Nebraska Broadband Website Showcases Success Stories

Aug. 2, 2013

LINCOLN, Neb. — Nothing beats comfy slippers on a cold winter day. Comfy Feet of Hartington, Neb. has grown from a one-person operation in the back of a restaurant to an online operation with a 40,000 square foot warehouse, all thanks to broadband technology.

Comfy Feet is one of 19 success stories featured on the Nebraska Broadband Initiative website, broadband.nebraska.gov.

"The videos are intended to demonstrate that there are companies throughout the state that are already seeing the benefit of broadband technology," said Rod Armstrong, the vice president of strategic partnerships at AIM. "It's happening now."

Small businesses in rural Nebraska have made international connections that wouldn't be possible without broadband. Armstrong hopes the videos will spread awareness of the benefits of broadband.

"Hopefully businesses will overcome some fears and uncertainty about how the technology can work for them," Armstrong said. "It hopefully will get them to take some action in their own business and community and grow through the use of technology."

University of Nebraska-Lincoln extension educator Connie Hancock said broadband helps businesses reach new customers.

"These are small business owners," Hancock said. "They are incorporating the broadband applications into their marketing strategy knowing that they need to reach a different customer base."

Other success stories in the videos include:

– 21st Century Equipment in Bridgeport  

– The Nebraska Health Information Initiative

– MetalQuest in Hebron

– Roe Buick in Grand Island

– Dinklage Feed Yards in Sidney

– Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles

– Agilx in Lincoln

– Basset Livestock in Basset

– Oakland Public Library in Oakland

– Fred Lockwood and Company CPA in Chadron, Scottsbluff and Mullen

– C & C Processing near Diller

– Country Drawers in Cambridge

– Assurity Life in Lincoln  

These videos are part of a project funded by a grant to the Nebraska Public Service Commission by the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The Broadband Mapping and Planning Initiative has been conducted by a coalition of Nebraska partners, including the PSC, UNL Extension, the UNL Center for Applied Rural Innovation, the Nebraska Information Technology Commission's Communication Council, AIM and the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.