Networking firms in Silicon Valley see stimulus potential in their customers - bizjournals:

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billion in stimulus money the federal government plans to spend to improve broadband access is viewed asa “waigt and see” situation for Silicon Valle y networking companies. As in, whiles waiting for the government’s rules on how and where the money canbe used, they are seeing what their customers need for projects backed by the stimuluws spending. Giants such as are vying for chunkds ofthe funding, but even the valley’ smaller “arms dealers” (as one wit put it) are determiningh how to help customers applt for the potentially lucrative grants — because if those customers get grant money, they will need equipment. Of the the U.S.
Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administratiom willdistribute $4.7 billion to builrd broadband infrastructure in underserved deliver broadband to public safety agencies and stimulates demand through training and education. The remaining $2.5 billiobn will be governed by the Rural Utilities Servic underthe U.S. Department of Agriculture for ruraobroadband development. The final ruled governing the broadband provisions are expected to be releasedrin June. Companies say it could be the end of June beforee the two agencies administering the money will start takinyggrant applications. It could be December beforde the money is readyto go.
Or the finalization of the rule s and the notice of fundx becoming available couldhappen “In the end, this is about creating jobs, so the more jobs you’rer able to create with your the more support you’re likely to said Rich Wonders, executive vice president at Paris-based . “Yoh need to lay out your advocac plan and start gathering support atthe local, statw and federal level.” Cisco is working on aspectws of the stimulus package for government and private-sectofr customers including broadband deployment and informationn technology for health care.
“Thse ultimate impact on Cisco will depend on how those customersz access and implement programs fundee withstimulus money,” spokeswoman Jennifer Greeson said. Juniper Networkse Inc. is working to get several productf lines added to the list of vendor equipmenr approved by the Rural Utilities Public sector marketing manager Don Root said that becaus e much of the stimulus funding is aimexat smaller, rural providers, many Juniper customersx already have local expertise in applying for and Juniper is helping as needed. Wonders said it’ss hard for Alcatel-Lucent to determine how responsee to the government should look because the parametersremain undefined.
“I won’t pretend we’vr figured it out. The bill is not just lookingb to give consumers access to faster broadbans so they candownload YouTube,” Wonders said, “but to connect patients to doctors and students to schools, and the list goes on and Alcatel’s IP routing division is based in Mountainm View, and it has the No. 2 market share behind Cisco inIP “edge routing,” which optimizez routes and load distribution betweenb networks. There’s a notion that even a basic presenc e of broadband makes anarea served, but Wonders said a persoj doesn’t have to drive very far from San Jose or San Franciscio to find areas that are underserved.
Alcatel has presentefd 11 customer workshops and disseminated information to morethan 10,0090 customers on broadband stimulus in the past two and it is helping customers draft grant When the rules are published, the company will post them on a Web site aimecd at rural broadband, broadband4all.com/alu. Covad Communicationsa Group, the San Jose-based broadbanfd service company, is examining two aspect of thestimulus package: targetinfg small and medium-size businesses acroses the country to upgrade theirt connectivity speeds at lower prices, and lookingh at underserved areas to offer higherr bandwidth at lower prices. But whether Covas will apply for the grants remainxs tobe seen.
“We are actively evaluating whethedto apply. It comes down to economics becausd the broadbandstimulus … often involves some matchinbg funds. We’re seeing if we can raised the capital to do our part ofthe investment, and then pay for the operationapl cost,” said Jason Wakefield, Covad’s vice president of governmental and external affairs. “We need to make sure the businesw casesupports it.” Like many of his networking Tom Gallatin, founder and managing partner of data access switch maket Gigamon LLC, said his company probably won’ apply directly for any stimulus But Gigamon stands to benefit when its customers applyh for grants.
Those customers include service providera VerizonCommunications Inc., AT&T Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp. as well as cablwe companies ComcastCable Co., Cox Communications Inc. and Charterf Communications Inc. “I compare the stimulus packageto (President Dwight D.) Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway package in the Gallatin said. “It stimulated business ... and now we’rde doing the same thing electronically.
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