Northwest orbits the northland.

• Author: Brelsford, Harry
• Position: Use of telecommunications technologies in Alaska

The telecommunications innovations rocketing out of the Northwest are transforming the whole planet and hold important implications for connecting Alaska to the 21st century.

A sense of excitement, not seen since Boeing's heyday, has returned to the Northwest business community, sparked by innovations in telecommunications technology.

The innovations come in the form of wired communications (local area network connectivity, connecting to the Internet over the telephone) and wireless communications (low-orbiting satellites facilitating remote communications, etc.). Together, these new forms of telecommunications will profoundly affect Alaska.

Longtime Alaskan Ken Schacht, president of Alaska Fiber Optic Technology, clearly sees Alaska's high technology future. "It's here today. Really, Alaska embraced emerging technologies, like fiber-optic cabling, about two years ago," says Schacht, a 10-year veteran of the fiber-optics industry.

"Today, utilities like Anchorage Telephone Utility are literally wiring their respective communities into metropolitan area networks," adds Schacht. "I'm seeing activity at large sites like the state government and University of Alaska. At the individual business level, clients are using fiber optic as their network backbone cabling. They want high transmission speed and security."

Others share Schacht's technology sense and its implications for Alaska. Consider, for example, the Internet, a telecommunications network of linked networks that has the business world buzzing.

"It's like the excitement of the pipeline," comments former Alaskan Michael Siemion. "We are present at the birth of an industry. I believe that what is occurring today in information-delivery technology and computers in general will have the same impact on commerce that the discovery of America did in the late 14th century."

Colorburst Goes On Line

Siemion, former director of business development for the Alaska office of the U.S. Small Business Administration, is now principal of Colorburst Consulting in Bothell, Wash. His firm has been involved in producing small business management videos, such as the "Beating the Odds" series used by over 85 percent of U.S. colleges and universities.

"Interestingly, much of the information conveyed in my videos will be on my World Wide Web (WWW) home page, starting in April," Siemion says. "It'll give me a great way to be in touch with the end users of the information."

Colorburst Consulting is actively...