Google High Speed Fiber Network in Fort Monmouth, NJ

Google High Speed Fiber Network in

Fort Monmouth/Monmouth County, New Jersey Area –

Ideas for economic redevelopment, reinvigoration, and facility reuse.

Company Opportunities –

The Monmouth County area has a rich culture and history in the fields of communication and innovation of high technology in general. Holmdel was once home to the historic Bell Labs complex for over forty-four years, which produced several Nobel Prize winning inventions and countless innovations that we still make use of today. Several locations including the old Camp Evans, the Deal Test Site, and Fort Monmouth have their historic roots with Marconi, RCA, Western Electric, AT&T, Lucent, the U.S. Army Signal Corps, General Electric, MIT Radiation Laboratory, Chrysler and many other innovative 20^th century technology companies. Radio towers, telegraphs, to LEDs, silicon transistors, night vision, and communication stations have been tested and improved upon in this area.

Currently, Fort Monmouth is on the BRAC. It is slated to be moved to Aberdeen, Maryland. This will inevitably lead to the loss of jobs if no major institutions or companies come to take the place of the Fort. Not only is the Army going to be leaving, but the contractors and support firms will assuredly also be moving along with them.

Although, this can be viewed as something that will negatively affect the economic makeup of the area, there is great opportunity for companies and institutions to take advantage of the technology and infrastructure left by the leaving Fort. Some facilities on Fort Monmouth currently house high speed fiber-optic networks as well as satellite ground station technology. Geothermal technology is also present on Fort Monmouth’s grounds, which could be used to efficiently heat and cool any new buildings or infrastructure that were to be built there. This would make a premiere place to create an East Coast communications and networking hub for the Internet as well as other communication devices and networks such as cell phones, cable television, and wireless Internet (3G, 4G as well as Wi-Fi and WiMax)

Why would this be a good choice for Google to test its experimental fiber network?

There are a plethora of reasons why this would be a great choice for Google as well as the surrounding communities. Infrastructure that could be used for the central hub of a fiber network is currently already present in some of the facilities on Fort Monmouth. Other technological improvements could be made, but for the most part, Google would gain access to a high-end market in very close proximity to New York City in which to test its experimental fiber network.

Besides its strategic location and advantage of current infrastructural technology already in place, the surrounding community would be welcoming Google with open arms in these tough times especially for the area. Many jobs and a great deal of revenue for the area will be lost with the removal of Fort Monmouth. Many highly skilled high technology workers for the government as well as private contractors will be staying in New Jersey rather than moving down to Aberdeen, Maryland, because they will not want to uproot their families. Monmouth County is actually one of the 50 wealthiest counties in the country, so there will definitely be a market for a super high speed fiber network service.

Colleges such as Monmouth University and Brookdale Community College are close by along with the Monmouth County Vocational School District Career Academies (some of the highest ranking schools in the nation), who would also provide facilities for Google to test their high bandwidth connections on a experimental basis (http://www.mcvsd.org/acad/).

Hopefully, Google, state, county, and local government officials will consider this high bandwidth experiment as an opportunity that should be fully explored. Please stay tuned as I update this blog with more information on Google's plans to launch experimental ultra-high speed broadband networks as well as the Fort Monmouth Revitalization Planning Authority's plans for the Fort Monmouth grounds.

- Patrick Rogers