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Datacenter Gives Internet To 70 Percent of Navajo Nation
Nerval's Lobster writes "The Navajo Nation cut the ribbon August 13 on an $8 million data center that has been under debate and development since 2000, when then-President Bill Clinton expressed shock that a 13-year-old Navajo girl who just won a new laptop couldn't connect to the Internet. At the time that girl won the laptop in a school contest, the Navajo Nation--a 27,425 square-mile region that covers portions of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico--had barely any IT infrastructure. The incident helped drive debate among leaders of the Navajo Nation, many of whom said they believed adding telecommunications and computing facilities were secondary to other concerns for the chronically poverty stricken region. The 50,000-square-foot facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico includes 25,000-sq.-ft. of datacenter and an equal space for computer training and business incubation, according to Nova Corp., an IT services company owned by Navajo Nation and formed in 2004 to execute an IT plan to create the "Digital Navajo Nation" (PDF). The drive to get it built also helped push development of a $46 million broadband project designed to cover about half of Navajo territory with 550 miles of fiber, 32 new cell towers and upgrades to another 27. It will eventually connect more than 30,000 households and 1,000 businesses."
I was going to say let's hope this gift doesn't come with viruses like those lousy blankets, way back when, but we know it will.
To bring broadband to every high school in the country, especially rural ones. Sort of like the 1930s rural electrification initiative. Neighboring communities and business could jpiggy back on the school broadband. I do not know how well this succeeded in the past four years.
My understanding is that the Navajo Nation is as much a valid political entity as, say, the State of Wisconsin. Navajo Nation is almost but not completely unlike one of the 50 states in our Federal system. So if you Find and Replace "Wisconsin" into the parent post, it doesn't seem at all racist.
also cell based is really that good for fixed base users aka fixed homes / offices. Also fast will it be when all users on one tower all hit YouTube at the same time?
and now the NSA won't be able to read their email ...
Stereotype much, asshole?
Being a stereotype does not inherently make something false.
While there is always debate about whether something like this is the best way to spend money in a poverty stricken area, one way it could help is if "rural sourcing" got started in the Navajo nation. That could include things like software development and call center work. No, it's not for everybody, but when a few people start making better money in a poverty stricken area it sometimes has a positive feed back effect. The newly employed hire someone else to work on their house or their truck, buy other local services, that sort of thing.
P.S. Now for a couple of things that you know people are dying to say (or groan about).
1. Finally, software written by real Indians.
2. In the future I want real Apaches working on the Apache server (hey, at least the Navajos are a related people).
I got a on line survey from Potawatomi Bingo Casino about on line gameing it say that at this time they can't have a on line casino.
Well you started it AC. So let's see, their ancestors crossed the Bering Strait 20,000 years ago. Where were your ancestors back then?
I guess you have made a very strong case for Africa for Africans since THOSE were "always there".
But no-one else has a historic claim to their lands, right?
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
It's great they want to connect the Navajo Nation, but the real problem is that you have many homes there that don't have running water or electricity, no less a computer. I just moved away from the area and knowing the Navajo government, this is just a project to generate more money for the government that will not go to the people. This data center will be leased out and none of the money will go to the people, or projects for the people.
What they really need to do is fix the tribal courts. Currently, if you do business there and get into a dispute with the tribal government, you are screwed. There is no guarantee they won't throw sovereign immunity in your face and tell you to go fuck yourself. There's a reason one of the first things the US Congress ever did was waive sovereign immunity for torts and contracts. It lets you do business with the government with the assurance that they can't just take their ball and go home...you at least get your day in court.
Yeah, Native Americans got shafted for a very, very long time, but now, they are just perpetuating their own problems. ISPs won't do business on the reservations because they have zero guarantee of anything. Garbage truck backs into a utility pole? Good luck recovering damages.
That 13 year old girl doubled her lifetime waiting for the net, and her laptop may be a little bit obsolete by now - they should give her an upgrade for starting all this :)
Are we supposed to applaud this? It sounds like a boondoggle.
I read the article, and read the PDF produced by the Navajo 'IT' group. They spent the past 13 years soliciting funds from the state and federal level. This is also another E-Rate disaster ( FCC based 'broadband' initiative that also 'successfully' hooked up 9 schools in Puerto Rico for 150 million ).
Obama wants to not increase cell phone taxes to give E-Rate even more funding.....
-Malakai
A Dragon Lives in my Garage
A rhetorical question that was, Yoda?
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
It has a direct impact on education. And try to get a decent job in today's world without knowing at least basic Internet use.
I would mod you up if I had the option. This happened to me too.
"Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
Well you started it AC. So let's see, their ancestors crossed the Bering Strait 20,000 years ago. Where were your ancestors back then?
I guess you have made a very strong case for Africa for Africans since THOSE were "always there".
But no-one else has a historic claim to their lands, right?
I've seen plenty of "American Holocaust" deniers in my time, but this AC is the first, I believe, to try and justify their ancestors actions by bringing up literal ancient history.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
How...?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
With low population density (i.e. user base) over a large region, its far more cost effective to run a few high bandwidth lines and provide wireless service. Cellular network bandwidth isn't that bad, e.g. people use their mobiles as hotspots - in city areas, which have a far higher density of wireless signals (leading to more interference, and also less available per person).
Unlimited access to worldwide knowledge and communication is will make a huge impact on education, employment potential and quality of life.
true a lot of the navajo res don't even have runny water
Seems like a lot to me. I tend to think that (1) it could have been done a lot cheaper (wireless?) and (2) if in fact it had to cost that much, then the money probably could have been spent better.
How about they put that casino loophole to good use and pay for their own goddamned infractructure.
And no, before anybody starts, they weren't 'always here'.
Casino investment is what Nova's been using prior funds for. I see this datacentre as a positive change.
So the question is... who is being called racist?
Right. Find someone with something of value and take it.
Have gnu, will travel.
And no, before anybody starts, they weren't 'always here'.
The only thing worse than bigotry is ignorant bigotry. 20,000 tears? If you knew anything about the Navajo you'd realize that they and their ancestors have been in the Southwest for "only" about 600 years. But you know how it is, after the first few centuries people start to act like they own the place.
Perhaps you don't know the history of the Americas, but when European settlers came they tended to push indigenous peoples out of their territory; eventually, the US government made the minimal concession of relinquishing territory in the form of reservations. The Navaho Nation is just that: an autonomous entity within the USA, organized much like similar entities within Canada. There is nothing racist about this, although the concept of a "Navajo Nation" is, by definition, both cultural and nationalist.
Consider yourself lucky that you weren't modded down to oblivion, because your thinking is a bit out of line with reality. This isn't like someone building infrastructure in a neighborhood just so the particular ethnic group in that neighborhood can use it-- you might have an argument there.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Maybe they'll spy on the NSA.
But no-one else has a historic claim to their lands, right?
Not if WalMart wants it.
Have gnu, will travel.
I'm thinking, "Why does one Datacenter have the power to give away control of the entire Internet, why on earth did they pick Navajo to give it to, and what did that unlucky 30% do to get left out of this sweet deal?"
Its a old newspaper trick (perfected IMHO by The Register), to use purposely confusing titles to induce the reader to read at least a bit of the article to figure out what's going on. In this case, two sentences in all was made clear, but by then I was reading. Bravo, Editors!
If they get something worth having, the white people will run them out of there and march them to some useless land. Probably Detroit.
Have gnu, will travel.
Ah, life.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
TCP/IP over smoke signals.
Have gnu, will travel.
Just wanted to post some fact check data here. I live 10 miles from the data center, was interviewed for a position there (turned down the consequent job offer) and am friends with the data center administrator. First of all, the article is incorrect - the data center is in Shiprock New Mexico on the Navajo Nation, NOT in Albuquerque. This is a 240+ mile difference. It's a common occurance that news articles written by people outside the area tend to make. Everyone not from New Mexico thinks that Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos are the only places in New Mexico. Also, the data center was not built with grant funds. The grant funds went towards the fiber optic project. NTUA, the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, invested their own capital to build the data center. In fact, what the ariticle does not make clear is that NTUA houses and manages the data center. What makes this unusual is that NTUA is the utility for the Navajo Nation (water, sewer, electricity, etc.). Building and running a data center is a little out of their core compentencies. Having said that, however, they've done an impressive job. The data center is state of the art and well built. They have power feeds from two different bulk electric utilities, two massive backup generators, two buildings of UPSs, and a state-of-the art NOC. What they don't have, in my humble opinion, is a completely fleshed out marketing team. But then I don't know exactly what their marketing strategy is anyway. As far as being racist goes, the only comment I've seen so far which I would say is blatantly racist is the one about "every liquor store in the region" putting up a website. That's kind of harsh, and is a really bad sterotype. Again, however, that's just my opinion. This is a free country after all.
They didn't have any casino's on the Navajo Nation until about two years ago. It was probably the one that held off the longest on building them, partially because they could never come to an agreement with the State of New Mexico, but mostly due to tribal opposition.
The bigger thing is that it will benefit those that have power... What many people don't realize though is that much of the reservation is like a third world country without running water or electricity!
The article title is poorly worded. A datacenter did not give the internet to 70% of the Navajo Nation.
That is just how I read it. My knee-jerk thought was to wonder how they would run my own ISP.
Made me read TFA anyway.
Or Portland...
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
If I want to know something, there's a good chance that I can learn it on the internet. It used to be that I had to go to a library to find information, sort through a card catalog for books that sound like they'd fit what I'm looking for, and actually do some serious research. Now? Pull up a search engine, and there's a good chance that I'll have the information I'm looking for in a matter of seconds.
"Thousands of years" ago, information was restricted by the practicality of reproducing it. That is, someone actually had to write out the scroll. Literacy wasn't common for most of the populace. Some 600 years ago, reproducing books became more practical, with the advent of movable type. It made more sense to have a more-educated populace. The Internet is another iteration on the ease of disseminating information. It makes finding information easier than books did before it. That being said, it's just another tool on the educational toolbelt.
Basically, you can't compare education millenia ago with education centuries ago. As the Internet leaves its infancy, you won't be able to compare learning and education a few decades from now to education a couple decades ago. The Internet allows so much higher ease of access to so much more information that a sensible comparison is difficult to make.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
The AC comment was definitely uncalled for and in poor taste.
However, I have a close relative who was a drug/alcohol counselor on a Native American reservation(not the Navajo) for several years back in the 80's. Unfortunately, alcohol has devastated many lives on the reservation. It is still a big problem.
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
Soon the Navajo will have better internet than the rest of the West!
Given what's out there on the internet, that ain't exactly a hard thing to do.
What good is served by spending all kinds of money to get "rural broadband"?
Seriously. What real societal good does broadband internet access bring? It's not anything like electricity, which has a direct impact on sanitation and health.
Oh for fuck's sake! Why did one of the first posts have to be the old "technology is useless to impoverished areas" trope? When are you people going to get it into your thick skulls that internet access and technical know-how are actually quite useful enablers of education and upward social mobility, hmm?
Drill baby drill - on Mars
true a lot of the navajo res don't even have runny water
Indeed. The government built some nice houses for the Navajos on the reservation and they lived in them for a bit but then moved back out to their hogans (pronounced ho-gones) because that is where they were most comfortable. The left the houses open and sheep/dogs/etc. wandered in and out.
They can take my LifeAlert pendant when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
... the white community--a 27,425 square-mile region that covers portions of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico ...
It is obvious that this is really about providing internet service to a particular geographical area; not specifically because of anyone's race. I'm not much of a fan of the reservation system, but there are many areas that are predominately populated by people of one ethnicity or another; it's not "racist" to provide them with services.
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
Your ancestors are Chinese?
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
No. That's "a fool and his money are soon parted". Are the gamblers being dragged bodily onto the reservations or did they happen upon them by chance?
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
If I want to know something, there's a good chance that I can learn it on the internet. It used to be that I had to go to a library to find information, sort through a card catalog for books that sound like they'd fit what I'm looking for, /quote> ... then find that 40% of them had been stolen, and the rest were woefully out of date. While I revere the concept of libraries, the reality has often been disappointing.