The City of Chattanooga in the US state of Tennessee stands as a beacon to regional centres around the world who hope for a better future for their communities through deployment if high-speed broadband. Chattanooga was the first city in the US to adopt fixed-line broadband at speeds of 1 gigabit per second across the entire city, and the decision has brought prosperity in terms of helping Chattanooga secure business investment, and is leading to a new wave of entrepreneurial activity in the city while providing direct benefits in terms of improved services.
Mark Kiel is the CIO of the City of Chattanooga, and visited Australia with the assistance of the City of Greater Geelong to speak at the SEGRA conference. While in Australia he discussed the impact that broadband has had on Chattanooga, and the benefits it could bring to other regional centres. His thoughts are captured in this story for the Sydney Morning Herald’s IT Pro site. He is pictured her standing to the right alongside City of Greater Geelong’s Rod Macdonald (pic courtesy of the Geelong Advertiser).