KORI

by Rick Garrick

The Keewaytinook Okimakanak Research Institute (KORI) is looking at  potential business models for First Nation community networks.“We’re looking to develop business models the communities are using  as Application Service Providers (ASP) to provide broadband services  delivered over K-Net,” says Franz Seibel, a researcher at KORI.

“If a  new community or one of the communities that is already connected  wish to expand their services, how do they go about it.”Most of the community networks have been focused to date on managing  their local networks and providing broadband connectivity services to  residents, public buildings and SMEs (small to medium-sized  enterprises), explains Adam Fiser, a researcher from CWIRP (Community  Wireless Infrastructure Research Project) who is working on the  project with KORI.“But the community network can grow beyond Internet services to  include videoconferencing, VoIP phone systems, and now cellular,”  Fiser says. “These applications can become part of what an ASP can  offer locally in cooperation with K-Net Services.”K-Net is currently working to set up cellular phone services in  Keewaywin and Weagamow First Nations through a $1 million pilot  cellular demonstration telecommunications infrastructure initiative  funded by the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation’s (NOHFC)  Public Sector Emerging Technology program, Indian and Northern  Affairs Canada and K-Net.“Mobile telephony just gives everyone a lot more opportunities to  take the show on the road,” says Brian Beaton, K-Net coordinator, as  he explains the advantages and importance of the Keewaywin-Weagamow  cellular pilot project. “It’s an effective way of communicating, and  a different way of doing things.”In addition to being a convenient means of keeping in touch with each  other around the community and the surrounding area – the cellular  coverage area will extend up to about 30 km from the community –  Beaton explains that the cellular services will operate through the  community’s existing IT infrastructure and will therefore provide an  economic support to the ongoing operation of that infrastructure.“Anything that uses that pipe (the community’s IT infrastructure) has  to help pay for that pipe,” Beaton says. “The community is providing that service, so anyone who is using it has to pay for it.”Beaton foresees that once a viable business case is developed in  Keewaywin and Weagamow, other remote fly-in northern Ontario  communities will soon follow suit and set up cellular phone services  in their communities with NOHFC funding support.Over the past few years, K-Net has developed a remarkable exchange of  ICT (information and communication technology) services and a  widespread infrastructure to deliver those services, says Andrew  Clement, CRACIN’s (Canadian Research Alliance on Community Innovation  and Networking) principal investigator and a University of Toronto  professor.They are amazing and a leading example,” Clement says. “There is  nothing else like K-Net.”The research project will look at how other communities are  supporting their ASP’s and delivering applications, how they charge  for the services, how to regulate the amount of downloading, whether  to set up IP phone networks and videoconference services, whether to  hire a local technician in the community and what his job will  entail, and other options such as encouraging the court system to  become involved through the use of videoconferenced court visits.“These are all questions that can be answered in a business case,”  Seibel says, noting that the different sizes of the communities, how  they are connected to K-Net, either by satellite or microwave towers,  and how they distribute their services, either by cable or wireless  towers, will affect the business cases for each community. “For  example, everyone in Slate Falls First Nation uses their locally  owned and operated IP phone system for telephone service.”KORI and its research partners at CWIRP and CRACIN have already  completed the first round of research through an in-depth case study  of the Lac Seul wireless community network.“We're trying to understand how the networks operate and conduct  business to find trends, best practices, and lessons learned that  could be shared with all the community networks and serve as  benchmarks for other communities interested in the K-Net model,”  Fiser says. “We'd also like to do focus groups with staff from some  of the more established ASPs. The phase of research that we're about  to embark on with KORI is an attempt to create points of comparison  across the different community networks that are working with K-Net.”Seibel adds that the objective of the research is to develop a public  tool that communities can use as a template to make their local  community networks sustainable through the delivery of different  applications that support their ASP’s.“It’s a very promising development,” Clement says. “By doing an in- depth community-based research project we can develop a business  model tool kit that helps the community make these kinds of decisions.”Fiser adds that various applications could be tailored for specific  groups, organizations and businesses within the community,  applications which would help artisans find new markets online  through Ebay and other online marketplaces, help a local hockey club  build a website and help a local outfitter promote his or her  business online. “Local businesses are still an untapped resource,” Fiser says. “Lac  Seul’s Mahkwa Lodge is currently using the network to promote their  hunting and fishing services online. What about the growth of virtual  businesses. Those are questions that are definitely worth exploring.”