Created in 1940 as a non-profit, non-partisan organization, the American Public Power Association is the service organization for the nation's community-owned electric utilities. APPA's more than 2,000 members serve more than 43 million Americans. Its purpose is to advance the public policy interests of its members and their consumers, and provide member services to ensure adequate, reliable electricity at a reasonable price with the proper protection of the environment.
Based on the principle that interoperability between networks is good not only for customers but for carriers, vendors, and service providers, BreedNed, launching this spring, is the national association for open networks in the Netherlands. The members of BreedNed include organizations that are more often found in competition, such as incumbent telecommuncations companies and cable companies, as well as public and private entities working to advance next-generation broadband networks.
The BPLIA is a trade association representing the interests of bodies promoting power line communications. Founding membership of the BPLIA includes electric utilities that collectively serve more than 9 million U.S. households and more than 27 million households worldwide.
The catalyst for the digital revitalization of metro markets across America, DynamicCity creates community-owned, open service provider networks that deliver true broadband connections, service provider independence, and life-enhancing services to residents and businesses. Founded in 2000, DynamicCity enables communities to obtain and offer affordable advanced communications services that are essential to economic development in the 21st century.
Eurocities is an association of local governments in more than 120 large cities in more than 30 European countries. Among its working groups is one to promote the development of the "Knowledge Society" through the provision of affordable and high-quality broadband Internet access.
The Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council is a non-profit organization established in 2001 to educate the public on the opportunities and benefits of FTTH solutions. FTTH Council members represent all areas of broadband industries, including telecommunications, computing, networking, system integration, engineering, and content-provider companies, as well as traditional telecommunications service providers, utilities, and municipalities.
Established in 1914, ICMA is the professional and educational organization for chief appointed managers, administrators, and assistants in cities, towns, counties, and regional entities throughout the world. The ICMA provides technical and management assistance, training, and information resources to its almost 8,000 members and to the local government community. Decisions by ICMA members directly affect more than 100 million individuals in thousands of communities – from small towns with populations of a few hundred to metropolitan areas with several million.
The aim of INEC is to promote, facilitate, and institutionalize cooperation among e-community projects around the world by means of exchange, best-practice programs, business development, missions, benchmarking tools, and joint project implementation. It was set up by the Dutch government and originally called the "Smart Community International Network." Founder members were The City of Stockholm, Sweden; Kenniswijk, the Netherlands; and the Multimedia Super Corridor, Malaysia. Other members include Utopia (Utah), the largest fiber-to-the-home project currently being implemented in the United States; Dubai Internet City; and PortoDigital in Recife, Brazil.
The National Association of Counties (NACo) was created in 1935 when county officials wanted to have a strong voice in the nation's capital. More than six decades later, NACo continues to ensure that the nation's 3,066 counties are heard and understood in the White House and the halls of Congress. NACo's membership totals more than 2,000 counties, representing over 80 percent of the nation's population.
The National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) is a national association that represents the communications needs and interests of local governments and those who advise local governments. Its membership is predominately composed of local government agencies, local government staff, and public officials, as well as consultants, attorneys, and engineers who consult local governments on their telecommunications needs.
The National League of Cities is the oldest and largest national organization representing municipal governments throughout the United States. Its mission is to strengthen and promote cities as centers of opportunity, leadership, and governance. Working in partnership with the 49 state municipal leagues, the National League of Cities serves as a resource to and an advocate for the more than 18,000 cities, villages, and towns it represents. More than 1,600 municipalities of all sizes pay dues to NLC and actively participate as leaders and voting members in the organization.
Netherlands Citylink Foundation
CityLink is a network of 11 Dutch cities that are experimenting on a large scale with the possibilities of information and communications technology for education, healthcare, citizen participation, and government services. The goal of the organization is to share experiences and gain new insights and fresh ideas on the impact and development of new broadband networks in the member cities.
OPLAN stands for "open public local access networks." The OPLAN Foundation says it's an independent, non-political, and not-for-profit organization that seeks to build greater and wider awareness and understanding of the massive social and economic benefits that OPLANs will deliver to their communities.
Begun in 2003, the Unwire Portland effort reached its first milestone in December 2006, with MetroFi's completion of its initial "proof of concept" network in downtown Portland. Eventually the wireless mesh network will cover 135 square miles, providing the City of Portland with communications services, as well as free citywide Internet access for people within the city limits.
The Public Technology Institute is a national, member-supported organization based in Washington, D.C. As the only technology organization created by and for cities and counties, PTI works with a core network of leading local government officials – the PTI membership – to create technology research, best practices, consultancies, and pilots, to promote development initiatives and enhance educational programming. Officials from PTI member governments participate in Councils and Forums that address specific technology areas. Through partnerships with the technology industry, federal agencies, and other governmental organizations, PTI shares the results of these activities and the expertise of its members with the broader audience of the more than 30,000 cities and counties across the United States.
RBC was formed due to concerns that rural America is being left behind in the national proliferation of advanced communication services. RBC believes in open access, competition and innovation in the technology marketplace, and is working to promote those goals at a federal level. Through its diverse membership, RBC hopes to become the dominant force in promoting policies that encourage the rapid deployment of broadband and backbone facilities – closing the "digital divide" between urban and rural communities and increase rural America's presence in the global economy.
Save Muni Wireless is a coalition of Texas organizations and citizens concerned about the provisions in Texas House Bill 789 that effectively ban municipal wireless networks by outlawing any municipal involvement in networks or information services. We are working to ensure that HB 789 supports competition and innovation and helps Texans, not just the incumbent communication providers.
Established in 1998, the Swedish Urban Networks Association is a non-profit trade association for network owners who are actively engaged in the development of broadband infrastructure. Our members include local authorities and companies that own or operate communications networks accessible by everyone. The mission of the Association is to make it easier for members to meet the challenges facing them in all areas, in order to create a sound infrastructure for the benefit of all of Sweden.
TeleCommUnity is an alliance of local governments and their associations that are attempting to refocus attention in Washington on the principles of federalism and community for local government interests in telecommunications. It advocates for local governments’ interests on matters of federal telecommunications and broadband legislation that affect their authority, use and control over public lands and rights-of-way, zoning, and public use of frequency spectrum. Among these interests are reasonable compensation for use of public real property rights by telecommunications, cable, and broadband companies. The alliance participates in lobbying, media education, and citizen outreach on these issues.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are 1,139 such cities in the country today. The primary roles of the Conference are to promote the development of effective national urban/suburban policies; strengthen federal-city relationships; ensure that federal policy meets urban needs; provide mayors with leadership and management tools; and create a forum in which mayors can share ideas and information. The Conference has taken a leadership role in ensuring that municipalities are fairly compensated for rights-of-way in the installation of wireless broadband networks.
The World Foundation for Smart Communities is a nonprofit educational organization founded to promote the concept and facilitate the implementation of "smart communities" – communities using information technology as a catalyst for transforming life and work to meet the challenge of the new millennium. Founded in 1997, the Foundation operates in partnership with the California Institute for Smart Communities at San Diego State University. The Institute chaired and staffed the first City of the Future initiative in 1992, wrote the Smart Communities Guidebook, and developed the smart communities program for the state of California in 1996.
The blogs and comments are the opinions only of the writers and do not reflect the views of Light Reading. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
To save this item to your list of favorite Light Reading content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Single Backbone Solution - by Huawei 8/30/2010
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit