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Tilson President Speaks on Ultra High Speed Broadband in the Innovation Economy

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Colin Haley

Joshua Broder of Tilson Technology Management

Recently, Josh Broder, President of Tilson Technology Management, spoke to an audience at a TEDxDirigo event regarding the changing economy and the importance of driving innovation in Maine and nationally, something that we at GWI feel strongly about.

One of the key points that Josh touched on is that our economy is evolving from the old, industrial economy to an information economy and just as our parents and grandparents had to build the infrastructure of manufacturing and moving goods, we must create an infrastructure that is supportive of innovation. He describes that we are still manufacturing, but it is new content that we as a nation are creating more readily rather than the traditional goods such as paper or shoes.

Josh ties all this together to promote the importance of broadband to this new American economy. He cites that today’s consumers, from the teenage gamer to the home business owner, all require ultra high speed broadband connections to work and play. Relating this need to the need for a brewer to have good water, Josh explains that without the appropriate connections, consumers will be unable to spread their innovative content and ideas nationally and globally.

This, as Josh points out, is the problem. He refers to this lack of symmetric, high-speed connections as an intellectual trade imbalance, where unique and innovative content is being downloaded but not uploaded, mostly due to Internet speeds. We need to both consume and download content, but more importantly, we need to be able to upload and share our work with the world outside of the Maine border.

Josh’s solution to this problem is Fiber to the Premise (FTTP). New age, ultra high speed networks have to be developed to support our new economy, replacing old, legacy networks that were not built to sustain the amount of information passed to and from the consumer.

We at GWI recognize this problem, which is why we began our Gigabit Main Street effort in Old Town and Orono. In order to promote innovation and next generation ideas, we need to build a network infrastructure that can support it. This will allow Mainers to both consume and produce content fast and reliably, keeping our great state economically competitive in the rapidly changing information age.