First published in Blandin eNews…

Quite a year! What a busy year for broadband activity in Minnesota!!

• Our Blandin Foundation MIRC project is running on all cylinders; all of our partners are doing great work across greater Minnesota.  If you were at the recent Broadband Conference in Duluth, you could not help but get excited about all the projects, going from good to great through collaboration with state and local partners.
• Rural counties and townships are working aggressively to ensure that their communities meet the state broadband goal, always seeking partners with incumbent and neighboring providers, but not letting any barriers stop them.
• Stimulus projects are under construction with new advanced services to be delivered to bandwidth hungry customers in 2012.
• A new state broadband task force with an exciting mix of members is in place.
• New federal regulations and programs have been announced but their potential impacts are not yet understood.
• More communities are using the Intelligent Community framework to unite their broadband and economic development strategies.

Thanks to all the great leaders who are making these great things happen.  If you are reading this newsletter, you can look in the mirror and see one!