Civitium Helps North Georgia Network Cooperative Land $33 Million Broadband Stimulus Award with Vice President Biden Making the Award Personally

/PRNewswire/ -- Vice President Joseph Biden presented a $33 million federal grant award to the North Georgia Network Cooperative (NGN) today. Under the direction of the Development Authority of Lumpkin County, Ga., Civitium led the development of the project from inception through feasibility, network design, organizational structure, financial planning and grant preparation.

Civitium, a specialized consulting firm focused on the planning and management of next-generation broadband networks, worked with leaders throughout north Georgia since early 2008 to develop and mature the project. The firm also supported NGN during an intense due diligence phase with the NTIA.

"This project has the potential to transform north Georgia's economic development potential," said Greg Richardson, founder and managing partner for Civitium. "We are honored to have played a part in helping NGN reach this important milestone."

Civitium's skill in the public, private and nonprofit broadband sectors helped produce a collaborative model that leverages the strengths of numerous stakeholders. The network relies on the resources of local electric utilities for customer service and network operations and incorporates an advisory board of economic development and public benefit organizations. The project is highly efficient, making use of existing fiber where available.

Bruce Abraham, executive director of the Development Authority of Lumpkin County, the lead public agency for the project, stated, "We couldn't have reached this point without the advice and assistance of the Civitium team. Their passion, commitment, expertise and problem-solving ability is unparalleled in my 20-plus years of experience."

The NGN network will traverse twelve counties in north Georgia, providing a backbone that directly connects to the southeast's largest Internet exchange in Atlanta. The network will serve dozens of anchor institutions along this backbone, including public schools, local governments, technical colleges, large businesses, healthcare providers and other organizations with high-bandwidth needs. In addition, it will offer advanced fiber-to-the-home services in key underserved areas. Finally, the network will adhere to so-called open access principles, insuring that any cable, DSL, or wireless operator will be able to interconnect and extend their own services throughout the region.

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New Blog Network Helps Readers Enjoy Their City's Attractions, Concerts, and Restaurants 'On the Cheap'

/PRNewswire/ -- Motivated by the current coupon-clipping climate, writers across the U.S. and Canada have pulled together to help friends and neighbors get out and about on the cheap. Cities on the Cheap, http://www.citiesonthecheap.com/, is the hub for a rapidly growing network of "On the Cheap" blogs. Each blog, which is independently owned and operated, highlights city-specific freebies, discounts and deals.

The blogs are the brainchild of Atlanta writer Jennifer Maciejewski, who began with a blog for the Atlanta area, http://www.atlantaonthecheap.com/. "I started out just looking for ways to help my family see and do more in Atlanta for less, but the deals I found were too good to keep to myself," Maciejewski says. "I created Atlanta on the Cheap to spread the word."

After launching the Atlanta blog, Maciejewski shared her idea on a networking site for professional writers and invited other writers to start "On the Cheap" blogs for their cities. The idea took off.

"Although a myriad of money-saving blogs exist, most focus on reaching a national U.S. audience, offering readers few, if any, city-specific deals," Maciejewski says. "Cities on the Cheap fills this niche."

Cities on the Cheap now includes more than 40 city blogs in the U.S. and Canada, with more in development.

In the past month, thrifty readers of the individual "On the Cheap" blogs have learned about free dance performances, concerts, art workshops, coffee, breakfast, poetry slams and movie passes. That's in addition to dozens of deals on everything from Broadway shows to sporting events.

To celebrate its official launch, both the Cities on the Cheap hub and some of the local "on the cheap" sites are hosting giveaways, including CityPass booklets, movie tickets, books, and more.

The Cities on the Cheap network includes blogs in Albuquerque, Atlanta, Big Island, Birmingham (March 12), Boulder, Charlotte, Chattanooga (March 12), Chicago, Denver, Des Moines, Florida Keys, Florida Panhandle (March 12), Fort Lauderdale, Fort Worth, Gainesville, Gatlinburg, Gold Country, Honolulu, Houston, Hudson Valley, Indianapolis (April '09), Jersey Shore (April '09), Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Mobile (March 12), Montreal, Napa, New Orleans, Northeast Georgia (March 12), Palm Beach, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego (April '09), San Francisco, Santa Fe, Sarasota, Seattle, Sonoma, Tampa Bay, Taos (April '09), Toronto, Tucson, and Western North Carolina. One specialty site, Disney on the Cheap, focuses on deals for visiting the Florida theme parks, and the other, Florida on the Cheap, focuses on Florida's tourist attractions.

In addition, writers are currently developing sites for Calgary, the Caribbean, Manhattan, Maui, Milwaukee, Orlando, St. Louis, West Virginia, and others.

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Georgia State Professor Studies New Approach to Cyber Defense

Georgia State University’s Raheem Beyah is exploring innovative ways to keep computer networks secure from potential attackers.

The assistant professor of computer science has received a five-year, $400,000 Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program grant from the National Science Foundation to explore methods to better detect cyber activity that could do great harm to individuals, organizations, businesses and government.

There are two ways to approach intrusion detection — either on the computers themselves, such as antivirus and firewall software, or having a detection program on a network that observes intrusions.

Both have their benefits, but there are detractions for each method.

“The software itself on a computer can damage the device, or it can open up new avenues for attackers to access the system,” Beyah explained. “If you have intrusion detection on a network, this is mitigated, but it does not give you the same level of detail about intrusions compared with methods residing on the host.”

Attempting to find the intrusion could be as harmful as the intrusion itself, a situation Beyah compares to a biopsy in cancer patients.

“It would be really nice if they could use a non-intrusive tool to tell whether you have cancer without having to cut into the body,” he said.

“My goal is to do something to bridge between the two detection methods, and to give us the strengths of both while minimizing the weaknesses.”

In addition to security research, Beyah plans to reach out to underrepresented groups in science, mathematics, technology, and engineering subjects — including minorities and females — through a summer academy which will help teach students about computer architecture and networking.

The Acknowledge Academy at the Knowledge Is Power Program West Atlanta Young Scholars (KIPP WAYS) Academy, a preparatory charter school of the Atlanta Public Schools will give students hands-on experience in these abstract subjects by using popular electronics.

“We hope to use devices like the iPod Touch to let the students break them open to look at the processors and memory,” said Beyah, who is on the board of directors of KIPP WAYS.
“Hopefully, they'll learn that there's science behind all of this cool stuff they use.”

Previous Georgia State Computer Science CAREER recipients include assistant professors Yingshu Li and Xiaojun Cao. Li is researching routing problems in sensor networks, while Cao is investigating optical networking.

For more about computer science and research at Georgia State, visit www.cs.gsu.edu.

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