey A. Citron, chairman and CEO of Vonage Holdings Corporation.   “Having added more than 300,000 lines in 2004, Vonage has once again illustrated its prowess in leading the transformation of the telecommunications industry.”

Using the latest technology, Vonage sets the standard for the new generation of phone service with residential and business calling plans.

About Vonage^®

Vonage is redefining communications by offering consumers and small businesses an affordable alternative to traditional telephone service. The fastest growing telephony company in North America, Vonage's service area encompasses more than 2000 active rate centers in over 150 global markets. Vonage is sold directly through www.vonage.com and retail partners such as Amazon.com, RadioShack, Best Buy, Circuit City, Staples, Fry’s Electronics and Office Depot.  Wholesale partners such as EarthLink, ARMSTRONG^®, Advanced Cable Communications and the Coldwater Board of Public Utilities resell the Vonage broadband phone service under their own unique brands. With more than 400,000 lines in service, Vonage continues to add more than 30,000 lines per month to its network. Over 10 million calls per week are made using Vonage, the easy-to-use, feature-rich, flat rate phone service. Vonage is headquartered in Edison, New Jersey. For more information about Vonage's products and services, please visit www.vonage.com or call 1-VONAGE-HELP.  Vonage^® is a trademark of Vonage Holdings Corp.

4.4   Wisconsin Angel Network

Governor Jim Doyle has announced the creation of the Wisconsin Angel Network.  For details, open www.masvf.com/docs/WAN.pdf.

Purpose  CEOs need resources to assist them in executing their duties and leading their companies.  Boards of Directors and upper management are not always the best or most independent resources upon which to draw.  The CEO Roundtable exists to provide CEOs with an independent resource of wisdom and shared experience.  Your key 'take-aways' from the Roundtable will be accelerated learning - so as to avoid common and uncommon pitfalls -, an expanded network of advisors and colleagues and tools to enhance the productivity and value of your enterprise.

Content  First, networking among the CEO members of a Roundtable is the best and richest content.  Second, the Roundtable facilitator will schedule subject matter experts of interest to the CEOs.  Examples include intellectual property, branding, sales, engineering, marketing, finance, compensation, human resources, M&A, etc. 

Format  Meetings will consist primarily of 2 elements.  First, "content" will be presented and discussed.  Second, "discussion" of common problems and solutions will take place.  The facilitator will lead both elements or assign elements to certain CEOs.

Confidentiality  Roundtable meetings are completely confidential.  Nothing said in a roundtable discussion, short of illegal activity, leaves the meeting.  This allows each CEO to feel comfortable discussing issues and subjects he may not feel comfortable speaking about with others.