First Post, Two Events

Tomorrow and Wednesday, a couple of important events for the future of the Carbondale to Cyberdale effort. On Tuesday, Sept. 14 at John A. Logan College, Southern Illinoisans can attract investments to our region by demonstrating our eagerness to adopt technologies that enable our businesses and workforce to compete in national and international markets. You can help by encouraging your colleagues, employees, and friends to attend the September 14th community technology training event at John A. Logan College.

This training event is sponsored in part by the Illinois Community Technology Fund, which is administered by a committee appointed by the Illinois Commerce Commission. (Registration is only $10 and includes a continental breakfast and lunch.) The conference will feature two local entrepreneurs who have succeeded in developing successful businesses utilizing computer technology.

For more information please download the PDF brochure.

Then on Wednesday, there's a meeting of the Carbondale to Cyberdale group where the topic will be: Fiber-based communication for Southern Illinois, presented by US Sonet. The breakfast will be served in the Dunn-Richmond Economic Development Center, 150 E. Pleasant Hill Road, Carbondale at 8 a.m.

This month's Carbondale to Cyberdale speakers will be John Andrews and Sue Andrews of US SONET. US SONET and Lightspeed Telecom have built a fiber-to-the-home business network in Salem, Illinois, providing high-speed Internet, cable TV, and telephone services. In the future, they plan to turn raw bandwidth into unified communications. If you've been reading about the rolling-out of optical services, you know that the integration of an IP-centric optical metro and dense wavelength division multiplexing architecture for voice, video, and data are here.

John and Sue will discuss this and how issues of multi-vendor, multi-technology convergence, and a mandate for the small business to leave the paper trail and communicate digitally, have prompted rural communities to demand high-speed access.

There is no cost for this event. Please RSVP to 453-3804, going to the website southerntech.org/cyberdale, or emailing stech@siu.edu.