Broadband Access to Bella Bella, BC, Canada
The rapid growth of the Internet over the past decade has not only forever changed the way we do business, but also the way we learn the way we access information, the way we shop, and the way we communicate. The Internet has affected us in every aspect of our way of life. Unfortunately, the Internet has not benefited rural communities. Many places on earth have been underserved because to infrastructure such places with Internet has thus far been costly and not viable. Companies with national mandates to set up telephone lines that the Internet relies on have not done their jobs. Hence unpredictable phone systems, the high cost of long distance dial-up and broadband Internet access (if available) has been an acceptable fact in such underserved communities. The norm is that in every remote region of the world, the cost of bandwidth is a barrier for the implementation and deployment of high-speed access to Internet content.
A new solution is slowly making its way to solve such problems.
Advanced Interactive has developed an innovative technology called the Knowledge Delivery Engine (KDE) that enables such remote regions to receive and enjoy media rich Internet content without having to spend huge amounts of money on bandwidth. One such locality to benefit from this Engine is the community of the Heiltsuk First Nation (http://www.heiltsuk.com/) in Waglisla (Bella Bella, British Columbia, Canada).
Prior to the installation of the KDE, they did not have a local ISP (Internet
Service Provider). However, the school was providing some Internet access
on a limited dial-up basis through six telephone lines. Unfortunately,
from a user’s perspective, this very limited Internet access, and the large
number of users currently sharing the service, the response time can be
painfully slow.
The Band Office, Health Centre, College, Social Development were getting their Internet services from a company in Duncan, BC – across the strait. Each service was delivered via long distance dial up. And therefore also slow. It was estimated that, on a monthly basis, the total long distance charges just for Internet access came to about $15,000.
To solve this problem, the Heiltsuk Tribal Council chose the CommunityAxxess solution in 2002. The decision process to arrive at this was based not only on economic but also on social and cultural bases.
The KDE spawned a compelling product called CommunityAxxess. This solution provides a total, innovative, low-cost system, that includes high speed data downlink, caching server, local search engine, web hosting, a virtual private network, e-mail server, file server, redundant system, on-line backup, remote monitoring, power interruption protection, and multiple access – a leading edge package for the Heiltsuk First Nation.
The initial project was viewed as a pilot because it was the first time the CommunityAxxess product was installed. Indeed it even had a First Nation brand name called 1NterLink. At first, Advanced Interactive attracted Hewlett-Packard Canada to donate a powerful Internet server to host this network. Today all KDE Servers are HP Servers.
This project is past its pilot phase and has been operational as a self-sustaining system. Today it is a business for the Heiltsuk nation. The Band Office is the Internet Service Provider for the entire community. It also services some homes in a nearby community called Shearwater. The network enables the entire community of 1200 people to have fast access to the Internet, and a unique learning environment in their school and college, leveraging correlated Internet-based educational content.
At first the Health Centre was apprehensive about using the network. They had to be sure that private information could not be compromised. They continued to use the service from across the strait. After six months they too decided to use the service. Today, besides the Health Centre, other business subscribers enjoy faster and more stable service.
However, the Bella Bella installation is not about technology only. Rather it is about enabling the community through access to relevant information for everyone. From students and parents, to business people and seniors, CommunityAxxess will connect the community of Bella Bella with a world of resources. By implementing this unique, low cost, solution, CommunityAxxess empowers many opportunities to enrich the community beyond just providing faster Internet access.
Running this service as a local ISP introduced a new business opportunity for the Heiltsuk First Nation, but will also create other multiple benefits to the community. Given reasonable cost and quick access to the Internet, local businesses and entrepreneurs will now be able to market their products and ideas over the World Wide Web. They used to host their web site with a provider in Montreal, Quebec. Now they host their own web site plus the web sites of businesses there. In fact sufficient web space is allotted to each student of the school as well. Records show that the children are taking full advantage of this facility, and they are daily increasing their ICT skills by learning to develop their own knowledge and skills about the applications of the Internet. “Today the most popular spot for the youth to hang out is the Bella Bella school computer lab,” says Rob Johnson, ICT Teacher at the school. Here not only do they play network video games, they correspond with children in First Nations communities and the world. They create their own web pages, and most importantly the frequency of vandalism has dropped drastically.
As a result of CommunityAxxess, the growth of Bella Bella’s human capital is evident. People who wish to live in rural regions can still aspire to be entrepreneurs through e-commerce. One example – the job of the local technical person has now spawned increased business for him, as more people are demanding his services for their computers. Local efforts to obtain government assistance to further increase human capital and preservation of heritage have been evident.
Approximate Number of PCs Connected to CommunityAxxess
| Band Office | 25 | Teachers | 3 | |
| Band Fuel Office | 2 | College | 25 | |
| Band Store | 2 | Health Centre | 10 | |
| Social Development | 6 | Homes (Accounts) | 200 | |
| School Board Office | 6 | Approx Total | 389 | |
| School | 110 |
The diagram below is a typical CommunityAxxess installation. It shows that from a high point wireless signals can be sent to hotspots. From these hotspots, wireless customer premise equipment can be used to receive Internet signals. The Bella Bella installation is a mixture of wired and wireless infrastructure. In this case, legacy equipment and networks were utilized.
Simon Fraser University Field Visit
A team of five Simon Fraser University executives, including The Chancellor, Mr. Milton Wong, visited Bella Bella in March 2004 to see for themselves the benefits of the CommunityAxxess network in a remote village. The following is an excerpt of a letter sent by Mr. David Gibbons, Director, Executive and Non-Credit Programs, Learning Strategies Group to Karim Lakhani, President of Advanced Interactive:
“Upon talking with your clients in Bella Bella, we were able to determine that the CommunityAxxess system is an excellent solution to providing high speed Internet connectivity to remote locations. It was also clear that in addition to saving the community money in the procurement of Internet services, this solution created new revenue opportunities for the community and its members. We look forward to partnering with you in the delivery of educational programs via your CommunityAxxess infrastructure to the communities that both of our organizations serve.”
Based on current statistics, the Bella Bella network appears to be a boon to this remote community.
Memorable Event in Network Maintenance
On February 5th 2005, Mr. Raheman Lakhani, Project Manager of Advanced Interactive received an automated notification that the CommunityAxxess Server had malfunctioned. He quickly tried to reboot it from Burnaby. That failed. Next he tried to contact by phone the personnel responsible for the network room in Bella Bella. Unbeknownst to him, most of the people were away in Prince Rupert attending the annual basketball tournament. After several phone calls he found two ladies, Lisa Duncan and Eunice Windsor. Lisa works in finance, and Eunice in Administration at the Band Office. Both of them had no experience in networks – in fact they didn’t even know how to hook up a keyboard to a computer! It took Mr. Raheman Lakhani three hours of careful voice instructions, but he managed to get the CommunityAxxess server up again. “Both ladies ought to be congratulated. They have now learned quite a bit about networks. This is an example of the dedication and abilities of the technical staff of Advanced Interactive,” said Brian Conner, Chief Financial Officer of the Heiltsuk Band Office. It also shows how VOIP can be used to an advantage…otherwise three hours of long distance calls would be very expensive. With each CommunityAxxess installation a VOIP connection is made from the location to Burnaby.
Future Network Plans
Currently proposals are under review for upgrading the network to:
- Offer wireless broadband services
- Offer VOIP services to community members
- Reduce bandwidth costs.
Plans are also laid to introduce online learning and mentorship to this community.
In addition, because CommunityAxxess could support Automated Banking Machines, Point of Sale Terminals it is possible to offer some financial services. Indeed, there are plans to introduce a stored value card in this community that would solve many financial issues there.
Summary
With CommunityAxxess, the community of Bella Bella has benefited greatly. The costs of ownership are more than covered by the revenues and benefits generated by the offered services.