If you live in the Kansas City metro area, you’d have to have been hiding under a rock to have missed Google’s announcement last Wednesday. Google has selected Kansas City, Kansas (KCK) as the location to build a gigabit-fiber-to-the-subscriber network. This is of course a huge boost to KCK, but what does it do for the rest of the Kansas City metro area?
The entire Kansas City metro has an opportunity to use the Google spotlight to draw attention to the incredible resources we have: universities, the Kauffman Foundation, research centers, financial services, software companies, and the list goes on. Even though Kansas City has many resources for building high-tech businesses, we have had a hard time building the synergy to rapidly solidify and grow those businesses. Organizations like KC Hub and KC Next have come along to bring together the tech and entrepreneurial communities, but rapid large-scale growth seemed to be elusive. With Google’s megaphone and dollars behind the KCK venture, we have a truly unique opportunity to show how Kansas City can shine.
For those of us who understand the true business value of very-high-speed Internet at a low-cost, it is time to educate those around us. That work starts now.
Author
Jason Crowley
Jason founded INDIGEX in 2003 and continues to serve as President and Chief Innovation Officer.