By Chris Taylor
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-901214.mp3
Murray, KY – One of the first computers to come to our area arrived at Murray State just a couple years before WKMS went on the air. It was the size of a classroom and no it didn't get Netflix or Pandora. Today, that's all changed: they're smaller for one thing. The communication infrastructure connects our region with the rest of the world. As Chris Taylor finds out, with a combination of shipping location advantages, cheap warehouse space and low energy costs, it's an attractive place to form an online business.
Murray State University's first computer was an IBM System 360 Model 40. It had the computing power of today's digital wristwatch and read lines of code off hole-punched cards. Long-time faculty member Tommy Wilkins recalls the machine housed in a large room in the Business Building.
Wilkins- You go in and there are lights blinking, somebody sitting at a console operating the thing. It was taller than your head if you stood on the floor, spread out 7 or 8 feet, plus all the related peripherals: the tape units were probably five feet tall, three feet wide; we had I think four of those; the disk units looked like big pizza ovens.
Wilkins was part of MSU's Computer Center and over a decade later helped set up the first time the university technically got online by connecting to another far away computer on one of the internet's forerunners called BitNet.
Wilkins- Which was to link all the state universities with some type of interactive computing capabilities. We didn't have anything called the internet while I was here. You could use BitNet as an email sort of thing, pretty much like you do with email now.
Getting online back then wasn't a quiet Ethernet cable away either.
Wilkins- You actually stuck a phone into a physical modem. You'd dial it up, then you'd hear a BEEP and then you'd stick it in there and a little light would come on.
[sound of a modem connecting]
Many people in the rural parts of Western Kentucky still hear this sound when they go online according to Connect Kentucky Director Rene True.
True- You go into individual counties and availability rates can be all over the board. A significant portion of their population does not have access to broadband.
Though the data True is referring to is now three years old, it's the latest completed look at Kentucky's online connectivity. It finds on average 95% of Kentucky's population has broadband access available and some 44% of households and businesses have adopted a higher speed connection. Western Kentucky is a bit behind the curve, with the average adoption rate at eight percent lower than the rest of the state.
True- There's a lot of citizens out there just not connected. They're having to deal with dialup or satellite and in some cases they're able to get mobile 3G broadband service through their cellular provider such as AT&T, Sprint or Verizon. But that service is certainly not ubiquitous in the rural areas of western Kentucky and there's still a lot of work to be done.
Most Kentuckians surfing the web at high speed are using D-S-L or cable connections. True isn't sure what Kentucky's availability rate is now. Since the survey, the FCC changed its definition of how fast a connection has to be to be considered broadband, which could impact those figures.
True- Broadband at the time was 200 kilobits per second. Now the minimum definition is 768 kilobits per second.
As for e-commerce throughout the region, True says many smaller western Kentucky businesses are finding it easier and less expensive to create a presence online.
True- The penetration of e-commerce is driven by people getting comfortable doing transactions electronically. Where once before, you had small businesses that might be concerned say taking a credit card transaction electronically. And they recognize that if they don't get on the web, they're missing a large part of their potential customer market.
True says people now often turn to search engines rather than phone books. So when someone types in florist Murray KY,' the businesses not online will often miss out on selling a bouquet. From an economic development standpoint, True says Kentucky is positioned to attract high-tech industry here, saying the Commonwealth is a good place to house data centers.
True- Because of our low energy cost. Data centers use a lot of energy and our central location away from major threats from a terrorism standpoint or natural disasters.
Mayfield-based D & D Shoe Company CEO Lamar Hardin agrees with True. He says western Kentucky, while mostly rural, doesn't impede his ability to sell. For shipping purposes: it's centrally located in the US, which lowers his overhead cost, and warehouse space goes for just a fraction of the price compared to more populated areas. D & D has been in business for 40 years now. It employs about 100 people and operates a warehouse and an online marketing office. The company receives and ships out some 60,000 shoes a week to addresses all over the world. A lot of those are driven by online sales. Hardin says now it's a no-brainer, but when it came to making the decision in the late 90's to get into the online marketplace, it was an investment made on blind faith and didn't come without doubt.
Hardin- No You're not going to be able to sell shoes on the internet. They gotta try them on, they gotta look at them, they gotta feel them, you know? But little did we know, people know what type shoes they wear. You know what brand you wear, you know what size you wear in that brand. You're familiar with that shoe.
Hardin says people are more often going online to buy shoes because of lower prices. His company helped pioneer ways to sell footwear and other merchandise online. They hired programmers and developed their own software; some of which they even sold to the online auction site eBay for a hefty sum. Hardin says at first, eBay was central to the company's online success.
Hardin- At one time we had gotten up on eBay. We were in the top 100 in the world. Since then we're in the top 20 in eBay, but we kind of took a different route.
D & D's strategy now is power in numbers. Hardin says the company has formed alliances with other small and mid-size businesses through online affiliate programs, as well as other websites. Though D & D has been using the internet for well over a decade now, Hardin points out selling online has a strict learning curve.
Hardin- It's three times foe if you make a mistake on the internet. You have to get it back, you have to please the customer, you know; and it's a very costly mistake.
He says maintaining a profitable online presence also means keeping stride in an ever changing environment.
Hardin- The way you have to direct traffic is constantly changing. It moves so fast. Just because you did it yesterday, doesn't mean it works tomorrow or even a couple hours.
Hardin believes Western Kentucky has managed to keep up with and has even at times been on the forefront of the internet communication revolution. As it continually changes, both residents and businesses alike will likely continue to evolve along with it, staying connected to the global marketplace and a world of endless information just a keystroke away.