Granholm to Meet with Google in California, Pitch Michigan for Fiber Optic Network Trial
Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today will meet with officials at Google in California to thank them for their ongoing investment in Michigan and encourage the company to include the state in the testing of Google fiber, its new ultra-high speed fiber optic broadband network. Earlier today, Granholm met with venture capitalists and high-tech company representatives in Menlo Park in an effort to persuade them to bring investment and business to Michigan.
Google has asked communities around the nation to submit proposals by March 26 for consideration as a trial location for the Google fiber network. It is expected to deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today. The fiber-to-the-home connections of more than 1 gigabit per second will be offered at a competitive price to a community of at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.
“Google fiber is a perfect fit here as no state can match the exploding new technology investment in Michigan in recent years,” Granholm said. “Google fiber would spark economic activity and job creation here as Michigan entrepreneurs and businesses stand to gain enormous advantages through this extraordinary innovation.”
Granholm is encouraging Michigan communities to submit applications for the trial network with several already in the works including, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, and Lansing/East Lansing. Those applications are being supported by citizens through social-media sites, including Facebook and Twitter.
In July 2006, Google announced it would open a sales and operations center for Google’s AdWords, an online advertising program, in the Ann Arbor area that employs approximately 250 people with hiring ongoing. At the time of the 2006 announcement, Larry Page, co-founder of Google and a Michigan native said, “We’re delighted to open a new office in the Ann Arbor area. We hope to establish as wonderful a home in Michigan for Google as I enjoyed while growing up.”
For more information on the Google fiber network, citizens can visit the Google fiber Web site: http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/ . Citizens and municipal officials can visit the site to express support for Google fiber in their communities.
The governor also is meeting today with California-based venture capitalists and high-tech company representatives at a luncheon roundtable to ask them to consider bringing their investments and companies to Michigan.
“Companies are choosing to invest and grow in Michigan because it’s a great state in which to do business,” Granholm said. “From solar products and advanced batteries to military equipment and software, we are creating a diversified economy where firms across a wide spectrum of industries are finding success and growing new jobs. Michigan is a welcoming environment for a high-tech company, with an abundant supply of technical and engineering talent and a world-class university research apparatus enabling entrepreneurs to develop and transfer technology to the marketplace.”
The venture capitalists attending today’s roundtable are Michigan natives or attended college in the state. University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman sent a personal invitation to a dozen of the university’s most accomplished and dedicated graduates in the venture capital and entrepreneurial community.
