cameron county/matamoros - blue - The University of Texas at ...

⇒ Top Five User Requirements
1. Increased bandwidth and/or more fiber
2. Wireless or remote connectivity
3. Videoconferencing and Voice-over IP
4. Community and/or employee education
5. Improved reliability/redundancy of access
While users in the Harlingen, Brownsville and the Lower Rio Grande Valley region
want more bandwidth and more education about networks, many were unable to
identify resources for information and support regarding telecommunications.
Most study participants supported universal access and believed that the area
needed to obtain and maintain high quality telecommunications services to
improve quality of life, to attract businesses and jobs, and to avoid being left
behind in an increasingly technology-oriented society.
A Community Network Implementation Plan was structured to provide strategies,
options, requirements, and suggestions for Harlingen and Brownsville to guide
these communities in their pursuit of significantly enhanced technology
infrastructure capable of promoting economic development and improving
quality of life. The key factors were performance, scalability, applications,
economics, and adaptability (future-proof). The steps were:
⇒ Cultivate a well-developed community concept
⇒ Involve all community members in a communal effort for change
⇒ Periodically assess community needs and strengths
⇒ Develop a vision or mission statement
⇒ Establish goals and priorities
⇒ Draft a strategic plan to meet goals that includes responsibilities and
timelines
⇒ Grow the network infrastructure
⇒ Provide education, training, access, and services for the Community
⇒ Apply systems engineering, stakeholder analysis, and Zero Time
principles throughout the planning and the implementation processes of
a Communities’ Network
⇒ Create a Knowledge Network of Networks
⇒ Focus on Education
⇒ Be regional in scope
Technology Infrastructure and Knowledge Networks Assessment
Compared to other South Texas Counties, Cameron County has a unique
diversity of broadband offerings available to residential and business users.
Cameron County has the opportunity to position itself as a unique market for
technology based growth. The existing and future infrastructure, when combined
with the available human capital, provides abundant entrepreneurial
opportunities.
Cameron County offers companies the combination of a strong and developing
infrastructure with the sense of a unified community and high employee loyalty.
Cameron County wireless technology companies are bringing healthy competition
into the local IT providers market. In interviews, several technology companies
noted that while the region does not suffer from a negative perception, neither
does it enjoy strong statewide or national awareness as a destination for techbusiness.
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