Governor Michael O. Leavitt

Welcome to Technology 2000. And thank you to those who have made this conference possible. This has been a collaborative effort by our state Division of Information Technology Services, the State Information Technology Coordinator's office, and several private sector sponsors. This conference demonstrates how the public and private sectors can collaborate to make good things happen.

The focus of this conference is on practical applications of information technology for homes, businesses, government and education. You will see how home and small business computer systems can increase productivity and efficiency and how they can help you communicate with the rest of the world. You will see how information technology and distance learning are revolutionizing our classrooms.

This morning I want to focus on a new public-private initiative that is also being demonstrated at this conference. We are calling it SmartUtah, a business and citizen services network. I believe SmartUtah is one of the most exciting and meaningful applications of advanced technology that I have ever seen. Its potential, I believe, is greater than any of us can envision.

Every so often, in business and in government, a big idea, a big opportunity comes along that is too attractive and has too much potential to ignore, that is worth pursuing as intensely and rapidly as possible. Such is the opportunity we have with SmartUtah. I have spoken before about the incredible wisdom of our forefathers who settled this state, planning Utah's communities with great foresight and vision. I believe our pioneering work with information technology, especially this SmartUtah initiative, will be as comparatively important for the generations that follow us.

Let me provide some background. I believe we have all come to accept the enormous benefits and potential of digital technology. There's not much we do any more without the help of computers. Thanks to the ever-increasing power and capacity of computers, in tandem with the ever-declining cost of computing power, we are now entering a new era in history, the Information Age. The way we live, play, learn and do business will change profoundly in the next decade. Today, we are only in the very early stages of the Information Age; we could say we are driving Model Ts while the future holds supersonic jets.

There is one critical activity that will take us more quickly into the Information Age, and help us enjoy its benefits. That activity is NETWORKING, the networking of computers. I recently heard Ray Noorda, who is the father of computer networking, say that the decade of the 60s was the decade of mainframe computers; the decade of the 70s was the decade of minicomputers, the 80s was the decade of personal computers, or PCs, and the decade of the 90s is the decade of networking.

Let me explain why networking is the key, the most important activity, in moving from the digital age equivalent of Model Ts to supersonic jets. Technology guru George Gilder has described the immense importance of networking by inventing what he calls the Law of the Telecosm. This law states that computer cost-effectiveness rises by the square of the number of computers connected together. The value of computers doesn't just double or triple as they are networked, the value rises geometrically, almost faster than we can imagine.

Let me show why this occurs. Consider the immense power and usefulness of a standalone computer, say a new PowerMac with the PowerPC chip, or an IBM compatible equipped with the new Pentium chip. These machines are fast and powerful for wordprocessing, spreadsheets, numbers crunching, games and graphics. Even standing alone they are immensely useful.

But consider how much more useful my machine becomes if I don't just have access to what's on my own hard drive, but I can also access a file server with other databases, software and programs. Add to that the ability to send documents and E-mail to hundreds or even thousands of others on my network. What if I'm a student and, as our colleges and universities are planning, I can dial into a network to check class schedules, take tests, get results from tests, check grades, communicate with professors, register for classes and pay fees? We begin to see how much more useful and cost-effective my PC becomes when I can communicate with other computers to accomplish important things. How much more valuable is my computer when I can link into the incredible world of the Internet, a variety of government databases, and other information services to do all kinds of research, read the news and weather, communicate with others through conferences on various topics, and improve my social life through chat functions. What if I am a businessman and I can reduce inventory and cut costs by ordering supplies and making sales over the network? What if I am a country doctor and my PC allows me to consult face-to-face with the best specialists in the world? To have them review X-rays? To do remote patient checkups? What is my PC worth now? What if my computer allows me to live anywhere in the country I desire because I can connect to the rest of the world? Now we are beginning to see the vision of Gilder's law of the telecosm. What if I can shop without ever leaving home, check on my aging mother at any time, seeing and talking to her live? What if I can reduce pollution and traffic congestion by working at home? Yes, a PC by itself is a wonderful thing. But its usefulness rises by the square of the number of the other computers it is connected to. It is networks, networks, networks, that provide the incredible power and usefulness of the computer in the Information Age.

Networking is just what SmartUtah is all about. Simply put, SmartUtah is a business and citizen services network that would provide a network operating system on which applications such as those I just described will run. SmartUtah provides the "last quarter-mile" strategy a means to get network connections right into homes and small businesses. In the future, much commerce will be conducted electronically, over networks. Building SmartUtah will jump-start Utah into the Information Age, providing Utah citizens and businesses a sustainable competitive advantage in the rigorous global marketplace. It will spawn an enormous amount of entrepreneurial activity as creative business people and citizens discover the myriad business opportunities in such a network.

Two significant things have occurred recently to make SmartUtah possible. The first is the development of strategic partnerships with such companies as Novell, which have the technological know-how to create such a network. We have the top networking experts in the world right here in Utah. We should take advantage of this asset. Second, telecommunications providers have the capacity to offer lines into homes and small businesses at relatively low cost that are of sufficient speed and capacity to rapidly move large amounts of data and information, and even allow video services. With the infrastructure and expertise mostly in place, we can move ahead rapidly to cooperate with the private sector in building the network.

SmartUtah will offer Utah companies, individuals and government entities new ways of interacting, conducting business, accessing state information, and performing business and government functions. Users will be free to create applications of their own to operate over SmartUtah. SmartUtah will be open to anyone who wants to use it and will not enjoy any kind of monopoly or exclusive use or ownership of government information. Participation will be entirely voluntary.

We have established SmartUtah as a nonprofit entity, governed by a board of trustees from the public and private sectors. SmartUtah will become, in effect, the open operating system of the network, setting standards and providing hardware and software that will connect and rout users to any of thousands of destinations they might desire. SmartUtah will run entirely on the basic infrastructure (fiber optics cable, coaxial cable, copper telephone lines, etc.) provided by private telecommunications companies. The applications and services running on SmartUtah will also be provided by private companies, along with government applications offering access to state databases and providing electronic interaction with government agencies. SmartUtah itself will offer only the networking system, the routing and switching that make a network operate properly. And it will be an entirely open network, available to anyone who desires to use it.

Perhaps the best way to explain SmartUtah is to describe some of the applications that will be possible. Once most Utah businesses and citizens are connected to the network, for example, some of the state's commerce could be handled electronically. Using E-mail, a business could be in constant communication with suppliers, customers and services providers (such as accountants, banks and consultants). Billing, advertising and marketing, invoicing, issuing RFPs, ordering, and bill paying could all be conducted over the network.

Ladd Christensen, who is chairing this SmartUtah project, likes to tell the story about how he was reviewing expenditures at his business and happened upon an invoice from a typewriter repairman. His business does virtually everything on computers, and he didn't know there was even a typewriter still around the office. He asked his office manager why the typewriter was being repaired, and she replied they had to keep a typewriter around for only one reason to fill out the government forms. As you know, several government agencies require reports and forms to be filed monthly or quarterly with the state. Imagine how tax and business dollars could be saved and efficiency and productivity improved if those forms could be sent electronically to each business' E-mail box, then filled out on the computer by the business, then electronically transmitted back to the state agency. It would eliminate tons of paper, millions of dollars in postage, and thousands of hours of busywork opening envelopes and typing in data.

The network will also allow citizens and businesses to access valuable government information and to renew drivers' licenses, obtain a birth certificate, scan job opportunities, purchase a fishing license, and so forth. The network could offer a high-capacity gateway into other information services such as the Internet and World Wide Web. Innumerable other applications exist, including many in the area of education.

Government and business leaders need to begin to ask themselves some important questions: Once we are part of a high-capacity network wired right into homes and small businesses, how will you operate in a business environment of electronic commerce? How will your relationships with customers and clients change when you are connected to them full-time? And to suppliers, vendors, and services providers like accountants, banks, attorneys and consultants? How will your marketing and advertising change in a networked world? How will you function in an environment of electronic funds transfers, electronic invoicing and electronic data exchange? When virtually everyone has an E-mail address? When location is much less a factor in business success? When the network becomes the marketplace? Are there opportunities for you to save money and make employees more productive? What will your competitors be doing? Those are important questions to begin considering.

Some have asked the question, "If this network makes so much sense to build, why does state government have to be involved? Why not just let the private sector do it?" The answer is that the risk is probably too high right now for a private company to create the kind of network we envision that is open and available to every citizen at low cost. Many private for-profit networks are being developed, but they cater to certain niches of the marketplace, rather than provide services for everyone. They are generally closed networks, while SmartUtah will be an open networks on which anyone can place an application or service.

Just as important, the state itself has many applications it wants to run over the network. We want much of the interaction the state has with businesses and citizens to be conducted electronically to improve service, reduce costs and increase productivity. Thus, the state can participate in the network as an "anchor tenant" and help make the network services available to the private sector, which will ultimately be the biggest user and beneficiary of the network.

SmartUtah is a statewide highway of information and communication. It is the means for the information revolution to take place in the homes and businesses of all our citizens. SmartUtah can help our statewide society become a virtual community, drawing remote regions into the community, enabling instant communications and collaboration. SmartUtah will mean more jobs, better services, enhanced quality of life, less isolation and a stronger society.

Thank you.