[1st-mile-nm] Navajo Nation opens Shiprock data center

[Richard Lowenberg]

Navajo data center to spread wireless Internet

Wednesday, August 14, 2013
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/article_62678ffc-01dd-5c22-aa87-e4e847075e77.html?TNNoMobile
Associated Press

FARMINGTON — The Navajo Nation is in the final testing phases of a 
project that will make wireless Internet available to a majority of 
people on the vast reservation.

Tribal officials attending the opening of an $8 million commercial data 
center on Tuesday recalled how a teenage girl who had won a laptop 
computer in a school contest wasn’t able to connect to the Internet 
because she had no phone line at home and how residents in isolated 
communities climb mesas in search of cellphone service.

They opened up a laptop in the northwestern New Mexico community of 
Shiprock, quickly connected to the Internet and played a video for the 
audience, the Farmington Daily Times reported. Broadband service soon 
should be accessible to 30,000 homes, 1,000 business and 1,100 community 
institutions across the reservation.

“The Navajo Nation, like most rural areas, faces considerable 
challenges regarding telecommunications services,” said Navajo Tribal 
Utility Authority general manager Walter Haase. “With the opening of 
this facility, we have set the stage to allow high-quality, reliable 
telecommunications and data center services in the Navajo Nation that 
will enable information and communication flow throughout the region.”

NTUA spokeswoman Deenise Becenti said Wednesday that Internet service 
will be available to residents later this fall.

For now, businesses and organizations that want to rent server capacity 
from the data center can do so.

The tribal authority partnered with a wholesale wireless provider in 
2011 to upgrade telecommunications services on the Navajo Nation. The 
tribe has majority ownership of the venture, NTUA Wireless LLC., while 
Commnet Wireless owns the rest.

The agreement built on work the two entities did to secure $32 million 
in stimulus funds for the $46 million high-speed network.

NTUA board chairman Sidney Bob Dietz II was skeptical at first of the 
Navajo Nation getting into the telecommunications business, but now 
envisions an economy bolstered by the project that also could provide 
jobs for Navajo youth.

Tribal officials also have been touting anticipated benefits in health 
care, education and emergency response services.

“We need these things for our young folks,” he said.

The 3G mobile and 4G broadband services was deployed east to west 
across the reservation through hundreds of lines of new fiber optic 
cables and dozens of microwave towers. The network blankets almost half 
of the reservation’s 27,000 square miles.

Becenti said the goal is to further strengthen the network by 
continuing to build it out and “reach the pockets we didn’t get to.”

-------

Navajo Nation opens Shiprock data center
Facility promises to connect Navajos

By Chuck Slothower The Daily Times

Updated:   08/14/2013

http://www.daily-times.com/four_corners-news/ci_23856468/navajo-nation-opens-shiprock-data-center?IADID=Search-www.daily-times.com-www.daily-times.com

(See article for photos)

SHIPROCK — When President Bill Clinton visited Shiprock in April 2000, 
he met a 13-year-old Navajo girl who had won a laptop computer through a 
school contest. The president was stunned to learn that the girl could 
not connect to the Internet because she had no phone line at home, and 
wireless access was a distant dream.

At the opening of the Navajo Nation's new data center on Tuesday, 
officials opened a laptop on stage, quickly connected to the Internet 
and played a YouTube video without a hitch.

"Bill Clinton's dream is finally realized," said Walter Haase, general 
manager of the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority.

The NTUA on Tuesday hosted an invitation-only event at the secure data 
center in Shiprock. The $8 million facility will spread wireless 
Internet access to 70 percent of the Navajo population living on the 
reservation, tribal officials said.

"We also wanted to be able to connect areas that were not profitable or 
less profitable," Haase said.

The Navajo Nation retains control by owning 51 percent of the project 
through NTUA. Commnet Wireless owns the rest.

Arviso Construction Co. of Fort Wingate, a construction company owned 
by a Navajo family, was the lead contractor.

The data center is open for business to organizations that wish to rent 
server capacity from the NTUA.

"Clearly it's for the Navajo Nation as the data center, but it's for 
the Four Corners as well," said Mike Hazel, NTUA division manager.

Navajo President Ben Shelly said it's important for the tribe to 
maintain open markets on the reservation.

"I don't want to have one enterprise monopolize the Navajo Nation," 
Shelly said. "It's wrong."

He said the data center points to a more diverse business environment.

"We are now a technology nation, not just an energy nation," he said.

The data center is the only of its kind in the region. Located behind 
the NTAU's office building, the data center is surrounded by razor wire 
and has numerous other security features. The server room is kept at a 
constant temperature of 65 degrees and humidity is kept at 40 to 60 
percent.

NTAU board chairman Sidney Bob Dietz II said he was skeptical of the 
project at first.

"I was the most reluctant of any (board member) to go into the telecom 
business," he said. "I felt it might be outside our wheelhouse."

Dietz said he came around to the notion that the data center could spur 
economic development on the reservation and provide jobs for talented 
Navajo youths.

"We need these things for our young folks," he said. "We don't want 
them to leave and go to California like me or (Washington), D.C. or 
wherever they might go."

Johnny Naize, speaker of the Navajo Nation Council, recalled how 
residents of his isolated chapter, Tselani/Cottonwood, southwest of 
Chinle, Ariz., once climbed mesas in search of cell phone service before 
Cellular One built a site on an existing tower in the area.

Elderly residents are clamoring for Internet service, he said.

"It's our lifeline," Naize said.



--------------------------------------
Richard Lowenberg, Executive Dir.
1st-Mile Institute, 505-603-5200
P.O.Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
www.1st-mile.org  rl at 1st-mile.org
--------------------------------------