U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800

Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001

56–297 PDF 2010

FULL COMMITTEE HEARING ON 

SMALL BUSINESS AND BROADBAND: 

AN ENGINE FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH 

AND JOB CREATION 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS 

UNITED STATES 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

HEARING HELD 

MAY 12, 2010 

Small Business Committee Document Number 111-067 

Available via the GPO Website: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/house 


Congress.#13
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS 

NYDIA M. VELA ́ ZQUEZ, New York, Chairwoman 

DENNIS MOORE, Kansas 

HEATH SHULER, North Carolina 

KATHY DAHLKEMPER, Pennsylvania 

KURT SCHRADER, Oregon 

ANN KIRKPATRICK, Arizona 

GLENN NYE, Virginia 

MICHAEL MICHAUD, Maine 

MELISSA BEAN, Illinois 

DAN LIPINSKI, Illinois 

JASON ALTMIRE, Pennsylvania 

YVETTE CLARKE, New York 

BRAD ELLSWORTH, Indiana 

JOE SESTAK, Pennsylvania 

BOBBY BRIGHT, Alabama 

DEBORAH HALVORSON, Illinois 

SAM GRAVES, Missouri, Ranking Member 

ROSCOE G. BARTLETT, Maryland 

W. TODD AKIN, Missouri 

STEVE KING, Iowa 

LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia 

LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas 

MARY FALLIN, Oklahoma 

VERN BUCHANAN, Florida 

BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri 

AARON SCHOCK, Illinois 

GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania 

MIKE COFFMAN, Colorado 

MICHAEL DAY, Majority Staff Director 

ADAM MINEHARDT, Deputy Staff Director 

TIM SLATTERY, Chief Counsel 

KAREN HAAS, Minority Staff Director 

(II) 

STANDING SUBCOMMITTEES 

Subcommittee on Contracting and Technology 

GLENN NYE, Virginia, Chairman 

YVETTE CLARKE, New York 

BRAD ELLSWORTH, Indiana 

KURT SCHRADER, Oregon 

DEBORAH HALVORSON, Illinois 

MELISSA BEAN, Illinois 

JOE SESTAK, Pennsylvania 

AARON SCHOCK, Illinois, Ranking 

ROSCOE BARTLETT, Maryland 

W. TODD AKIN, Missouri 

MARY FALLIN, Oklahoma 

GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania 

Subcommittee on Finance and Tax 

KURT SCHRADER, Oregon, Chairman 

DENNIS MOORE, Kansas 

ANN KIRKPATRICK, Arizona 

MELISSA BEAN, Illinois 

JOE SESTAK, Pennsylvania 

DEBORAH HALVORSON, Illinois 

GLENN NYE, Virginia 

MICHAEL MICHAUD, Maine 

VERN BUCHANAN, Florida, Ranking 

STEVE KING, Iowa 

W. TODD AKIN, Missouri 

BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri 

MIKE COFFMAN, Colorado 

Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight 

JASON ALTMIRE, Pennsylvania, Chairman 

HEATH SHULER, North Carolina 

BRAD ELLSWORTH, Indiana 

MARY FALLIN, Oklahoma, Ranking 

LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas 

(III) 

Subcommittee on Regulations and Healthcare 

KATHY DAHLKEMPER, Pennsylvania, Chairwoman 

DAN LIPINSKI, Illinois 

MELISSA BEAN, Illinois 

JASON ALTMIRE, Pennsylvania 

JOE SESTAK, Pennsylvania 

BOBBY BRIGHT, Alabama 

LYNN WESTMORELAND, Georgia, Ranking 

STEVE KING, Iowa 

VERN BUCHANAN, Florida 

GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania 

MIKE COFFMAN, Colorado 

Subcommittee on Rural Development, Entrepreneurship and Trade 

HEATH SHULER, North Carolina, Chairman 

MICHAEL MICHAUD, Maine 

BOBBY BRIGHT, Alabama 

KATHY DAHLKEMPER, Pennsylvania 

ANN KIRKPATRICK, Arizona 

YVETTE CLARKE, New York 

BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri, Ranking 

STEVE KING, Iowa 

AARON SCHOCK, Illinois 

GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania 

(IV) 

C O N T E N T S 

OPENING STATEMENTS 

Page 

Vela ́zquez, Hon. Nydia M. ....................................................................................... 1 

Graves, Hon. Sam .................................................................................................... 2 

WITNESSES 

Burfield, Mr. Evan, Chairman and CEO, Synteractive Corporation, Washington D.C. ............................................................................................................ 3 

Messere, Mr. Steve, Founder and CEO, Revenue Spark Inc., New York, NY .... 6 

Whisenant, Mr. Greg, Founder and CEO, CrimeReports, Draper, UT ............... 7 

McDonald, Mr. Tom, CEO, BeSafe, Hyannis, MA ................................................ 10 

Dofelmier, Ms. Lindsay, Co-Owner, Urban Agent Team LLC, Boise, ID ........... 12 

APPENDIX 

Prepared Statements: 

Vela ́zquez, Hon. Nydia M. ....................................................................................... 25 

Graves, Hon. Sam .................................................................................................... 27 

Burfield, Mr. Evan, Chairman and CEO, Synteractive Corporation, Washington D.C. ............................................................................................................ 29 

Messere, Mr. Steve, Founder and CEO, Revenue Spark Inc., New York, NY .... 36 

Whisenant, Mr. Greg, Founder and CEO, CrimeReports, Draper, UT ............... 44 

McDonald, Mr. Tom, CEO, BeSafe, Hyannis, MA ................................................ 49 

Dofelmier, Ms. Lindsay, Co-Owner, Urban Agent Team LLC, Boise, ID ........... 52 

Statements for the Record: 

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association ...................................... 55 

(V) 

(1) 

FULL COMMITTEE HEARING ON 

SMALL BUSINESS AND BROADBAND: 

AN ENGINE FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH 

AND JOB CREATION 

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS, 

Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 1:00 

p.m., in Room 2360 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Nydia 

Velμzquez [chairwoman of the Committee] presiding. Present: 

Representatives Velμzquez, Dahlkemper, Altmire, and Graves. 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. This hearing is being called to order. 

Just as the interstate highway system revolutionized American 

commerce, today we are presented with a similar challenge. Building a nationwide broadband infrastructure is an equally ambitious 

task, and it is just as fundamental to our prosperity in the TwentyFirst Century. 

Over the next decade, we can expect the growth of this field to 

produce good-paying jobs for millions of Americans. The number of 

jobs dependent on broadband and IT are expected to grow by 25 

percent over the next 10 years, creating opportunities for large and 

small companies in every sector of the U.S. economy. 

While building a nationwide broadband infrastructure will be 

vital to our economy’s long-term health, deploying this technology 

also carries immediate economic benefits, at a time when our nation needs every job we can find. Some have estimated that over 

the next 4 years, we will see 30,000 jobs a year from the broadband 

investments funded through the Recovery Act alone. 

Beyond the immediate payoff, widespread broadband adoption 

will mean new economic opportunity for communities across the 

nation. Small businesses already benefit enormously from the 

Internet. For Americans looking to launch a new enterprise, 

broadband offers lower start-up costs. This is especially important 

now, as many dislocated workers are looking to entrepreneurship 

as a way to replace lost income. 

For the established small business, high speed Internet can expand a firm’s client base using a company website, social networking, or other forms of online advertising. Firms can utilize 

voice and video communication as a low-cost method to connect 

with customers around the world and reach previously untapped 

markets. They can store data online, access office productivity 

tools, and even improve the energy efficiency of their business. 

2 

The FCC recently released a National Broadband Plan, an ambitious initiative aimed at accelerating the adoption of high speed 

Internet. Bringing the public and private sector together, the plan 

offers steps to accelerate the rollout of broadband and help small 

businesses embrace these benefits. Although three-quarters of 

small businesses currently have a website, only one in four sell 

their products using e-commerce. In today’s global economy, that is 

simply not good enough. 

The National Broadband Plan could help narrow this gap, creating additional growth opportunities for small companies. As this 

plan is refined and implemented, the Committee will need to ensure that entrepreneurs’ needs are kept top of mind. 

Putting broadband in more American homes and businesses is 

just one part of the equation. The Internet has always served as 

an unparalleled laboratory for innovation and entrepreneurship. 

If we are to reap the full benefits of this economic engine, it is 

vital that the Internet remain a platform where free speech and 

new ideas flourish and consumers can connect with whomever they 

choose while accessing services of their choice. 

Just last week, the FCC released a new framework aimed at preserving this freedom without discouraging investment in our nation’s broadband infrastructure. In coming weeks, the strengths 

and weaknesses of this initiative will receive significant consideration. Small businesses have much at stake in how the debate 

plays out. It is my hope that today’s discussion will shed light on 

what these policies mean for online entrepreneurism. 

The business owners before us today highlight the variety of opportunities created by broadband. I look forward to hearing their 

thoughts on how broadband is empowering America’s small businesses now and how Congress and the FCC should take their needs 

into account as we craft policies that will shape the Internet’s evolution for decades to come. 

With that, I thank all of the witnesses for being here today and 

yield to Ranking Member Mr. Graves for an opening statement. 

Mr. GRAVES. Thank you, Madam Chair, for holding this important hearing on the impact that broadband is going to have on the 

economy and its ability to foster Internet growth. 

Technology and the ways we communicate with one another are 

constantly evolving. You know, 150 years ago we had to elicit the 

help of the Pony Express to deliver what would inevitably take 

days to travel from a place like St. Joe, Missouri to San Francisco. 

Today we can send an entire book as a .pdf file through the e-mail 

and rest assured that file is going to be received across the globe 

in just a matter of seconds. 

To do research 50 years ago, we had to go to the public library 

and hope it had the materials that we needed. Now you can log 

onto your computer and access more information than the Library 

of Congress can even contain. 

If you wanted to buy something 20 years ago, you probably had 

to get into your car and go to a nearby store. Thanks to online 

shopping, we can now simply log onto our computer and virtually 

buy any product from businesses, large and small, from across the 

globe. 

3 

We are all aware of the limitless services technology and the 

Internet provide to our daily lives. We tend to forget that these everyday conveniences would not be available if it weren’t for the contributions of small businesses, like those that are represented here 

today. 

The change from molasses-like dial-up connections to warp-speed 

downloads comes from technological innovations in network architecture. From DSL to cable modems, to fiber optics to-the-home, 

the continued development and improvement of the Internet relies 

on the investment of billions of dollars by private sector enterprises. 

Unfortunately, the Internet and related technologies are not as 

widespread as we would like to think. And there is a severe lack 

of appropriate infrastructure that limits many American communities, businesses, and families from gaining full access to these 

services. 

Rural areas in many states are particularly likely to lack the infrastructure needed to allow them to benefit from this vital technology. Without access to affordable broadband services, the economies and development of these communities are going to suffer. 

With other policies that this government adopts with regard to 

technology and broadband, we must first make a commitment to 

ensuring that small businesses in rural communities will benefit 

from the infrastructure investment. 

Regulatory policies that diminish the incentive for such private 

sector investment will benefit neither small businesses nor the 

economy that will rely on them for the growth needed to create 

jobs. 

I look forward to hearing testimony from our witnesses today on 

the use of broadband and the access that is going to enable the creation of a lot of new jobs and the policies needed to maintain America’s lead in technology. I appreciate you all being here today. And 

I know some of you traveled from a long ways. Thank you. 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Well, with that, I welcome all of the 

witnesses. Our first witness is Mr. Evan Burfield, who is the Chairman and CEO of Synteractive Corporation. Mr. Burfield previously 

founded NetDecide, a company that provides wealth management 

solutions. He co-founded Synteractive in 2003, which is a strategy 

and business solutions consulting firm. 

You will have five minutes to make your statement. Welcome. 

STATEMENT OF EVAN BURFIELD, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, 

SYNTERACTIVE CORPORATION 

Mr. BURFIELD. Chairwoman Vela ́zquez, Ranking Member Graves, 

and distinguished members of the Committee, as the Chairwoman 

says, my name is Evan Burfield, and I would like to thank you for 

holding this important hearing on the role broadband plays in driving innovation and creating economic growth and new jobs. 

I am the President and CEO of Synteractive, a company dedicated to solving the really big problems in the world involving connecting people and information. 

Broadband, together with instantaneously scalable cloud computing and interoperable applications, serves as a linchpin for creating the future of business. The media and the man on the street 

4 

has a feeling that the Internet is changing the way products and 

services get to market, but today I will walk you though the facts. 

The first thing to know is that today’s broadband and the tools 

it powers are enabling innovative small businesses to out-compete 

larger competitors. 

In 2009 Synteractive was a key part of the team that won the 

contract to rebuild Recovery.gov, which Newsweek has referred to 

as ‘‘perhaps the clearest, richest interactive database ever produced 

by the American bureaucracy.’’ 

Synteractive, along with our partners Smartronix, TMP Government, and KPMG, was able to build the entire platform in less 

than ten weeks for around six million dollars. Within a few days 

of kicking off the effort, we created a development environment 

using Amazon Web Services, which provided us with access to vast, 

instantly scalable computing resources for a few thousand dollars 

per month. 

We built Recovery.gov with platforms such as Microsoft 

SharePoint and FAST Search because they were off the shelf and 

interoperable, allowing us to focus on design and innovation, rather 

than recreating the wheel. 

We wanted the site to help citizens find a recovery job. So we 

created a tool in less than a day using Microsoft Bing search service that enabled citizens to search for jobs across companies that 

received recovery funds. Similarly, we made Recovery.gov available 

in over 50 languages in a few days by snapping Google Translator 

into SharePoint 

To build a platform like Recovery.gov 10 years ago would have 

been a $100 million effort and would have by its very nature been 

done by a company like IBM or Lockheed Martin. Our team was 

able to create an innovative solution using tools from a wide variety of vendors faster and more efficiently than Lockheed of ten 

years ago ever could have. Simply put, small businesses have never 

been more able to punch so far above their weight. 

While I am very proud of my company’s success with Recovery.gov, we have our eyes on a larger target: creating a set of online services that provide other businesses with the kind of power 

that we have at Synteractive. 

Synteractive has clients ranging from Recovery.gov to the American Petroleum Institute to Microsoft. We have grown our revenue 

from $150,000 in 2006 to nearly $6 million last year. We have the 

latest in software and communications tools available to us from 

the way we collaborate to managing our sales process to keeping 

our books straight. 

What is more interesting, though, is what we don’t have. We 

don’t have a receptionist because an online service automatically 

routes calls and delivers voice mails to us as e-mails wherever we 

are in the world. We don’t have computer servers humming away 

in our office because everything occurs on demand in the cloud delivered by broadband. Because we don’t have servers, we haven’t 

had to hire a systems administrator. 

We are a lean business, where every person we hire is focused 

on driving innovation for our clients. As a result, we can offer superior talent and solutions at competitive rates. 

5 

Synteractive is working with one of America’s leading broadband 

companies and Microsoft to bring this kind of efficiency to other 

businesses, particularly small businesses. 

We are creating online services that provide the core tools a 

small business needs, built on Microsoft technologies, and delivered 

as a bundle along with broadband Internet access. 

The innovation enabled by broadband is critical because it drives 

efficiency. Efficiency is critical because it makes small businesses 

leaner; more competitive; and more flexible; and, therefore, more 

resilient to economic downturns; and responsive enough to drive 

growth as economic conditions improve. 

Congress should continue to take steps to keep this engine of economic growth humming. First, Congress deserves tremendous credit for the support already given for making broadband pervasive 

across America through legislation such as the Recovery Act. It is 

critical for our democracy and our economy that every American, 

regardless of where they live, should have access to cheap and reliable broadband. 

Second, it is of the utmost importance that small businesses in 

America have a level playing field to compete and win. I know Congress and policy-makers are playing close attention to net neutrality. And the members of this Committee are more attuned to 

the ongoing policy debate than I am. But as an entrepreneur, I 

would encourage policy-makers to steer clear of foreclosing new 

business opportunities for small businesses. 

Third, broadband and small businesses are a powerful engine for 

job creation, but it is important to understand that these jobs require education and skill. Talent is a fuel that drives small businesses like Synteractive. We require people who understand strategy, economics, analysis, design, and engineering. Regardless of experience, we demand a solid foundation in rigorous thinking, scientific and engineering knowledge, and the ability to write and 

communicate clearly. Small businesses simply aren’t creating many 

jobs relevant for mushy thinking, poorly educated people. 

Therefore, the final step that Congress should take to ensure 

that broadband and technology continue to be an engine for job creation is to improve the quality of education in America. 

Chairwoman Vela ́zquez, Ranking Member Graves, and distinguished members of the Committee, thank you for your time and 

consideration on this important topic. 

[The statement of Mr. Burfield is included in the appendix.] 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Thank you, Mr. Burfield. 

Our next witness is Mr. Steve Messere. He is the founder and 

CEO of Revenue Spark, located in New York. Revenue Spark provides business services to a wide variety of sustainable growth 

companies. 

Welcome, sir. 

Mr. MESSERE. Thank you. Thank you, Chairwoman Vela ́zquez, 

Ranking Member Graves, members of the Committee. 

6 

STATEMENT OF STEVE MESSERE, FOUNDER AND CEO, 

REVENUE SPARK INC. 

Mr. MESSERE. My name is Steve Messere, and I am the founder 

and CEO of Revenue Spark. Revenue Spark is a company that is 

dedicated to creating and fostering relationships between sustainable technology companies. These are companies that are creating 

new opportunities on an almost daily basis through the spirit of invention and innovation and, as it is traditionally defined, what it 

means to be an American. Just like railroads, telegraph and telephone transformed the American business, broadband is similarly 

transforming the way Americans do business today. 

Revenue Spark is the world’s first sales outsourcing firm to dedicate our entire focus to helping sustainable technology companies 

succeed in a marketplace. We do this through a combination of new 

technologies that didn’t even exist five years ago. 

The core of our operation is domestic sales outsourcing. Domestic 

sales outsourcing avoids the pitfalls of hiring new business development staff. The typical hiring procedure yields a failure rate of over 

50 percent in the first six months. And for a new business, this can 

be easily mean the difference between success and failure. 

Domestic sales outsourcing also transfers the time-consuming 

tasks associated with research and establishing leads and doing 

the development work that can oftentimes keep a company from 

succeeding. So the challenge of most businesses is deciding how to 

staff a team that can overcome these hurdles and provide reliable 

and repeatable revenue. 

We are in the midst of a real paradigm change in how computer 

information is handled. Again, five years ago, individuals were dependent on their own personal computers to save and store their 

information. Now that information is increasingly shared over farflung computer networks. 

This is the cloud computing. And it means instantaneous cooperation is now possible between different individuals regardless 

of where they might be located. And this translates into increases 

in productivity. 

As we all know, increased productivity means a better bottom 

line. And a better bottom line means more and better jobs. Whether this happens via SalesForce, Google Documents, Skype, Jigsaw, 

Web Conferencing, Twitter, iPod, all of these things are the numbers of new technologies. It all means the same thing, which we are 

changing the way we do business, almost on a daily basis. And all 

of these technologies rely on fast, reliable, and accessible 

broadband. 

The Internet removes these economic barriers. So that at Revenue Spark, we are, in effect, a virtual company. For us, the term 

‘‘company headquarters’’ is almost irrelevant. We do almost everything via telecommuting. 

All the members of the Revenue Spark sales development team 

have a proven track record of being successful in sales outsourcing. 

In addition, all those members have spent an average of over 15 

years working. But they need these tools. So telecommuting allows 

us to attract the best at their best. And it is an the advantage for 

us and for society in these following things. 

7 

It provides fuller employment; less strain on infrastructure; increased productivity; reduction in turnover and absenteeism; reduction in carbon footprint and energy use; an expansion of our talent 

pool; and, one of the most important things, it helps us put recently 

displaced people back to work because they’re not limited by the 

geography that they face. 

So what I think we want to conclude with is that small business 

and medium-sized companies are the engines of economic growth 

in the United States today. They are dependent on the Internet to 

bring their ides to market. Broadband is the new Main Street and 

not just Main Street U.S.A. but everywhere in the world. 

For us at Revenue Spark, the Internet is an indispensable tool 

for what we do and what we do best, which is tell stories, because 

that is what we really do, we tell a story, a true story, about new 

technologies and about the boundless creative accomplishments of 

American innovators. And that story is as old as America itself. 

There is a new chapter that is being written, even as we sit here, 

a tale of otherwise undiscoverable technologies and how America 

can flourish and grow in a way that is sensible, sustainable and, 

yet, preserves our precious resources for our children and children’s 

children, not just here in the U.S., but all over the world. And for 

all over the world, it is, of course, a story about jobs, very good 

jobs. And we use websites, and we use these tools to make that 

possible. 

Given a choice today between having telephone service or Internet, the vast majority of companies we work with would choose the 

Internet without hesitation. And that is the very definition of the 

sea change that we are faced with here today. 

All of these tools that we have talked about and more serve to 

increase efficiency, which means a better bottom line, which means 

more jobs, good jobs, the jobs of today and tomorrow, not the jobs 

of yesterday. 

Chairman Vela ́zquez, Ranking Member Graves, and members of 

the Committee, thank you for this opportunity. 

[The statement of Mr. Messere is included in the appendix.] 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Thank you. 

Our next witness is Mr. Greg Whisenant. 

Mr. WHISENANT. You got it. Thank you. 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. He is the founder and CEO of 

CrimeReports in Draper, Utah. CrimeReports is the largest online 

resource for crime information, offering software tools for law enforcement agencies. 

Welcome. 

Mr. WHISENANT. Thank you. Thank you, Chairwoman Velμzquez, 

Ranking Member Graves and members of the Committee. 

STATEMENT OF GREG WHISENANT, FOUNDER AND CEO, 

CrimeREPORTS 

Mr. WHISENANT. My name is Greg Whisenant. I am the founder 

and Chief Executive Officer of Public Engines, Inc. We make the 

CrimeReports.com website. 

I founded CrimeReports.com in 2007. And as of today, we work 

directly with nearly 1,000 law enforcement agencies throughout the 

8 

country to build the National Crime Map, which would give every 

American free access to street-level crime information within 24 

hours of its occurrence. 

We sell a monthly subscription to law enforcement agencies 

under a software as a service model. We have a single instance of 

software code on the Internet that works with nearly any law enforcement agency’s existing technology systems. 

We don’t sell hardware, software licenses, or maintenance contracts. We do everything from the Internet. So we are very capitalefficient. Our prices are often 1/100th of what our competition 

charges. So we have enjoyed exceptional growth in just three years. 

We work with law enforcement agencies in most of the districts 

represented by the members of the Committee here. We cover more 

than 20 percent of the U.S. population. 

I would like to emphasize four key observations in my testimony 

today. Observation number one, CrimeReports is a small business 

that uses technology and increasingly broadband to compete effectively and create jobs. 

Like many other companies in the United States, without the 

Internet, CrimeReports.com would not exist. And, with it, we have 

seen exceptional growth. We currently have 41 employees, of which 

30 were hired in 2009, mostly in sales and software engineering. 

The users of our service are not just law enforcement agencies 

but ordinary members of the public, whose ability to gain access to 

street-level crime data is made easier with Internet access. This is 

particularly important in public safety, where members of the public can change their behaviors to protect themselves, their families, 

and their property if they know what types of crimes are happening. 

My company’s service does not rely specifically on broadband. 

However, as we have grown to support this vast network of agencies, our customers tell us that we could help them with new bandwidth-intensive applications. The limitations of these advanced applications are constrained by technology in that the entrance fee to 

the toll road is simply too high. Although the invisible hand will 

solve many of these problems over time, we can move the needle 

in a meaningful way with a vision of where we are heading and 

a concerted effort to get there. 

Observation number two, broadband is vital infrastructure for 

technology and non-technology companies alike. And as an equalizer in business, it encourages innovation that benefits consumers. 

Like other conditions, such as education, access to capital, and 

a market that is largely unencumbered from excessive regulation, 

widespread access to broadband is a critical ingredient in economic 

recovery, and more so for long-term economic prosperity. It lowers 

the barriers to entry for people to create new and innovative technologies. It lowers costs for the delivery of content. It democratizes 

participation in the economy for entrepreneurs with new and exciting ideas. 

When I started CrimeReports.com, we had virtually no direct 

competitors. As we started to grow quickly to expand the National 

Crime Map, several existing software companies began to pay attention and released competitive products. The Internet and 

9 

broadband were tools that we used to drive down the cost of providing our service, and soon other companies used these same tools. 

Today we are focusing on efficiency, growing quickly and optimizing our processes, but ultimately it is the consumers of our 

service, local law enforcement agencies, that are the clear winners 

in this textbook competitive market, where private companies are 

working to create the most value at the lowest price. 

By any measure, widespread access to broadband is an accelerator to efficiency. Those economies that achieve the highest level 

of broadband penetration will be the first to create the new efficient services that will take advantage of these high capacity networks and will have an advantage in the long run. 

Observation number three, widespread access to broadband is a 

proxy for other types of investments in the economy. Part of the 

mandate of government is to foster conditions that will contribute 

to a strong and vibrant economy. 

During the economic downturn, much of the focus has been on 

stabilizing components of the economy whose failure would have 

had catastrophic consequences. Substantial resources have also 

been devoted to creating economic stimulus through various fiscal 

and monetary policies, including direct investment in key industries, and in many cases directly in specific companies. 

Unlike other types of investment, renewed commitment to and 

investment in broadband is more like lowering interest rates. It is 

meaningful to all players and simply accelerates the timeline toward greater efficiency and innovation. 

Observation number four, widespread access to broadband is a 

driver in open, participatory government, as the President has envisioned. In connection with its economic contribution, widespread 

access to broadband will put entire communities and individuals on 

more even ground, not just in their ability to gain access to information but also in their ability to contribute and innovate in unexpected, creative ways. 

Government 2.0 is an emerging current example of how when 

coupled with the right political leadership, the investments we 

have made in technology can break down socioeconomic barriers 

and involve our democracy into one that is more transparent, collaborative, and participatory. 

Government 2.0 is a recognition that in many cases today’s problems are too complex to solve alone, either as legislators, administrators of government agencies, ordinary citizens or private companies. We need to create the attitudes and technological vehicles 

that will facilitate contributions from experts and knowledgeable 

individuals to get to the best answers. 

Fortunately, many of these technology systems are being established, but they are limited in their reach and could be vastly improved and accelerated with a more expansive deployment of 

broadband. 

As it has always done, the American economy needs to push 

through a continuous cycle of create, destroy, and repeat innovation 

to remain competitive. Among other technologies, broadband will 

be a driver. 

Thank you. 

[The statement of Mr. Whisenant is included in the appendix.] 

10 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Thank you. 

Our next witness is Mr. Tom McDonald, the CEO of BeSafe 

Technologies, a company located in Hyannis, Massachusetts. 

BeSafe Technologies is a small business that has developed an 

emergency response tool that assists first responders. 

Welcome. 

Mr. MCDONALD. Chairman Vela ́zquez and Ranking Member 

Graves, Committee members, thank you very much for the opportunity to speak with you today. 

STATEMENT OF TOM McDONALD, CEO, BeSAFE 

Mr. MCDONALD. I am the CEO of BeSafe Technologies. And our 

corporate headquarters is on Cape Cod. That is because I want to 

keep my feet in the sand. 

Our focus is clearly and has been on public safety. As a matter 

of fact, our company was founded by the Associate Commissioner 

for Public Safety from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts back 

in the ’90s. And I joined with him. I was the Superintendent of 

Schools in the Town of Barnstable on the Cape. 

And having witnessed the tragedy of Columbine, we found that 

there was a tremendous need for more and vital information, not 

so much the communication, which has been filled rather effectively. We found that there was a lack of vital information available instantly to first responders in the event of an emergency 

within a facility. 

And, with that in mind, BeSafe Technologies was created and 

has been fostered and has grown as a result of working through 

broadband. And the availability of broadband to the first responder 

community is critically important, not only to the success of our 

small business but obviously to access for first responder communities throughout the United States. 

Using broadband, first responders can access this vital information on any building, any facility, getting aerial shots, building 

blueprints, contact information, all the vital information that may 

be necessary in those. As an example, Columbine, you all witnessed 

that, as we did Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech was over in nine minutes. 

Recognizing that fact, we have to have a delivery system that 

brings vital information quickly and is accessible to first responders in a timely fashion. And in many cases, it requires a great deal 

of bandwidth. Without broadband, BeSafe Technologies would be 

very limited. 

As a matter of fact, before we saw the expansion of broadband 

really taking effect and continuing to take effect across the country, 

we were a CD-ROM, paper-driven company. No longer. We invested 

significant dollars into developing our company and the accessibility to the Internet so that all first responders can have immediate access if and when they need it, also for preplanning and so 

forth, in the event of a bomb threat, a hazardous materials spill, 

any kind of an emergency, an earthquake, any emergency in places 

where large numbers of people might congregate. 

And we work with public and private institutions. We work with 

colleges, corporate, and government facilities across the country. 

And we provide all of the vital information. We work very closely 

11 

with SWAT team members, police chiefs, fire chiefs, school departments, college administrators to make certain that what information is needed is there when it is needed. 

We also do very effective training. We try to do as much as we 

can in person. There is nothing better than a face-to-face meeting, 

where you can look somebody in the eye and talk to them effectively and train them. 

But I can tell you this. It’s a large country. And what we are able 

to do through the use of broadband is train and effectively train 

first responders, thanks to the exposure of broadband across the 

country. That is something that we would hope continues to expand 

exponentially going forward in the future. 

In addition to that, we train hazmat teams, police teams. We do 

document management, all of these types of things that wouldn’t 

be possible without this. 

And it really was the convergence of BeSafe and America’s robust, high-speed broadband networks that make this all possible. 

Ten, 20 years ago what we are doing today wouldn’t be possible. 

Therefore, I can’t stress enough how important the expansion of 

broadband is to our business and other businesses throughout the 

country. 

We look to continue to invest in bringing our technology to the 

general public, to private and public entities, and continue to work 

as a small business. And our survival is really dependent on the 

continuing implementation of broadband. 

So, with that in mind—and I would speak to the fact that my 

first career, while it was in education, I’m talking and speaking to 

you today from Main Street of little America and asking that you 

do whatever you can to continue and support the growth of 

broadband in America. 

And I would ask you to carefully consider any burdens to small 

business. We are working extremely hard every day to improve the 

companies that we own and the lives of the people that we serve. 

And I would ask the members and thank you for listening to us, 

the people on the front lines, and hope for improved coordination 

and renewed growth in small business. 

[The statement of Mr. McDonald is included in the appendix.] 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Thank you, Mr. McDonald. 

And now the Chair recognizes Mr. Minnick for the purpose of introducing our next witness. 

Mr. MINNICK. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

I appreciate the opportunity to be able to come before this Committee today to introduce a remarkable young woman, who is from 

my district, Ms. Lindsay Dofelmier. 

As the former CEO of two Idaho-headquartered businesses, I am 

proud to present Lindsay as a tremendous example of entrepreneurship and small business leadership in my home state. Her resume reads like a promising case study of what people who are 

smart, technologically advanced can do utilizing the latest 

broadband technology to create new business opportunity and more 

efficiency in the market. 

In her current capacity, Lindsay is the CEO of Urban Agent 

Team, a successful high-tech real estate brokerage firm 

12 

headquartered in Boise, Idaho. As her testimony today will highlight, Lindsay has utilized broadband technology to establish her 

real estate companies and fuel her business, which has now grown 

into a three-state operation, operating also in our adjoining States 

of Oregon and Washington. 

I think her story is a remarkable example of what a generation 

younger than you and I and technically savvy can do with this new 

emerging technology to create new jobs and opportunity any place 

in America. New businesses depend upon broadband technology 

and other new innovations that simply break the model for how 

business is traditionally done. 

So I am very pleased to be able to introduce Lindsay to the Committee. I will warn you she speaks Japanese, but I suggested today 

it might be better to testify in English. I am proud to present Lindsay. 

STATEMENT OF LINDSAY DOFELMIER, CO-OWNER, URBAN 

AGENT TEAM LLC 

Ms. DOFELMIER. Good afternoon. Chairwoman Vela ́zquez, Ranking Member Graves, members of the Committee, as Representative 

Minnick said, my name is Lindsay Dofelmier. And I appreciate 

your invitation to testify today on behalf of my company: Urban 

Agent Team. 

Representative Minnick, I would also like to thank you very 

much for taking time out of your busy schedule to introduce me to 

the Committee. I follow your career, and I appreciate all of your 

efforts on behalf of small business in Idaho. 

As Representative Minnick said, my company, Urban Agent 

Team, began in Idaho. It began when I learned that the average 

relator was a 51 year-old female. I had a hunch that the echoboomer demographic was under-served and under-represented in 

the real estate industry. As a result, I began targeting this demographic. 

Echo boomers, also known as Gen Y, Millennials, or the Net Generation, are the children of baby boomers. There are approximately 

80 million of us between 15 and 33 years old, making us second 

in size only to the baby boomers and by some estimations larger. 

We are a well-informed media and tech-savvy generation that 

grew up with computers and the Internet, both at home and in 

school. Thanks to the Internet, the world has been at our fingertips 

for most, if not all, of our lives. 

With vast amounts of information only a click away, we are wellversed in technology, culturally literate, informed on world affairs, 

and poised to revolutionize the economy. 

Urban Agent Team speaks to this demographic. We are a company of Millennials, for Millennials, and by Millennials. With offices in Boise, Seattle, and Portland and frequent travel among 

these cities, constant connectivity to wireless or mobile service is 

absolutely essential. 

Access to the Internet is our business. Without the existence of 

broadband and social media, Urban Agent Team would not exist. 

With agents throughout the Northwest, the ability to collaborate 

and communicate instantly and effectively is the foundation for our 

business. In order to do this, we use a variety of Internet-based, 

13 

cloud-computing programs daily. We manage our company domain 

and meet our IT needs with Google Apps. 

With access to online e-mail, documents, and the ability to manage and view one another’s calendars, we are freed from the constraints of hard drive-based applications and can collaborate virtually. 

We have our weekly team meetings via Skype, use Dropbox for 

online file storage, send and receive files via Sendspace, manage 

our cash flow with Google Docs, and run our finances with 

Quickbooks Online. With Google Alerts, I know whenever someone 

anywhere in the world uses our company name or one of our 

agents’ names in an article or post on the Internet. With the click 

of a button on our iPhones or laptops, we can access any contract, 

one another’s calendars, or chat from any wireless access point. 

The use of technology in our business is not limited to the back 

end, however. A majority of the online tools we use are aimed at 

our clients. With the versatility and mobility of the HP Mini, our 

customers are only a click away, even on the road. 

We use a variety of other programs, such as YouTube, Google 

Maps, IDX Broker, and MailChimp, to communicate with and advertise for our clients. We depend on the Internet and connectivity 

for day-to-day operations. 

Due to the instant gratification of the Internet, today’s highly 

connected consumer demands an immediate response. In order to 

provide better service than our competitors, we must oblige. 

Our clients can e-mail, text, or use social media to contact us 

during traditional post-work hours. Our ability to quickly respond 

to such requests increases our conversion rates and overall customer satisfaction. 

In an era of information overload, we have captured and held our 

client’s attention by recognizing and exploiting an under-served 

niche market. Rather than trying to be everything to everyone, we 

have specialized our business strategy. 

Our approach to how we present ourselves and how we have positioned our brand is unorthodox and embodied by our motto, 

‘‘We’re not your parents’ real estate company.’’ 

We don’t span the digital divide, as our clientele tend to be 

young, tech-savvy, educated, and diverse. As such, they connect 

with our honest, straightforward brand. 

Through the use of a variety of social media platforms, we have 

been able to build our brand identity, capture new leads, make 

friends in new markets, keep our followers up-to-date on our 

whereabouts, and maintain strong relationships with people we see 

infrequently. With social media, we can connect with like-minded 

individuals in other cities, states, and even countries. 

Twitter has been the bread and butter of our growth. Since joining Twitter two years ago, we have amassed a following of 4,500 

users, most of whom we did not know prior to Twitter and many 

of whom we have yet to meet. In 2010 alone, we have gained 12 

clients as a result of Twitter. The best part is the bulk of these programs are open-source and free. 

As a small business founded during the recession, watching the 

bottom line with hawkish eyes has been key to our survival. We 

are a virtual company with no brick-and-mortar offices. The InterVerDate Aug 31 2005 18:06 Jun 25, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 G:\CLERKS~1\HEARINGS\TRANSC~1\56297.TXT DARIEN
14 

net has allowed us, instead, to create our office online, thereby saving us tens of thousands of dollars a year. 

Our online presence functions as a storefront, business center, 

and property search. In addition to office rent savings, the Internet 

has allowed us to cut our costs with access to a multitude of free 

tools, by consolidating positions and allowing for virtual assistance. 

As a result, we can grow regionally without the traditional costs 

associated with such expansion. 

Instead of investing in offices, redundant support staff, hardware, and software, we have invested in growth. The monetary savings the Internet has provided us has fueled such, allowing us to 

successfully compete with much larger and more traditionally managed companies within our industry. 

I can confidently say that the success that we have achieved is 

a direct result of our ability to access broadband. This is why the 

National Broadband Plan and digital literacy efforts aimed at small 

businesses are causes that I feel passionately about. 

A generation of tech-savvy entrepreneurs with broadband access 

will fuel job creation and economic growth. The Internet puts 

knowledge in the hands of the user. And we all know that knowledge is power: power to learn, power to think, and power to create. 

The goals of the National Broadband Plan summarized as access, 

speed, affordability and clean energy are laudable goals that every 

American should embrace. 

The fact that we as a nation are already trailing other countries 

in this arena is of great concern to me for the future of our economy. I truly believe that without the Internet, the potential for 

small businesses to successfully grow to medium and large businesses would be far more difficult. 

On behalf of myself and everyone at the Urban Agent Team, I 

thank you again for your time. 

[The statement of Ms. Dofelmier is included in the appendix.] 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Thank you. 

If I may, I would like to address my first question to Messes. 

Burfield and Whisenant. The National Broadband Plan outlines 

recommendations on how the federal government can utilize 

broadband. It seems to us that it will require a public-private partnership. Can you talk to us about the role that small businesses 

will play in ensuring governments harness the power of 

broadband? 

Mr. BURFIELD. Thank you, Chairwoman. 

I mean, I think, as I laid out in my initial testimony and as Mr. 

Whisenant addressed, you know, the power of broadband to impact 

the way that government operates, a Government 2.0 revolution, if 

you will, that allows the representatives in this room to connect in 

a much more direct and meaningful way to citizens allows citizens 

to connect to the actual data and underlying information that tells 

them what their government is actually doing, you know, I believe 

that is critically important to our government, to democracy in this 

country. And I think it is driven by cheap, pervasive, affordable access to broadband, wherever you happen to be in this country. 

In terms of the roles of small business in driving this Government 2.0 revolution, I believe it is very, very critical that there is 

15 

an open playing field for small businesses to access and drive this 

kind of innovation. 

You know, there is a natural tendency for large, entrenched businesses to want to shape the playing field in a way that dictates disruptive innovation on their timeline and on their terms. 

You know, broadband affords access for small businesses to come 

in and drive innovation and government at a much more rapid pace 

and in a much more meaningful way. And I think that any policies 

that support making that access as open as possible to small businesses is going to be good for citizens, good for small businesses, 

and good for our economy and democracy. 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Do you see any barriers preventing 

small businesses from getting contracts in this arena? 

Mr. BURFIELD. Well, obviously from my perspective, we were able 

to win a pretty meaningful and substantial contract to implement, 

for example, Recovery.gov. You know, with that said, the way that 

contracting with the government is often set up, a lot of those opportunities don’t end up becoming available for full and open competition. 

Recovery.gov was a situation where Congress had dictated that 

the platform had to be implemented very quickly with some very 

aggressive requirements. And the administration felt that they 

needed to go out and find the most innovative, best companies out 

there possible. And it was, in fact, an open competition. We had 

one week to respond to it. 

That is not always the case. A lot of these systems are ending 

up going to the entrenched incumbent contractors, which are often 

large businesses that have little incentive to offer the kind of highly innovative approaches that we provided with Recovery.gov. 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Mr. Whisenant? 

Mr. WHISENANT. Yes. Thank you. 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Thank you. 

Mr. WHISENANT. I think we could use some overhaul. I feel as 

a small business distinctly disadvantaged in the purchasing process, actually, because it is so burdensome. And I don’t think it is 

necessary as much as it probably used to be. 

On the open government, making sure that government is using 

it, I think the technology is going to invite people to organize better 

and more innovation to come out of that. And I think it is really 

a question of political leadership more than it is of technical capability. 

I think the administration certainly has been pushing for government to leverage these networks and to use broadband and other 

technologies in innovative ways. I think there is an opportunity for 

legislative leadership as well. And there is plenty of ground to 

cover that would benefit both government and small business. 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Thank you. 

Mr. Messere, last week the FCC announced a new framework to 

preserve an open Internet. In your opinion, what would the preservation of an open Internet mean for the growth of the green technology start-ups that you work with? 

Mr. MESSERE. Thank you very much for the question. And it is 

an interesting one. The framework itself represents a difference, I 

guess, in understanding about what the FCC can regulate. That 

16 

specifically opens up the doors for a change. And so it will be interesting to see how that will work. 

The Internet essentially is two parts. And from our perspective, 

there is the ability to communicate over the Internet, which is the 

connection, if you will, and then there is the content. And so these 

two things are partly a part of that challenge. 

From our perspective, the most important thing is the ability to 

have connective connections, if you will, between any one of our offices, between any one of our employees. And this supplies globally 

So from our perspective, that is the most important thing. 

To make it really simple, if you look at each one of our employees 

as a virtual point of access on the ’net, each one of those has a 

broadband provider. And each one of those providers generally provides a similar platform. But if they don’t, if it’s unique and if 

there are uniquely different things that don’t share commonality 

between them, it means that essentially we would no longer be 

able to use some of the tools we use. 

So imagine if we couldn’t use Skype, which is a telecommunications technology that acts like a phone. It is vitally important for 

some of our members to be able to use Skype to communicate. And 

if their broadband provider were limiting those functions, that 

would be a problem. 

So our greatest interest is in maintaining and having access to 

a common set of connectivity. And the content itself isn’t meant to 

be part of that challenge, but I can understand how the FCC is facing that. 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Thank you. 

Mr. McDonald, I represent New York. Coming from New York, 

I am very much concerned about improving emergency communication with our first responders. You spoke about that and the services that you provide through your company. 

And so, as we know, first responders have traditionally relied on 

paper blueprints— 

Mr. MCDONALD. Yes. 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. —to navigate a building. You say how 

important it is to move this information to the Internet. And we 

all know that it really enhances public safety. 

My concern or my question is, how do you balance this benefit 

with ensuring that what is web-based data is kept safe and secure? 

Mr. MCDONALD. Excellent question and one that we face every 

day. Let me start by saying yes, we do rely heavily on the Internet 

and access for that for a variety of reasons, which I will speak to 

in a moment. 

First of all, let’s be clear. I know students who have been able 

to crack almost into the Pentagon. So I am not going to tell you 

that they can’t get into almost anything. Having said that, we put 

countless amount of time and energy and resources into ensuring 

the security of our system. 

And the other thing, based on the way we have set up our network and accessibility is obviously there is extremely redundancy 

to what we do. It’s backed up. It’s supported. It’s password-protected and so forth. And there are firewalls and other kinds of safety systems built into what we do. 

17 

I also will tell you that most police departments still do rely on 

paper and CD-ROM. The fact of the matter is we provide it in 

paper and CD-ROM. But as soon as you publish a paper product 

that is in the hands of a first responder and the person who is 

managing that facility’s cell phone number changes, that information is now outdated. 

And that lack of clarity in the information you have in front of 

you could be the difference in responding effectively or not. And so, 

like everything in life, you need a balance. And here you need a 

balance of the three, you know, low-tech, mid-tech, and high-tech. 

Broadband brings the high-tech capability to what we do. It’s vitally important because what happens now is if your cell phone 

number changes, that is updated immediately. And the system already immediately generates an e-mail to all people in the system 

who have access, keeping them posted on any changes. So vital information, timely information is important. 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Thank you. 

Mr. Graves? Thank you. 

Mr. GRAVES. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

I want to talk about rural areas. And in terms of you might each 

speak to this and how it relates to your business, if it is not applicable, just say so, but what barriers have you seen in accessing 

customers in rural areas or expanding into rural areas? And what 

barriers are out there? What barriers are still out there or you 

have seen in the past? 

And also I am very curious to know if you think that is a growth 

area. Some folks would believe that moving modern technology or 

expanding broadband into rural areas is a waste of time and 

money, but I would be very curious. 

Mr. BURFIELD. You know, it is interesting. The lead of our visual 

design community, considered one of the foremost experts in the 

world on designing user experiences on Microsoft technology, actually lives in Laurens, South Carolina. And having gone down there 

and had dinner with her a few times, it is about as rural as you 

are going to get in South Carolina. 

She is able to access our team in Washington—we have resources 

in Taiwan, we have resources in India—nearly seamlessly because 

she does have access to broadband technology. She is on, as we 

have mentioned a number of times, Skype continuously video conferencing with a distributed team around the world. 

You know, I am not sure she would joined Synteractive if it 

meant leaving Laurens, South Carolina. The ability to have the 

kind of quality of life, the kind of community that is important to 

her, while still having access to a global team and working on global problems was highly meaningful to her. And it was highly meaningful to Synteractive. 

You know, that is not always the case. I have certainly in my 

travels been in any number of places where you can’t get that same 

kind of access in rural America. And I think in order to continue 

to drive those kinds of economic opportunities, in order to continue 

to drive those kinds of employment opportunities, we do need to ensure that rural America has full access to broadband, preferably 

wirelessly. 

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Messere? 

18 

Mr. MESSERE. Yes. I would agree consistently with what has 

been put out there on this subject, which is that from our perspective, from our company’s perspective, we have hired a number of 

people who could only have gotten access to our company with 

broadband in places that are quite remote as well also. 

I have a couple of employees in North Carolina. I have had employees in Texas. I have had employees in Nevada. So I have had 

employees that are in many places that are quite a bit far away 

from the central core center of business, where their ability to be 

able to work for us is completely enabled by the broadband access 

that they had. 

What our biggest concern and what has been a problem for us 

is when that broadband isn’t strong enough and sometimes that is 

the case, we can’t use some of the tools like Skype. Skype depends 

on some kind of strength of access, if you will. And when it’s a little 

bit below that, it starts to fail, which anyone who has been on a 

bad cell phone call knows what that is like. So we try and avoid 

those kinds of things, but that is our biggest concern in order to 

use some of these technologies. 

As I said in our opening statements, my biggest concern is that 

is what we know of today. In five years’ time, those technologies 

will continue to push forward. And we are really wanting to be able 

to make sure that all of our employees can stay with us. 

I can’t imagine the heartbreaking conversation of having to lose 

an employee because they could no longer keep up with the technology. That would be a great and grave concern for us. 

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Whisenant? 

Mr. WHISENANT. In my circumstance, I don’t know if there is a 

huge effect in the rural communities except that I think that if 

there is a gap, it is just going to get worse. 

One of the interesting thing about broadband and if there is a 

renewed investment in broadband is it will enable services that we 

can’t even imagine. We can certainly think of common ones and obvious ones, like telepresence, remote medicine. 

These are services that if you have access to broadband, you will 

benefit from that. And I think rural areas will be increasingly disadvantaged and cut off from those educational and even, you know, 

telemedicine, those types of services that will grow and flourish 

over time. 

Mr. MCDONALD. Well, my sense is that broadband is expanding. 

First of all, it is vitally necessary in rural America. Take, for example, the incident that happened in Amish country. I mean, there 

are many rural spaces where information is vitally important. 

Bad things don’t just happen in big cities, although they do happen in big cities. And so we need that access everywhere. But it 

is my belief and, from what I have read, that broadband is continuing to expand and is investing. There is significant investment 

going in every year to enhancing this implementation across the 

country as not only accessibility but also increasing speed of access, 

you know, the speed of an error. 

Those two things are very important to us as a company. And so 

I am heartened by the fact that I see broadband continuing to 

grow, continuing to be more accessible. We are not there yet, I 

don’t think, but I am heartened by that. And I think that down the 

19 

road if we continue on the plane that we are going, that we will 

arrive to where we need to go. 

And I would just caution that it is important that all of us in 

small business need to know the rules of the game moving forward, 

how things are going to work, what access people are going to have. 

When we go to put—and I will finish. Probably the limiting factor for us in rural areas is that police cruisers and so forth may 

not have laptop computers in their vehicles, may not have the 

connectivity there. That is something where I see necessary investment going forward. 

Mr. GRAVES. Ms. Dofelmier? 

Ms. DOFELMIER. As a Westerner, this is something that is particularly important to me for two reasons. One, I grew up in the 

West. And, as you well can imagine, we have a lot of space out 

there, a lot of rural areas. 

Most of us that live in the cities in the West, we choose to live 

there for a lifestyle. So we like to go out and camp and fish and 

hunt and whatever it is that we all do. And telecommuting is essential to our businesses. So often, even if we do live in the cities 

in the West, we need to have access to our businesses when we are 

having our leisure time as well. 

Additionally, when I grew up in a small town in rural Utah, we 

were definitely at a disadvantage with the Internet. Only recently 

did my dad actually even have access to it. He had to get a satellite 

Internet at his home. So whenever I would go home to visit my 

family, I was effectively cut off from my business. And that is often 

how it is whenever I go on vacation or spend leisure time. 

So I think it is absolutely essential to Westerners, perhaps even 

more than in other areas of the country where there is greater 

connectivity. 

Mr. BURFIELD. Madam Chair? 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Mr. Altmire? 

Mr. ALTMIRE. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Mr. Messere, this is directed at you. Just for way of background, 

I am very interested in the export component of this. As you know, 

the U.S. Commercial Service was created specifically to help U.S. 

companies find international business partners in the worldwide 

marketplace. And one such example is in my district. 

I am familiar with Intake Process Group, which is a small business that designs web-based systems, controls for use in manufacturing. And it supports many larger customers, corporate folks that 

a lot of folks would know the names. And in western Pennsylvania, 

the U.S. Commercial Service has established an office to help companies such as Intake succeed. 

My question for you is, the administration, of course, has set this 

five-year goal to double U.S. exports. And I was wondering if you 

could discuss how technologies developed specifically by small U.S. 

firms can more effectively reach the global marketplace. 

Mr. MESSERE. Well, thank you. That is part of what our business 

is about. So it is sort of an opportune ability for us to address that 

specifically. 

Reaching out to international opportunities is really dependent 

on the most important part of their go-to-market strategy, which 

is what differentiates their product or service. And in what we are 

20 

really seeing, especially in our area which I focus on sustainability, 

which is a lot about renewable energy and waste optimization, 

those types of things are—they have a global audience of possibilities in the market, but they have to be differentiated. And so what 

we have to do if we are going to help them is learn how to get that 

differentiation to be told. 

I think we have talked about some of the technologies right here 

at this table today. Certainly a website, as you know, is now a 

must-have for every business. In addition to that, we are starting 

to see a lot of technology along the areas of things like Twitter. 

Our company alone has over 7,000 people following us. And we 

have put very little effort into anything more than hanging a shingle up for that. And that has a global audience. 

As a result of that—and this is sort of getting to your point—in 

our example, we not only use Twitter, but Twitter actually points 

people back to our website, which then feeds an international audience of participants. On any given day, almost 60 percent of the 

people who visit our website are from offshore. So that is part of 

the solution. 

So it is telling a story; differentiating using the tools; and then, 

lastly, it is using those tools now to get to a market opportunity. 

And a company like ourselves, that is what we specialize in. 

So we use the broadband technologies now to connect directly to 

companies and services in foreign markets. So as we are working 

today, I am now setting up a New Zealand office that will allow 

us to have a beachhead in New Zealand, Australia, which will 

eventually get us Singapore, Hong Kong, et cetera. That is all, 

again, because of broadband technology. 

Mr. ALTMIRE. Thank you. 

I wanted to switch subjects and talk to Ms. Dofelmier for a moment. You talked a lot about access to the Internet and how important broadband is. I wondered if you could talk about the fact that 

many small businesses report that the cost of broadband is a roadblock to the adoption of it. And I was wondering how the cost of 

broadband affects your business, in particular, and what advice you 

would have for us to help make it more cost-effective for small 

businesses. 

Ms. DOFELMIER. Well, as was mentioned earlier, I mean, I think 

that having an equal playing field in terms of accessibility and 

speeds is really essential to small businesses because as a cost of 

service, as it exists now, you know, we are penalized if we don’t 

have deep pocketbooks and we can’t afford a fiber optic line. So if 

something goes down on the network or if our speeds are slow, we 

are crippled as we go along or we have to go to a coffee shop or 

try to find another network, particularly in our business, where we 

are always on the road and we are not always at our office or at 

our home with our speeds at home. 

So I think that, really, it is essential as more and more people 

choose to, particularly in the Millennial generation, work for themselves or choose to telecommute for the lifestyle, that having access 

anywhere and having equal speeds of service is just really—without that is a severe disadvantage to our businesses. 

Mr. ALTMIRE. No further questions. 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Ms. Dahlkemper? 

21 

Ms. DAHLKEMPER. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to our 

witnesses here today for your testimony. 

I am actually from just a little north of Mr. Altmire, in northwestern Pennsylvania, very rural area except for basically the town 

I am from, Erie. And so throughout those counties, Erie County, 

Warren County, Crawford County, we have several small telecommunications companies that have strategies to deploy 

broadband in these rural, under-served areas of my district. 

As you all testified, you know how important it is to have access 

to those businesses. Unfortunately, many of these small broadband 

companies are not able to access capital. And they are as fully leveraged as possible. They applied for some of the recovery funds, 

and they didn’t receive any. 

So I want to know if you have any suggestions for these small 

companies like those in my district. They are having trouble accessing that traditional capital and also are not big enough to compete 

for some of these government loans that are out there. 

I don’t know who would like to answer that question. Anyone 

have a thought on that? 

Mr. MCDONALD. If I had all the answers to that, I would probably be sitting in Hawaii doing this over the Internet. But the fact 

of the matter is capital is restricted today. There are challenges to 

that. 

But having said that, I think you simply—you know, you have 

to start small. And you just have to grow in steps. You have to take 

steps. And so perhaps you can’t get a million dollars or two million 

dollars, but maybe there are ways to bring in private investment. 

You know, my experience is having experiences myself, if you 

have a good idea, there are angel investors. There are other investors out there who will be willing to take a risk and work with you. 

It comes down to having the right idea, the right place, the right 

implementation. And I think anyone is doable. And so I wouldn’t 

simply want to rely—although I am not opposed to government 

loans, loans are not my favorite thing because with that comes the 

repayment. And, you know, as a result of that, my take is I would 

rather bring investment in from the private sector to help us grow 

if and when the time is right. 

And so I think if I were to advise them, I would say put together 

your business plan and go out there and look for some private investors to help you with that so you can grow because there is no 

question in areas of Pennsylvania as well as elsewhere that access 

to broadband by the rural communities is extremely limited and extremely important. 

Ms. DAHLKEMPER. Mr. Messere? 

Mr. MESSERE. Yes. Actually, I will jump in as well. I mean, 

again, sort of what our business is about is helping companies get 

to market and figure out where they can grow their sales revenue. 

I think in this case, it comes down to a matter of mapping out 

the potential. So if they are looking at a market in a very specific 

place, they really have to have a good idea of how many people 

would purchase the service, at what price point is it cost-effective 

and, most importantly, competitive. Are there alternatives to that 

solution? 

22 

As was pointed out, there are technologies that include satellite 

technologies. So those are kind of the fundamentals to start them 

off on that. And I might also recommend if they have a higher education institution that you can access when in your district or close 

to your district, maybe working with some of the folks there and 

getting them together to have them work through this idea of how 

do you write a business plan, how do you learn how to figure out 

how many clients are there in this business because it has to be 

cost-effective. 

And one of our roles in doing sustainability is always about that 

profitability drives the issue of innovation. 

Ms. DAHLKEMPER. Mr. Burfield? 

Mr. BURFIELD. I would also think that in situations like that, 

perhaps not focusing on traditional broadband but focusing on 

wireless broadband is a key innovation. 

I have also been pleasantly surprised by where you are able to 

get broadband access in America, but I have been absolutely 

stunned by the quality and access of wireless broadband in other 

parts of the world. 

My wife and I were in India late last year. And she had intentionally found the backwaters of southern India to be the farthest 

possible place so that she wouldn’t have to deal with my iPhone 

anymore. And we were on a boat. And you couldn’t see anything 

but rice paddies as far as the eye could see. 

And then my iPhone went off. And I ended up being able to 

download a series of documents at pretty amazing speeds from my 

iPhone to my computer to solve the problem. And I could not see 

a human, again, as far as the eye could see. 

If you can make it profitable to do that in the rice paddies of 

India, my sense is there is a business model, although it might not 

look traditionally like digging channels and laying broadband fiber 

optics, that can be profitable in Pennsylvania. 

Ms. DAHLKEMPER. Thank you. Thank you all. I yield back. 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Okay. I do have another question before we adjourn. I hear every one of the witnesses saying how important broadband is for small businesses to grow their businesses. 

However, we all know that small businesses not only face the 

economic constraints that they are facing to develop a presence online. So how would you advise small business seeking to harness 

broadband to grow their business? And what role should Congress 

and the FCC play in promoting broadband adoption by small firms? 

And I will start with Ms. Dofelmier, if you can. 

Ms. DOFELMIER. Absolutely, Madam Chair. I think that, really, 

what is essential is education. I know that Congress is working on 

that right now with digital literacy efforts aimed at small businesses. 

I think, particularly in minority and under-represented communities, that that is something that is going to be very important in 

promoting the adoption of broadband. Really, it is, even when we 

have new members that join our team, a lot of times their eyes get 

big, even if they’re in their early 20s, and they just say, ‘‘How do 

I use all of these tools? How can I use them to build my business 

within your company?’’ 

23 

And so we have to sit down with them and just coach them 

through it. And as soon as they realize the potential, they are off 

and running. And I think it really just centers around education. 

And it doesn’t matter your age or your background. It just takes 

a little bit of coaching and some effort. And there are so many tools 

out there to help you grow your business. 

You just have to Google. If you need something free, like a free, 

open source software program, because you’re strapped financially, 

you just have to know what to look for and you can find it. 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Any other of the witnesses want to 

comment? Yes? 

Mr. MCDONALD. Just a quick comment. I would urge Congress 

to think through carefully what it is going to do. I would suggest— 

and I have seen too often, not just in Congress but everywhere. We 

don’t want today’s solutions to cause tomorrow’s problems. 

I think that broadband is expanding. And I think that I would 

just urge that we make it, as I said earlier, that the rules of the 

road are clear and there is not confusion over the next few years, 

which I think could stifle, has the potential to stifle, what is an opportunity to expand this successfully in a partnership that will 

work. 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Yes, Mr. Messere? 

Mr. MESSERE. Also continuing on that exact same point, as it relays both in small businesses starting their process and in companies that have established their process, absolutely correct. We 

plan for the future based on what we know today. 

And if we build a business and the profitability of that business 

around expectations of access to broadband and that isn’t going to 

be the case in the future, it could be very, very difficult. And it can 

end a good entrepreneurial run. 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Mr. Burfield? 

Mr. BURFIELD. Yes. I mean, to echo two key themes, we have 

used the phrase I think throughout this that ‘‘Broadband is like the 

national highway system’’ or ‘‘Broadband is like the electrical grid.’’ 

And in many ways, particularly when you move outside of major 

metropolitan areas, it is kind of a natural monopoly. 

As an economist, there is often a critical role for government to 

play in facilitating the creation of those situations. But there is a 

tremendous risk for unintended consequences around technologies 

that will be used on broadband that haven’t even been imagined 

yet. I think, as government explores the right role to play, caution 

is important. 

And then I think going back to the second theme, you know, education is a tremendous part of this. For capital-constrained small 

businesses, part of the answer is not to focus so much on capital. 

It is to focus on what can you do with the capital that you have 

using the free tools that are out there. 

But there is absolutely a digital divide that is growing between 

people who understand how to pull together hand weave together 

these incredibly powerful, inexpensive solutions and those people 

who don’t. Any sort of effort in terms of improving that kind of education and how to use these tools I think would be critical for our 

economy. 

24 

Chairwoman VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Thank you all. This has been quite an 

interesting discussion. And, for this Committee, it is an important 

one. If we want to provide the tools for small businesses to continue to grow, this is key. So I thank you all. 

I ask unanimous consent that members will have five days to 

submit a statement and supporting materials for the record. Without objection, so ordered. 

This hearing is now adjourned. Thank you. 

[Whereupon, at 2:11 p.m., the foregoing matter was concluded.] 

25 


56297.001
26 


56297.002
27 


56297.003
28 


56297.004
29 


56297.005
30 


56297.006
31 


56297.007
32 


56297.008
33 


56297.009
34 


56297.010
35 


56297.011
36 


56297.012
37 


56297.013
38 


56297.014
39 


56297.015
40 


56297.016
41 


56297.017
42 


56297.018
43 


56297.019
44 


56297.020
45 


56297.021
46 


56297.022
47 


56297.023
48 


56297.024
49 


56297.025
50 


56297.026
51 


56297.027
52 


56297.028
53 


56297.029
54 


56297.030
55 


56297.031
56 


56297.032
57 


56297.033
58 


56297.034
59 


56192.035
60 

Æ