BroadbandOhio\u00a0<\/a>to begin discussing the project that officials said could be key to future economic development in the region \u2014 and also assist with the nation\u2019s first Air National Guard Cyberspace Wing launched at Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport.<\/p>\nBroadbandOhio is a part of the Ohio Department of Development, whose mission is \u201cto bring high-speed internet access to every Ohioan and build a best-in-class broadband network in Ohio.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2024, Vero credited North Central State College President Dr. Dory Diab for getting the ball rolling with discussions in 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe approached me (at a Richland Community Development Group) meeting about a year ago. He said, \u2018Hey, commissioner, are you going to earn your paycheck and start expanding broadband in Richland County?\u2019\u201d Vero said in January 2024.<\/p>\n
Vero said the comment helped to spur a local group that included him, Diab, then-Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development President Jodie Perry (now Mansfield mayor) and Barrett Thomas, the chamber\u2019s economic development director.<\/p>\n
During the meeting with county commissioners a year ago, Diab said broadband access in today\u2019s world should be considered like any other necessary utility.<\/p>\n
\u201cInternet and more specifically, high-speed broadband capacity, is becoming like a utility, like electricity and water,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it\u2019s for business, whether it is for the population in the county and things like that, you cannot do without it anymore. And as far as the campus is concerned, it\u2019s about teaching, it\u2019s about research, it\u2019s about online delivery,\u201d Diab said.<\/p>\n
The U.S. 30 plan would include a point-of-presence, perhaps near or on the 179th Cyberspace Wing.<\/p>\n
A point-of-presence (POP) is a point or physical location where two or more networks or communication devices build a connection from one place to the rest of the internet.<\/p>\n
OANG Col. Gregg Hesterman, who headed up the 179th\u2019s conversion from a flying wing, said in 2024 the unit\u2019s new mission requires improved internet access to allow connectivity with mission partners.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to require numerous networks,\u201d Hesterman said. \u201cMostly everything will be unclassified, but we\u2019ll also have classified or encrypted networks going through that broadband backbone as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo just to be able to get the most capabilities as close to the installation as possible is absolutely key.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas said last year the broadband expansion is a business recruitment tool.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in conversations now with other companies that are interested in being in that same area, interested in very large internet connections that need a lot of broadband, a lot bandwidth and a lot of speed.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo (the broadband expansion project) will certainly be a tool that helps us say, \u2018This is the right place to be, instead of any of the other 10 places you\u2019re looking. You want to be here in Richland County,\u2019 \u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MANSFIELD \u2014 The $20 million U.S. 30 broadband project is officially a go across north central Ohio. A…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":30079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[1322,712,158,25679,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-30078","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-featured","9":"tag-internet","10":"tag-technology","11":"tag-u-s-30","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114778492880780694","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}