November 2022

Sponsor 

Brookings

Date 
Thu, 12/15/2022 - 10:00 to 11:00

Fifth-generation (5G) wireless technology promises to deliver wonderous new capabilities ranging from smart cities, to smart factories, smart cars, and more. Moving from promise to reality will require those networks to be secure. The technology that enables 5G, however, brings with it two compounding cybersecurity challenges. First, the “virtualization” in software of network functions previously performed by hardware introduces the potential to hack that software.



Biden-Harris Administration Commits More Than $224 Million in High-Speed Internet Grants for Tribal Lands

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has awarded 18 grants as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP). These new grants, totaling $224,479,717.83, bring the total of the program to $1.5 billion awarded to 112 Tribal entities. With funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), these grants will expand high-speed Internet network deployment and digital skills training to improve access to education, jobs, and healthcare on Tribal lands.

Defeating the Digital Divide: How Chicago Can Achieve True Digital Equity

Our recommendations for addressing the three prongs of digital inequity – connectivity, device ownership, and access to training – will require a community-led “all hands on deck” approach. Each recommendation will require commitment from the public sector – including the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois, and/or the federal government – as well as our city’s private sector and broader civic community. Community anchor institutions – both government institutions like CPS and Chicago Public Library (CPL) – as well as community-based nonprofits, will play a critical role.

Crosstown Fiber Has Big Fiber Plans for the Chicago Region

Chicago-based Crosstown Fiber aims to build, maintain, and operate a robust fiber network with a specific focus. The company will offer fiber infrastructure built below ground to provide unique routes and strategic alternative paths between data centers and other entities. Crosstown custom designs, builds, leases, and maintains high-capacity, high-bandwidth, dark fiber optic networks providing customers the ability to use a redundant ring structure with a network route spanning approximately 400 route miles across all corners of Chicago. Crosstown’s underground network is designed for custo