Grant brings faster Web connection to Rock River Valley

Saturday, September 18, 2010 By: Brian Leaf

ROCKFORD —A fiber-optic network promising speedy Internet connections is coming to the region, and federal stimulus dollars will pay for it after all.
 
After missing out during the first round of stimulus funding last year, the region will benefit from the largest grant in the history of Northern Illinois University, $68.5 million. It will pay for an 870-mile broadband network through nine northern Illinois counties, including Winnebago and Boone.
 
Gov. Pat Quinn and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., are among officials gathering Saturday at Chicago Rockford International Airport to talk about the grant, $46.1 million of which is from the second round of federal stimulus spending for broadband. As part of the package, the state will kick in $14 million, while the remaining $8.4 million is from local governments, agencies and businesses from the region.
 
John Lewis, associate vice president at NIU, said when the system is built, northwest Illinois will be one of the most wired rural regions in the country.
 
Lewis said it will be especially valuable to companies in small towns, which can’t go after contracts with larger companies because they can’t do business electronically.
 
“Say you’ve got a small manufacturer in Elizabeth,” he said. “With this in place, they can now download the engineering drawings that General Electric is sending out for bid, do all of the CAD drawings from Elizabeth and upload them for their bid. That cannot be done now.”
 
The network could help attract new business, such as Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, which is considering the Rockford airport as a site for a residential campus and flight school.
 
“We don’t know exactly what they need,” said Janyce Fadden, president of the Rockford Area Economic Development Council, “but we do know that they need great broadband access. This will bring the latest broadband and technology access to Embry-Riddle.”
 
Last year the Greater Rockford Fiber Optic System sought and was denied a stimulus application for $71 million to build a network covering 1,400 square miles in Winnebago, Boone and McHenry counties.