Current data from the FCC indicate that approximately 19 million residents in the United States lack access to recommended Internet service levels (25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload speed). Sadly, our rural residents bear the brunt of the burden and roughly 25% lack access. To tackle the issue, Revolution D has developed an innovative approach using ESRI ArcGIS, IBM Maximo and IBM Watson. As part of the project, Revolution D is engaging students from the University of South Carolina to help rural residents gain internet access one municipality at a time.
"Watson allows us study this massive dataset and predict not only where technology or where telecom assets need to exist, but also to predict in the future, as population grows and changes, where we need to move those in the future," explains Jim Stritzinger, President & CEO, Revolution D.