Prince George’s County Intergovernmental Network Community Coordinating Committee

The mission of the Prince George 's County

Intergovernmental Network is to provide cost effective

opportunities for resource sharing between Authorized

Users over a secure fiber optics communication system;

to provide bidirectional communication between entities

during normal operations and at times of a major disaster.

In the mid 1990's, Prince George's County and participating municipalities entered into a Cable Franchise Agreement with Jones Communications of Maryland, Inc. In 1998 Comcast completed the acquisition of Jones Communications thus assuming responsibility for completing the requirements as defined in the Franchise Agreement with Jones Communications.

The Cable Franchise Agreement required construction of an I-net infrastructure and connectivity to 174 sites. Construction of the network began by the fourth quarter of 1999 and followed a fairly aggressive completion schedule. Within two years of the starting date, twenty-five percent was completed. Completion of the network occurred nearly three years later in 2002.

The functional purpose of the network is to connect Authorized Users including specific governmental, educational, and public facilities in accordance with the Cable Franchise Agreement. Connectivity via the network offers participating governments a communication vehicle to reduce costs for services otherwise provided through commercially leased lines (i.e.: Dial-Up, DSL, ISDN, etc).

Prince George’s County is the first I-Net in the country to have a governing structure that includes oversight by all member governments. Governance is exercised through the I-Net Committee on which Prince George’s County and each participating municipality are members. Each member government has one vote and decisions are made by majority vote. The full I-Net Committee adopts an annual budget and assesses annual fees. Operational management of the I-Net is delegated to the I-Net Executive Committee on which voting members from the county and small, medium, and large population municipalities serve along with non-voting advisory members from the School Board and the policy and technical workgroups.

PGINCCC © 2008 |