• Conducting interviews with the NCIH staff and principal parties to document their current assessment of the NCIH, as well as their recommendations for future deployment.
  
• Holding three geographically dispersed regional meetings (with more planned) with public officials and community leaders to document their opinions regarding the value and future direction of the NCIH.
  
• Establishing an NCIH Evaluation Committee to assess and evaluate the current uses and benefits of the NCIH.

As an additional step in the review process, the committee compiled information on the value and experience of business and industry in communications systems and applications.

The committee was made up of individuals with research and evaluation experience who represented the wide range of operational sites (public schools, community colleges, universities and health care facilities). Independent contractors were hired to analyze and document the findings, and provide input on telecommunications technology and industry experience in identifying and prioritizing applications.

The findings of the assessment and evaluation activities are as follows:

Interviews

Because of the newness of the technology, some technical and operational problems were expected. After the first 20 months of operation, the major concerns identified most often were:

• Cost (high usage rates)
  
• Limited and unstable funding of the NCIH
  
• Initial over-emphasis on educational video: data services given inadequate consideration
  
• Lack of adequate IXC capacity and difficulty with the automatic course scheduler

Regional Meetings

There were many commonalties of comments among the first three meetings, because users and potential users experience similar benefits and constraints.

The shared benefits included:

• Improved distribution of educational resources
  
• Increased opportunities for staff development
  
• A closing of the equity gap
  
• Savings of time and money
  
• Positive examples in health care and telemedicine, economic development, education, and criminal justice

• Lack of adequate funding
  
• Lack of understanding
  
• Lack of training
  
• Inadequate bandwidth
  
• Little sharing
  
• Scheduling problems

Evaluation Committee

• Applications that are identified and prioritized by the users will form the basis for the success of the NCIH.
  
• In education, two applications will become the primary uses of the NCIH: collaboration between educators, and utilization of its capabilities to gain access to information for courseware and class development.
  
• The system should be heavily user driven.
  
• The speed with which users will embrace the NCIH and associated technologies depends directly upon the training that is available.
  
• Specifically in education, and to a lesser extent in other areas, the administrative barriers appear to loom larger. Examples are: different scheduling periods between various educational entities, transfer of credit, allocation of expenses and income, head count allocation, funding of supporting resources such as libraries, reimbursement for services rendered, etc.
  
• Pilot programs in education, state agencies and departments are seen as the best way to identify and implement high payback applications.
  
• Data applications are seen as an overlooked area that has high payback potential for the NCIH.

• Digitally stored critical state information consisting of data, images, maps, and sound.
  
• High-speed networks capable of carrying digital multimedia data, including full-motion video for teleconferencing, distance learning, and other video applications.
  
• The ability to transmit multimedia information to any location in the world.
  
• Vast stores of state automated data available at the desk of state workers as well as in the offices or homes of state clients.
  
• Immediate access to current information by law enforcement officers, as well as electronic court arraignments and inmate health care evaluations.
• Electronically transmitted information by agencies to suppliers, other levels of government, and business clients.
  
• Advanced problem-solving capabilities using spatial data such as maps for locating facilities and addressing complex social and environmental problems.
  
• Activities related to electronic access to government, such as pubic access to government information and self-service functions; education at all levels using full-motion interactive video for distance learning; on-line access by citizens and businesses to libraries, and a wide range of educational and other services in homes, etc.

Ultimately, our success as a state will be determined by our creativity and commitment to developing and implementing strategies to exploit the opportunities offered by advanced computer and communication technologies, including the NCIH.

Conclusion

Investment in a communications infrastructure should be viewed as a state strategic infrastructure like schools, roads, water, and sewer. A statewide electronic communications infrastructure is like a statewide highway system infrastructure. A well-planned highway system not only results in increased commerce, but it improves citizens access and opportunities to employment and other services that may not otherwise exist, particularly in rural areas. The more isolated people are, the more impact these technologies will have.

Under the deregulation of the communications industry currently underway at both the state and national level, urban areas will benefit from increased communication service options and lower costs. These are benefits that will not be available to most of North Carolina's 75 rural counties without a specific statewide connectivity strategy supported by the General Assembly.

The NCIH has enabled the state to test emerging large bandwidth technology. This technology provides tremendous benefits as the demand for electronic business, medical, education, and public safety applications increases. The first 20-month deployment of the NCIH was an opportunity to evaluate an advanced network technology and its potential benefits, with a relatively small investment. The state's commitment to a statewide broadband network (SONET/ATM) allowed local exchange carriers (telephone companies) to invest in advanced infrastructure in North Carolina that would have otherwise been slow in coming and not equitably distributed. This infrastructure will position both North Carolina's public and private sectors to be among the first to reap the many benefits of the electronic data superhighway.

Much has been learned about the capabilities and potential uses of this type of broadband network. The results of the NCIH assessment and evaluation project will enable the state to do more selective deployment of the NCIH for applications that are proven to have merit.

The NCIH, however, is only a part of a comprehensive connectivity infrastructure for North Carolina. The primary purpose of the NCIH should be viewed as that of a statewide backbone network, and for supporting applications requiring large amounts of high-speed bandwidth.

Using what has been learned from the NCIH project, the major players (Governor's Office, Office of the State Controller, University System, Community Colleges, K-12 schools, state agencies, local governments, local exchange carriers, and inter-exchange carriers) are collectively formulating a policy and strategy for optimally interconnecting state and local entities, now and over the next five to ten years. The foundation of this strategy is based on a range of interoperable, cost-effective communications options that best matches the needs of user applications. The General Assembly can use this interconnectivity strategy to fund clearly manifested beneficial initiatives (for example, School Technology, NCIH pilots, and more).

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