NCSC
Signs Deal with WWTC to Provide
Xtratyme Powered Broadband Wireless
Networks to
Millions of Customers in 38 States
“Blueprint
America Program” Provides the Financial
Resources, the Right Technology
and a Well Defined Business Model for Communities Seeking High-Speed Internet
Access
Hutchinson & Staples, Minnesota, May 20, 2002 – North
Central Service Cooperative (NCSC), which operates in collaboration with 538
cooperatives that serve millions of members in
38 states, has made a strategic alliance with World Wide Technology
Consultants (WWTC) and Xtratyme Technologies Inc. (XTI) to provide the financial
resources, the right technology and a well defined business model that will
enable hundreds of thousands of rural communities across America to begin
building broadband wireless networks in their cities, towns and rural
neighborhoods.The new alliance
creates a great broadband business opportunity for future partners that would
like to bring high-speed Internet access to their communities.
NCSC, based in Staples, Minnesota, is one of the most powerful buying
organizations in America and serves as a national cooperative.NCSC builds partnerships with educational agencies, utility cooperatives,
telephone cooperatives, and farming cooperatives as well as other cooperatives
that want to leverage volume buying power.A large percentage of NCSC’s partnershipsare
located in rural areas that are underserved by larger telecommunication
providers.Most of these partners
are still limited to either a very slow dial-up connection or a very expensive
T1 circuit for Internet access.
“NCSC is
proud to announce our partnership with WWTC and Xtratyme to deliver high-speed
Internet connections to areas that have been overlooked for a long time by
traditional telecommunication carriers,” said Mike Hajek, Director of
Cooperative Purchasing for North Central Service Cooperative (NCSC).“The Blueprint America Program has the potential to do what no other
broadband model has been able to do for rural America -- deliver high-speed
Internet connections at an affordable price, which is becoming essential
throughout the country’s classrooms and communities.This program provides a business model, a source of funding, and a
step-by-step process that will allow interested parties to participate at
varying financial levels.”
After years of listening to its members’ requests to find a way to
bring high-speed Internet access to their communities, through a bid award, NCSC
contracted WWTC to perform an evaluation of all broadband options available.Upon completion of its evaluation, WWTC made a recommendation outlining
the options available to NCSC and selected broadband wireless as the technology
that would best serve its members’ needs.
Background on the Selection Process
WWTC, based
out of Brainerd, Minnesota, began the broadband evaluation process and
discovered a new type of indoor Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) technology,
which was being utilized in an outdoor environment and was based on IEEE 802.11b
or Wi-Fi Standards.During WWTC’s
due diligence process they also became familiar with a large broadband wireless
carrier named Xtratyme Technologies, Inc. (XTI), based out of Hutchinson,
Minnesota.XTI demonstrated how
their company had used 802.11b technology and public airwaves to build out a
very large network that consisted of 69 towers that provided mobile and fixed
broadband wireless service to over 105 cities in rural Minnesota.The solution seemed ideal for NCSC’s needs.
In addition, WWTC learned that XTI had already established working
relationships with several other cooperatives in Minnesota and had developed
what the company had namedthe “Blueprint
America Program.”The Blueprint
America Program consisted of a well-documented business modelthat not only specified the correct technology to deploy, but also a
business model that provided communities with a step-by-step process on how to
build a successful and profitable broadband wireless network.
The Blueprint America Program outlined a model that investors and
community leaders could follow to ensure that they received the best possible
return on their investment as well as educated their residents and businesses on
how to take advantage of the new high-speed Internet technology.
“Providing
high-speed Internet access for rural communities is just the first step of the
process,” said Kyle Ackerman, Xtratyme Technologies Inc.’s CEO.“In addition to high-speed Internet access, the Blueprint America
Program creates a nice ‘domino’ effect for community leaders seeking to
create new jobs and enhance economic development in their towns.We guide each community through a ten-step process that not only provides
high-speed connections, but shows these communities how to utilize broadband to
attract new businesses to their towns and how to build the foundation for
establishing a cottage industry of new high-tech jobs in the area.”
About the Blueprint America
Program The Blueprint America Program is a business opportunity that is available
to entrepreneurs everywhere, including any cooperative or non-profit
organization that has an established relationship with NCSC or one of its
affiliated educational, power, telecommunications, or farming cooperatives.In addition, NCSC also can serve any public or private educational
agency, city, or county government and all non-profit
organizations. If
needed, NCSC can provide avenues to secure necessary funding for network
deployment costs.Parties
interested in learning more about bringing broadband Internet connections to
their town or neighborhood should contact Paul Anderson, President of World Wide
Technology Consultants at (218)
820-5705; Mike Hajek, Director
of Cooperative Purchasing for NCSC, at
(218) 894-5477; or Larry Johnson, Xtratyme Technologies Inc. at larry.johnson@xtratyme.com
or (320) 864-8513.More information
on the Blueprint America Program is available at www.xtratyme.com/about.html.
About NCSC
North Central Service Cooperative
(NCSC), with headquarters in Staples, Minnesota, is a governmental agency
operating under Minnesota Statute 123A.21 and its own adopted by-laws.The NCSC is a member-owned organization and is governed by regionally
elected public officials.To better serve its national and global customer base, North
Central Service Cooperative recently reorganized as the “National Cooperative
Services Corporation” and will continue to use the acronym NCSC.NCSC operates in collaboration
with 538 cooperatives that serve millions of members in 38 states.
Commonly
referred to as an innovator in cooperative concepts, NCSC can potentially serve
all public or private educational agencies, cities, counties, and all
non-profit organizations in the United States as well as internationally.NCSC’s goal is to combine the collective purchasing power of its
customers.
NCSC is also a co-founder and
charter member of the Association of Educational Purchasing Agencies (AEPA),
which now includes 21 states and represents over 26 million students.More information on the AEPA is available on the Internet at www.aepacoop.org.
NCSC membership is free.For more information on NCSC, please visit the Cooperative’s website at
www.ncscmn.org.Interested parties can also contact NCSC’s offices in Minnesota at
(218) 894-5477 or via email at mike@ncscmn.org.
About WWTC
World Wide Technology
Consultants, based in Brainerd, Minnesota, is a leading consulting firm that
specializes in evaluating, recommending and deploying broadband solutions for
its customers.The Company’s
staff has amassed over 16 years of experience in wireless network design,
point-to-point wireless connections, voice-over-IP, Internet Service Provider
(ISP) deployments, and stimulating economic development for rural towns and
cities.For more information on
WWTC, please contact Paul Anderson at (218) 820-5705 or via email at paul@brainerd.net.
About Xtratyme Technologies,
Inc.
Xtratyme, based in Hutchinson,
Minnesota, is a leading broadband
wireless service provider and network deployment firm.Xtratyme offers a unique “community-based” broadband wireless program
for providing high-speed Internet services to areas that are currently
underserved by other broadband technologies called the Blueprint America
Program.More information on
Xtratyme’s Blueprint America Program is available at www.xtratyme.com
or by contacting Larry Johnson at (320) 864-8513 or via email at larry.johnson@xtratyme.com.