HOUGHTON - The Houghton County Board of Commissioners heard a presentation at their meeting Tuesday on a high-definition videoconferencing network that could drastically reduce Upper Peninsula business people's travel needs and offset the disadvantages of a remote location.
Kim Stoker, executive director of the Western Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Region, told the board Tuesday the feasibility study for U.P. Link had been completed.
Xeratec Corporation, which conducted the feasibility study, proposed 18 sites for videoconferencing networks. The network would stretch across the U.P., two counties in Wisconsin and Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. Stoker said it could be expanded to 172 sites, including Wisconsin and lower Michigan.
The sites would be positioned so that businesses would need no more than a 30- to 40-minute drive. Proposed access sites in the Copper Country are the MTEC SmartZone in Houghton and the Michigan Works! sites in L'Anse and Ontonagon. The Houghton site would also be one of three bridge sites for the network. Stoker said Smartzone Executive Director Carlton Crothers has purchased two units already, including one at the Lakeshore Center.
People could find the nearest location at the U.P. Link website, linkupmichigan.com, and sign up for time.
"Everybody in our community would be able to go online and schedule a meeting," Stoker said.
The site would be equipped with two 55-inch monitors, Stoker said, one of which could be used for data.
The initial price for videoconferencing would be about $99 per hour. If used and marketed properly, that could drop to $25 an hour, Stoker said.
Houghton County, WUPPDR and MTEC SmartZone developed the program with the aid of a Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant from the Department of Labor and Economic Growth.
Travel to and from the Upper Peninsula can be costly. Stoker recalled being in a group of four that had to travel to Chicago to give an hour-and-a-half presentation to the Economic Development Administration.
The U.P. Link network would save an estimated minimum of $905,000 in travel costs and 1.4 million pounds of carbon, the report stated.
Stoker said they are asking the EDA to help cover the start-up costs, estimated at about $1.6 million.
For more information, go to linkupmichigan.com.
