PRESS RELEASE:
Partnership with US Ignite is Expected to Yield Significant Technological Advancements and Economic Development Benefits for Region
RICHARDSON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Richardson Economic Development Partnership, a joint effort of the City of Richardson and Richardson Chamber of Commerce, today announced that it has partnered with The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) to join the US Ignite initiative. Through this partnership, Richardson and UT Dallas will explore opportunities to develop applications for access to an ultra-fast broadband network, uniquely positioning them to help North Texas-based companies, independent application developers, researchers and students in creating and testing innovative new applications requiring ultra-high bandwidth. Richardson and UT Dallas are the first public entities in Texas to sign on to the US Ignite initiative.
“UT Dallas welcomes the challenge of contributing through our strategic engagement with the City of Richardson in the US Ignite initiative. We believe we bring critical assets to the effort that will facilitate the adoption and implementation of innovative applications.”
US Ignite is a public/private partnership launched at the White House last June to encourage development of next-generation Internet applications that provide transformative public benefit. US Ignite is working to transform how the nation delivers healthcare, educates children, keeps communities safe, trains employees and manufactures goods. Richardson and UT Dallas will be introduced as a US Ignite partner at the US Ignite Application Summit taking place June 24-26 in Chicago.
Richardson’s and UT Dallas’ participation in US Ignite is expected to be a major stimulus for the creation of new, high-tech businesses locally, as well as a powerful factor attracting companies from around the world and US to Richardson. The partnership will learn and implement best practices from other US cities participating in the US Ignite program, in order to better expand ultra-high-speed, broadband internet to Richardson’s business and residential communities.
“Joining US Ignite creates far-reaching opportunities for Richardson and its corporate, academic and entrepreneurial partners in the community,” said Richardson Economic Development Partnership CEO Bill Sproull. “By becoming the first Texas municipal US Ignite partner and fostering advancement of this important national initiative, working hand-in-hand with UT Dallas, Richardson will further burnish its longstanding global reputation as the home of the Telecom Corridor® and as a hotbed of technological innovation and entrepreneurship.”
With Richardson’s large communications engineering technology workforce, its existing fiber optic infrastructure and its close proximity to the internet backbone, the community is especially well-positioned to take advantage of the new, next-generation, ultra-high-speed internet.
Using its technical infrastructure UT Dallas will explore opportunities to facilitate the community’s participation in the US Ignite initiative through a connection to the Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI) network. A UT Dallas GENI network connection can provide a testing environment suitable for high-bandwidth applications developed by the university’s researchers and students, as well as local third-party developers. UT Dallas currently has researchers developing software-defined network (SDN) technology, a cornerstone technology for the ultra-high speed internet, and can provide significant technical expertise to Richardson’s initiative. By providing virtually unlimited bandwidth for uploads and downloads, this GENI/SDN environment will ensure that applications can operate in real time and virtually instantaneously, allowing such functionality as uncompressed video streaming.
"Increasingly, the new knowledge that defines distinctive competitive advantages is created inside research universities,” said Dr. Don Hicks, UT Dallas professor and special assistant to the president. “UT Dallas welcomes the challenge of contributing through our strategic engagement with the City of Richardson in the US Ignite initiative. We believe we bring critical assets to the effort that will facilitate the adoption and implementation of innovative applications."
US Ignite has already assembled a long list of impressive partners, including the National Science Foundation, premier research institutions, network operators, entrepreneurs, large enterprises and cities across the country. To date, US Ignite and its partners have launched and begun to foster 20-25 applications projects nationwide, ranging from work on advanced manufacturing applications to new approaches for severe weather warning and response systems.
“We at US Ignite look forward to working with the Richardson Economic Development Partnership and The University of Texas at Dallas to bring next-generation applications and the jobs that will follow to the Richardson community,” said William Wallace, executive director of US Ignite.
The City of Richardson will seek to collaborate with current US Ignite sponsors such as Cisco, as well as other telecom industry leaders located in Richardson to create a smart and connected community. Specific details on the timeframe for the initiative will be announced shortly. Parties interested in participating in the Richardson US Ignite initiative or seeking more information should contact the Richardson Economic Development Partnership.
About the Richardson Economic Development Partnership
The Richardson Economic Development Partnership (REDP) is a joint effort of the City of Richardson and the Richardson Chamber of Commerce, dedicated to building a vibrant and thriving local economy by attracting new investment and jobs through marketing, recruitment and working with existing employers. The REDP offers numerous services to companies considering expansion or relocation to the Telecom Corridor® area, including international and domestic business relocation assistance and professional service provider referrals, site selection, broker and real estate referrals, cost of business analyses, incentives, partner and executive introductions, tours and city information. For more information, visit www.telecomcorridor.com.
About UT Dallas
The University of Texas at Dallas comprises seven schools and more than 130 degree programs. With a current enrollment of nearly 20,000 students and a world-class faculty that includes one Nobel laureate, members of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering and active, news-making researchers, UT Dallas aims to provide Texas and the nation with the benefits of educational and research programs of the highest quality.
About US Ignite
US Ignite fosters the creation of next-generation Internet applications that provide transformative public benefit. By engaging diverse public and private leaders we "ignite" the development and deployment of new apps with profound impact on how Americans work, live, learn and play. To learn more visit www.us-ignite.org.