Welcome to the author page of Drew Clark, Chairman, BroadbandBreakfast.com
About: The founder of BroadbandCensus.com and BroadbandBreakfast.com, Drew has a long-standing reputation for fairness and depth in his coverage of the telecom and technology industries. He worked for the National Journal Group for eight years in a variety of editorial capacities, and ran the telecommunications and media ownership project of the Center for Public Integrity. He has written widely on the politics of telecom, media and technology for a variety of publications, including The Washington Post, GigaOm, Slate, and Ars Technica. He is currently on leave from day-to-day responsibilities at Broadband Census LLC, and is serving as Executive Director of the Partnership for a Connected Illinois. Email:drew@broadbandcensus.com Website:http://broadbandbreakfast.com
SPRINGFIELD, Illinois, and WASHINGTON, February 25, 2010 – Connect Illinois, a non-profit organization that includes partnerships with Southern Illinois University, Man-Tra-Con, and Connected Nation, on Thursday announced Drew Clark as its new Executive Director.
Clark, the founder of BroadbandCensus.com and an experienced, independent telecom industry analyst, brings a unique public interest perspective to broadband data collection, which is vital to the effective deployment of high-speed internet networks throughout the United States.
“I’m glad that our team of broadband experts is moving forward to help achieve the ambitious vision for a public, transparent map of technology infrastructure that President Obama and I share,” said Governor Pat Quinn. A long-time advocate of improving broadband access in Illinois, Governor Quinn has worked with public and private partners over many years to ensure connectivity in all areas.
WASHINGTON, February 11, 2010 – Broadband Census News LLC on Thursday released, for FREE, the full-length video of the Broadband Breakfast Club event on February 9, 2010: “Setting the Table for the National Broadband Plan: Collecting and Using Broadband Data.”
WASHINGTON, February 10, 2010 – Google shook up the broadband world on Wednesday with the announcement, on its blog, that it plans to offer super-fast broadband, at speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second, to up to 500,000 homes.
Google framed its entrance into the marketplace to deploy fiber-optic services as a “testbed” to understand more about the way that consumers and businesses use internet applications when truly high-speed services are available.
“We’ll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections,” said Minnie Ingersoll and James Kelly, project managers at Google. “We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.”
WASHINGTON, February 5, 2010 – The Commerce Department on Friday announced two additional broadband stimulus funding grants: $5.9 million to the South Carolina Technical College System, and $1.2 million to a consortium of Rhode Island’s 71 public libraries.
Both grants were made under the portion of funds — $50 million in the first round of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program — earmarked by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration for public computing centers.
“Thanks to this funding, public computer centers and computer labs throughout the state of South Carolina will be able to serve more than twice the current number of users,” Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said in a statement.
WASHINGTON, February 2, 2010 – The Rural Utilities Service of the Agriculture Department on Monday posted its guide to applying for grants awarded through the Broadband Infrastructure Program, or its portion of the broadband stimulus effort.
The documents, posted on the “information library” portion of the BroadbandUSA web site, include the templates necessary to apply for RUS grants under the broadband stimulus program.
The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is responsible for the bulk of the broadband grants under its Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, has not yet posted its application guide.
WASHINGTON, February 2, 2010 – A cast of key experts on the issue of collecting and using broadband data -including two key officials at the Federal Communications Commission, plus a former agency chief economist – have confirmed their participation in the Broadband Breakfast Club on Tuesday, February 9, 2010, from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
The event is titled “Setting the Table for the National Broadband Plan: Collecting and Using Broadband Data,” and will be keynoted by Paul de Sa, Chief of Office of Strategic Planning & Policy Analysis at the FCC. The division is widely regarded as the agency’s internal “think tank” on dealing with forward-looking issues, particularly broadband.
WASHINGTON, January 27, 2010 – Broadband Census News LLC on Wednesday released, for FREE, the full-length video of the BroadbandBreakfast.com event on January 19, 2010: The Town Hall Webcast on the topic of “Net Neutrality, Copyright Protection and the National Broadband Plan.”
The event, moderated by Kim Hart of The Hill and Drew Clark of BroadbandBreakfast.com, begins with an introductory welcome by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, and is followed by two panels, the first focused on technolgy, and the second focused on policy.
WASHINGTON, January 21, 2010 – Today’s edition of The New York Times includes a story about internet speed tests, including BroadbandCensus.com, and the various approaches that each of the major providers take in offering speed tests.
The piece, “How Fast is Your Web Connection?” by Peter Wayner, includes ISPGeeks.com, Toast.net, VisualWare, Pingtest.net, and DSLReports.com, along with BroadbandCensus.com.
WASHINGTON, January 20, 2010 – The National Telecommunications and Information Administration on Wednesday continued its rolling award of broadband stimulus grants, doling out $63 million for four broadband grants in Massachusetts, Michigan and North Carolina.
With the announcements, the NTIA and the Rural Utilities Service have awarded $253 million in broadband stimulus grants, or about 3.5 percent of the total broadband stimulus funds. The money has been spent on 23 projects so far, or an average of $11 million per grant.
The largest winners in Tuesday’s announcements were the Merit Network in Michigan, which won $33 million; and MCNC in North Carolina, which won $28.2 million. Both were for infrastructure grants to build fiber-optic networks within their states, connecting households and anchor institutions to broadband facilities.
WASHINGTON, January 18, 2010 – Monday is the last day to register to attend BroadbandBreakfast.com’s Town Hall Webcast on “Net Neutrality, Copyright Protection and the National Broadband Plan,” which takes place tomorrow, or on Tuesday, January 19, 2010, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Register at http://ipbreakfast.eventbrite.com.
