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http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/12/circuits/articles/24iowa.html
> December 24, 1998
>
> Wire It, and They Will Come
>
> ---------------
> Iowa Built a Statewide Fiber Optic Network and Now Must Decide Who Can
Use It
>
> By ANDREW BLUTH
>
> DES MOINES -- Scores of Iowa middle-school students were squirming on a
recent afternoon as they inspected tumors inside a colon as part of a
career-information seminar about the medical profession. The students,
however, were not even in the same room as the diseased colon -- or the
same county, for that matter. The hundred or so middle schoolers were
spread out all over the state, at six different schools.
>
> The images of the colon, preserved in a jar in Des Moines, as well as the
reactions ("Gross!" and "Cool!") were carried over hundreds of miles of
fiber optic cable that make up the Iowa Communications Network, which is
nearly a decade old but is still revolutionary.
>
> The idea of the state-owned and operated network, the only one of its
kind in the nation, was pushed forward by a group of state legislators
during the administration of Gov. Terry E. Branstad in 1990. Approved and
paid for with hundreds of millions of dollars by the Iowa Legislature, the
network links Iowa's 99 counties, enabling the instantaneous transmission
of two-way interactive video, data and audio communications.
>
> The network began as an educational tool for the state's schools; the
goal was to open up opportunities for rural Iowa. The idea of children in
rural Iowa taking foreign-language classes via the network struck state
leaders as a prime example of how opportunities afforded to students in Des
Moines and Cedar Rapids could be made available to those in rural Inwood.
>
> The network could go a long way toward satisfying an Internet user's lust
for bandwidth -- technojargon for the size of the pipeline that carries
data to and from a computer. The more bandwidth a user has -- the fatter
the pipeline between the computer and the Internet -- the faster and more
useful that computer is. And a fiber optic network is a fat, fat pipeline.
While that fat pipeline is now available to only a limited number of public
and educational institutions, there is a public debate about expanding that
availability and about the state's role as a communications carrier. City
and county governments want to be included in the network, and there is
even talk of forging public-private partnerships that would make the
network available for more private uses.
>
> The network has wired the state with cables made of individual strands of
optical fiber spiraled together. Harold M. (Tommy) Thompson, the chief
operating officer of the network, said that while an entire encyclopedia
could be downloaded in 38 minutes with a copper T-1 line, one of the
fastest widely available means of connecting to the Internet, the Iowa
network could transmit the same information in 1 1/2 minutes. He said he
hoped that financing would be allocated to update the network, tripling its
bandwidth.
>
> Officials estimate that since the network's inception, the state has
spent close to $300 million to build and run it. That includes $178 million
for the original cable that wired every county, plus an additional $95
million for the current effort to wire every school, which would put all
the state's residents closer to a network access point. Even though Federal
and state agencies pay for network access, rate subsidies and the expense
of building up the network are costing the state around $25 million a year.
To encourage educational uses, the state subsidizes the service for
schools, charging public and private elementary and high schools an hourly
fee of $5.25 for two-way interactive video; public and private universities
pay $6.30 per hour. Libraries' rates are similar.
>
> Hospitals and state and Federal agencies are charged $45.50 an hour,
which is what providing the service costs the state. To use the network for
phone calls and Internet hookups, users pay the network for production
costs, which varies depending on the kind of hookup.
>
> Private individuals and businesses cannot gain access to the network
under the state law governing it. The Legislature has refused to pass
several bills that would widen access by allowing city and county
governments to participate. (Some counties are already connected for law
enforcement and disaster services.)
>
> Despite some public grumbling over the network's costs, its advocates
insist that the investment will be well worth it and that costs are
dropping as usage expands.
>
> Thompson, who has run the network for four years, said: "In addition to
direct savings that the network creates for state agencies -- for example,
phone service that they don't pay private sector rates for -- there are
savings that are impossible to quantify, such as savings from a sick
veteran not having to leave his hospital to see a specialist. Those kinds
of things you just can't price." Nobody knows if fiber optics will continue
to be desirable as a high-bandwidth Internet conduit as technology changes;
cable modems and wireless technology, among others, are also strong
contenders. But Thompson said the Iowa network would remain valuable for
years. "Who knows, maybe 25 years from now there will be a new technology
and somebody will be able to do what we're doing better and cheaper," he
said. "If that's the case, we'll try to position ourselves so that we can
adapt to any of those changes, but it's pretty far in the future."
>
> Though born as a tool for education, the Iowa network has been tapped for
telemedicine, telejustice (a term coined by Iowa judicial officials) and
even military purposes.
>
> James C. Twedt, an administrative judge, used to spend hundreds of hours
on the road conducting parole revocation hearings.
>
> Now Judge Twedt travels down a flight of steps in the Polk County
Courthouse in Des Moines to a former conference room that has been
transformed into a network video room, equipped with a monitor, camera,
microphone and all the other fixings of a network access point.
>
> There, the judge can listen to three cases in 45 minutes. Judge Twedt
estimated that he could process three times as many cases with the network
than he could before.
>
> The Iowa Parole Board also uses the network for parole hearings. That
eliminates the travel and security costs previously incurred with
transporting criminals. Judge Twedt said more than 1,000 parole hearings
had been held over the network.
>
> The network is also used in telemedicine. While telemedicine is practiced
in other states as well, the Iowa network makes the most sophisticated
system possible. It allows instantaneous, high-quality two-way interactive
video so the doctor and patient can talk to each other. Of course, that
does not substitute for face-to-face contact, but it does allow for great
technological leaps. For example, from his office at the University of Iowa
Hospitals in Iowa City, Dr. Michael Kienzle is able to use the network to
listen to the hearts of patients anywhere in the state.
>
> "It allows you to establish a rapport with the patient," Dr. Kienzle
said. "As a doctor, 80 percent of the information you need to make a
diagnosis comes from conversation with the patient. This network allows
that as though you're sitting in the examining room with them."
>
> Dr. Kienzle said that while equipment and maintenance costs for the
network might seem exorbitant, telemedicine saved money.
>
> In rural Iowa, a patient who needs a specialist has four alternatives,
Dr. Kienzle points out: not seeking medical attention, driving to where it
is available, seeing a specialist from a city who periodically visits rural
towns or using telemedicine. If the patient needs immediate attention, the
choices are limited to the last two, and the costs of missed work to family
members and the transportation costs of driving for treatment can be quite
high, Dr. Kienzle noted.
>
> The first consultation over Iowa's network was conducted in early 1997,
and several hundred took place in that year. Dr. Kienzle said he expected
those numbers to increase a lot as insurance companies became more
comfortable with the practice. In addition to private patients, Dr. Kienzle
said, telemedicine is used in Iowa to treat most prisoners.
>
> The network is also used for programs like training seminars for state
workers and a pilot program allowing plastics molders in private industry
to take community college courses to get their certification more quickly.
>
> Beyond that, the National Guard uses the network for mobilization and
emergency services planning. With National Guard personnel scattered
throughout the state, the network lends itself to military use, network
officials said.
>
> Commanders and policy makers can hold meetings over the network,
eliminating travel to a central location near Des Moines, and training
exercises have recently been developed to take advantage of the network.
Thompson said that in the last few months, state military personnel at
different network points around the state had participated in a war
simulation over the network; communications, tactical maneuvers and
strategy were planned and carried out via the network.
>
> But Iowa's network has not been given an easy ride by the State
Legislature.
>
> There was heavy opposition from the state's telecommunications industry,
which said that with more than 150 long-distance phone companies already
operating in Iowa, the government should not get into the business as well.
But the network's proponents were able to convince the Legislature that to
provide service to the whole state, only the government would be willing to
wire areas that might not otherwise be profitable for private industry.
>
> But many of those involved agree that the state must form some sort of
partnership with the private sector at some point, expanding the network's
availability to private corporations. That same uneasy telecommunications
industry, however, still fears expanded competition from the state. And the
state wants to maintain its original vision of servicing all Iowans,
regardless of profitability. The solution, optimists say, is to transfer
some operations to the private sector but to have a state regulatory body
make sure that costs remain affordable and that the service area continues
to expand throughout the state.
>
> "To the extent that some sort of hybrid arrangement can promote growth
and still accommodate the public good, I would be for it," Dr. Kienzle
said.
>
> Economic development officials say they hope that a partnership will
allow the private sector all of the network's advantages and attract new
business to Iowa. But many officials are not so optimistic because other
states, like North Carolina and Wisconsin, have encountered problems with
similar arrangements.
>
> "While the state runs the network, we only have to break even and we're
not paying taxes and fees -- it's just cheaper," Thompson said. "If we turn
it over to a private carrier, in order for them to cover costs and then
profit, I'm afraid prices will get too high."
>
> Meanwhile, the Legislature has promised $3 million, largely for
subsidies, in the next fiscal year, and Thompson says the network's
technology will continue to push boundaries. That means that middle-school
students will continue to squirm at human innards, even when they are
halfway across the state.
>
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> Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company