Connected Nation

The unique approach a New Mexico county is taking to developing an open access network

• Jessica Denson • Season 6 • Episode 34

Share episode

On this episode of Connected Nation, we kick off our Mountain Connect 2025 coverage from Denver, Colorado. 

Jessica Denson sits down with Jerry Smith, Broadband Manager for Los Alamos County, New Mexico. The conversation dives into how his county is deploying an innovative open access fiber network, partnering with a sovereign tribal nation, and improving middle-mile redundancy in a remote but tech-savvy area. 

Recommended Links:

Jerry's LinkedIn

Mountain Connect Website

Jessica Denson (00:08):

On this episode of Connected Nation, I begin our coverage from Mountain Connect 2025, which is taking place in Denver, Colorado, August 4th through the sixth. It brings together about 1500 attendees from around the US and around the world, actually, that are here to discuss broadband related issues and share solutions for better connectivity. On this first episode, I sit down with Los Alamos County broadband manager, Jerry Smith, to talk about what they're doing in New Mexico, specifically with Open Access Networks. Not only is the unique approach that they're taking there, helping to expand connectivity and improve it, but it's also letting the consumer choose their preferred ISPI ask him how it works and much more on this episode. I'm Jessica Denson, and this is Connect Nation. I am at day one of Mountain Connect taking place in Denver, Colorado, and I'm in the exhibit hall and a wonderful young man, <laugh>, Jerry Smith came by and said he was a fan of the podcast, and I said, you've gotta talk to us. Jerry, how are you doing, Jerry? Jerry Smith (01:17):

I'm doing great. Yeah. How Jessica Denson (01:18):

Are you? And you are the broadband manager of Los Alamos County in New Mexico, right? Jerry Smith (01:23):

Correct. Jessica Denson (01:24):

Yeah. Uh, first off, let's, let's talk about Mountain Connect for a second. Why is it important for you to be here? Jerry Smith (01:31):

Well, I've attended Mountain Connect a few times in the past, and it's, uh, grown from a regional conference, but it's one of the, one of the couple of conferences that I go to just because I meet a lot of the vendors here. Uh, the, actually we have a project going where a lot of the vendors that are doing our project, I got to know by coming to the conference. Jessica Denson (01:52):

This seems to be one of the, I I go all over the country at these different conferences, and this seems to be one of the better attended broadband conferences. Why do you think that is? Jerry Smith (02:01):

Uh, I think the, um, conference organizer works really hard at promoting and trying to deliver value. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. He works really hard at making the content valuable to those of us that are in the industry. Jessica Denson (02:14):

So, from your point of view, well, first off, let's talk a little bit about Los Almo, Los Alamos County, if I could say it, <laugh>. Uh, tell us about the county, what makes it unique? Um, you were telling, we were talking about Oppenheimer, of course, it's got some history there, but, uh, what is it like now? What's, what's the area like? Is it mostly rural? Are there, are there some bigger towns there? What's kind of the landscape? Jerry Smith (02:39):

Yeah. Los Alamos County is a very unique county, uh, in New Mexico. Most, most, um, besides the main cities of Albuquerque and, and a couple of others. Uh, every town is very remote and, uh, Los Amos is no exception. It was actually chosen, uh, back during War II for its remoteness mm-hmm <affirmative>. Which makes it kind of difficult for fiber optic. Uh, we have very limited connections and it's kind of left off, uh, of the, the main, uh, traffic of all the fiber projects. So the county decided to create a position called broadband Manager, and we're actually only the, uh, um, second government entity in New Mexico to have a broadband person mm-hmm <affirmative>. Because they've decided to make it, um, unique. Um, it's filled with scientists and PhDs. Uh, the education level is the highest county in, uh, the us uh, income per, uh, person is also high Jessica Denson (03:40):

Mm-hmm Jerry Smith (03:40):

<affirmative>. Um, and that they know what they want there, and they were not happy with the status quo of the, of what, what was available for them for internet services. And so they are took action and, uh, I heated the call. Jessica Denson (03:56):

Yeah. So, uh, talk about what is, what is a daily life in broadband as a broadband manager? Are you dealing with residents being annoyed or are you dealing with trying to solve problems for ISPs? What, what is it like for you? Jerry Smith (04:08):

Yeah. I was hired to actually address two things. One is, uh, it's two terms that you hear in the industry a lot last mile, and the other one's middle Mile. Um, I was kind of touching on Middle Mile earlier that there's only one fiber link, uh, and, uh, it gets cut occasionally and the entire community goes down and every kind of way you could imagine, uh, oftentimes for like weekend long. And, um, so I was hired to like get a second fiber line into the community Jessica Denson (04:37):

To have some redundancy. Jerry Smith (04:38):

Yes. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And that's happening. We're collaborating with, uh, one of the Indian Pueblo tribes, that's our neighbor who's, uh, building fiber, uh, through, and they're, we're gonna make a, a deal with them and we're partnering with the state to get a grant to help them do that. And we're actually pitching in the matching grant because we're, uh, highly motivated, uh, to partner with them. Uh, last mile just means like getting to your home Jessica Denson (05:05):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Jerry Smith (05:06):

And, uh, we're, we're gonna do a fiber to the home network and, um, it's got some unique approaches to it. And I'm gonna speak at a session later, um, about the topic called Open Access Networks. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Uh, but those are the two things, middle mile and last mile. So that's kind of what I focus my time on. Jessica Denson (05:25):

There's a couple of things I want you to expand upon Jerry Smith (05:28):

There. Okay. Jessica Denson (05:28):

Uh, uh, so first let's talk, I wanna get back to that, what you're gonna do, what you're gonna talk about later. But first, let's talk about the fact that you're working with a sovereign nation, a separate sovereign nation. A lot of people don't understand that when you deal with the native tribes, how is that, is, does that take a lot of time, energy, that you, you really, it's really about a one-on-one relationship. What is that like and trying to broker deal with the state as well? And are you kind of the go-between or how does that work? Jerry Smith (05:56):

Right. Uh, well, luckily I worked for the state of New Mexico with broadband and helping schools get, uh, fiber to their, uh, to, to their campuses in New Mexico and then in, in Texas, I was an IT director for a school district for 15 years. So I kind of brought that, um, mindset to, uh, this job. And it's all been required. Uh, but collaborating with our neighbor, the, the, uh, sovereign nation is taken three and a half years. And, um, we meet weekly about this project that we're collaborating on, but the, the state broadband office knew how to interact with us uhhuh. And, um, the grant was written and successful, and it, we decided that it was worth it to, for the county to provide a a $2 million match and, uh, 'cause that's what it take, but it's gonna benefit the county and then benefit, um, others that will be able to use this new fiber line mm-hmm <affirmative>. And also it will bring income to this, uh, to the, uh, tribal nation that's, they're spending the money and effort to build it, but they're motivated because they can have a recurring income off of that fiber Jessica Denson (07:11):

Optic. So it's really a win, win win at Jerry Smith (07:13):

This point. Yeah. Yes. Jessica Denson (07:14):

Yeah. Jerry Smith (07:14):

Yep. Jessica Denson (07:14):

Everybody's on board and you're ready to go <laugh>. Yeah. Jerry Smith (07:17):

Yep. Jessica Denson (07:17):

Uh, so I was gonna bring up the point about affordability. It's not really an issue as much in your county, or is there a piece of that that's part of it? Jerry Smith (07:25):

Um, there are some people who would need assistance if that assistance was available. Like it used to be Uhhuh, um, but primarily, no. Jessica Denson (07:35):

Yeah. Jerry Smith (07:35):

Uh, but one of the things I do in my job is I try to help the, the counties around us, because they have greater need. We hire a lot of those people and they need good internet. So I ha I host a, uh, I, I lead a state work group that's called Regional Planning and Community Engagement that, uh, reports to the Office of Broadband and to a connected New Mexico council that's made up of legislators to try to help, uh, what is the saying that, uh, all boats rise, uh, Jessica Denson (08:07):

When the waters Yeah. Yes. Jerry Smith (08:08):

With, with higher rise, when the water rises, all boats rise, all boat rise together. And so like, I want us to be an example to what, show the others what they can do, and, uh, and it's going well. Jessica Denson (08:19):

Yeah. Uh, I love that you're actually organizing that around, because I would think once that, once your county gets done, then there's, it's not like the, even though we draw the borders <laugh> on the map, there's not like a border there Jessica Denson (08:32):

Right. Jessica Denson (08:32):

For connectivity. So really one leads into the other. Right, Jessica Denson (08:36):

Right. Jessica Denson (08:37):

Yeah. So how do you, is is there an issue with governments when you go across county or No, not really. Jerry Smith (08:44):

Um, there has to be, I mean, there is, is some flexibility. Like if you are passing money back and forth, it's easier than doing procurement. So there are some advantages. Um, but it's, no, it works pretty well. There are, uh, like there are county associations in the state that help get us all together to talk about things. Uh, and the state broadband office is making conversations happen among regions. In fact, the state broadband office has regional project managers for different areas in the state, Uhhuh. And, uh, so we, I have a primary contact at the office of Broadband, uh, that I use to get conversations going. Jessica Denson (09:25):

So there are a lot of, there's a lot of back and forth, and when you see something come up, sharing of resources and a solution, ideas, that kind of thing. Jerry Smith (09:33):

Yes. Jessica Denson (09:33):

That's really wonderful to Jerry Smith (09:34):

Hear. Yep. Jessica Denson (09:35):

Uh, since you, you are in kind of a scientific, what, why, is it just because of the, the, the past that there's such a scientific community there, are there other reasons for that? Jerry Smith (09:45):

No, they're, they're either current employees, uhhuh or previous retired employees of what we say the lab or nel. Jessica Denson (09:54):

He's giving us air quotes, everybody, lab <laugh>, Jerry Smith (09:56):

Most National Lab uhhuh. Um, if I say the lab or it's, Jessica Denson (10:01):

People know what that is. Right. Yeah. Jerry Smith (10:02):

Yeah. Jessica Denson (10:02):

Yeah. Jerry Smith (10:03):

So it's a, it's a huge employer and a lot of those employees need, need internet too. Jessica Denson (10:10):

Yeah. And I would imagine with having such a scientific community there, having that connectivity, like high level of it Jerry Smith (10:17):

Right. Jessica Denson (10:17):

Has got to be important. Jerry Smith (10:18):

Right, Jessica Denson (10:18):

Right. Um, you know, I've talked to several people or several groups about the need for redundancy, especially with when it comes to disasters or other issues, not just cut lines. Does New Mexico deal with some disaster type, uh, things that you have to think about? Jerry Smith (10:34):

Yeah. Um, wildfire. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Has struck our town in the past. Oh. Back in the, uh, just after two thousands, uh, 200 homes were Jessica Denson (10:43):

Burned. Oh, that's terrible. Jerry Smith (10:44):

And so this county is very aware of, and, and they have it, we have emergency people that have emergency communication plans, and yeah. They can benefit from better connectivity. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Uh, so we're really wanting to have resilient networks so that all that communication can still happen, uh, during hard times. Jessica Denson (11:03):

Yeah. Just another argument for that redundancy you're talking about. Yes. So let's talk about what you're going to, uh, present tomorrow. Um, at this point, people might hear this later, but at this point tomorrow, August 6th, um, uh, the open access networks, talk about what that is and what you're gonna really focus on. Jerry Smith (11:23):

Yes. Um, so open app access networks is relatively new, but it's become fair, fairly popular, Uhhuh, <affirmative>, uh, in its own, um, audience. The, what happens typically is local governments, typically municipalities want aren't happy with status quo and want to do something about it. And they look into how they can build their own network. Most of the time it's the municipality working with, uh, an entity that builds fiber networks, and then they also operate the network after it's built. And then it does. And in that scenario, it doesn't have to be an open access network, it could just be the county running and being an ISP, our county didn't want that. They, they want to have, uh, someone operating the network. So that's what we've, uh, done, uh, procurement for. And we have a vendor now that's working with us to design, uh, and engineer the network. And we'll start construction in spring, but it will be an open access network. So not only county owned and county funded, uh, we are working with the vendor to do be the network operator. And this network operator will contact and reach out to ISPs that want to be on our open access network. And, um, the beauty of today's technology is you can actually make it be pretty seamless for the customer because they'll go to one dashboard and they'll see all the ISPs that they can choose from. Jessica Denson (13:00):

Oh yeah. Jerry Smith (13:00):

And they'll be on our network, they'll be from four to six ISPs to choose from. And we're still in the process of, of vetting those and choosing those. But, uh, whenever the network is turned up, there'll be several that you can choose from. And if you're not happy with the one you have, you can just click on it and you can change, um, you can change to a different ISP without a lot of paperwork and a lot you can do it in the middle of the night whenever you're Jessica Denson (13:26):

Oh, Jerry Smith (13:26):

In, uh, Jessica Denson (13:27):

So there's still competition, but you, Jerry Smith (13:29):

It's competition Jessica Denson (13:29):

You've opened it up to Jerry Smith (13:31):

Right. Jessica Denson (13:32):

To allow for those best, those things that would best serve the county. Is that the idea? Jerry Smith (13:36):

Right. And the ISPs offer slightly different things. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Like, one of them might be a local is SP that's already there. Uh, but some, some of the other ISPs that will, um, be attracted to our network will be those that are already on an open access network somewhere. And this is just another network for them to be on. So it's a pretty cool, uh, environment. And I, I think that our community really, um, will, like having a, that they own the network. Jessica Denson (14:06):

Yeah. Jerry Smith (14:06):

Uh, that there's competition, there's not a monopoly, and they'll get to choose. And they'll also, uh, what that will do is give good pricing for good quality project over fiber optic. Jessica Denson (14:16):

So Tamara, you're gonna talk about how you kind of led to that spot, right. And how that worked for you guys. That's awesome. Seems like you like to do win win win deals, <laugh>. Jessica Denson (14:25):

Oh yeah. Jessica Denson (14:27):

That's good stuff. So you mentioned that you were once the IT directors, tell me if I have the title right of school district in Texas, Jerry Smith (14:33):

Right? Jessica Denson (14:33):

Uhhuh <affirmative>. Jerry Smith (14:34):

Yes. Jessica Denson (14:35):

Uh, how is, how is that different? Are you still focused on schools? Obviously there's a school component within LOS Counties, but do you think that served you well in this position, in this role? Jerry Smith (14:46):

Well, the IT background, uh, really helps. Uh, it is kind of a pivot away from being an IT director to being broadband specific over I was, I, I did work for a school in Texas and then when I moved to New Mexico, um, I was an IT director for a nonprofit. And then I pivoted over to work for the state of New Mexico, working for a public school, a a state agency that helps school school networks statewide. And, uh, but during COVID, uh, as COVID was getting started, I realized that the biggest need was at for home internet. Yeah. We had, we had gotten all the schools connected with fiber, so the schools were in pretty good shape, but the schools themselves were actually trying to figure out how to get the students better internet so they could do a school from home. And, uh, an opportunity came up, I thought I might work for the state broadband office, but the Los Amos County, uh, realized there was a need and, uh, I was just made aware of this opportunity and it looked like a good one. So, um, I've been doing that ever since. Jessica Denson (15:51):

So do you have a pretty good science team or is it just you and a couple of people? Jerry Smith (15:55):

Oh, it's just me. Yeah. Jessica Denson (15:55):

Oh, just you, yeah. <laugh>. Wow. Jerry Smith (15:57):

Yeah. Jessica Denson (15:58):

Yeah. It's a good thing that you have that background then. Jerry Smith (15:59):

Yep. Jessica Denson (16:00):

So, uh, uh, we, when you, when you first sat down, you asked me about where have my connection to Texas, and I, I was born in San Antonio and grew up in Austin area, or grew up in Austin, and you also have connections to Texas. So, uh, talk, talk a little bit about your background and what led you to New Mexico. Jerry Smith (16:17):

Right. Uh, I probably didn't have to say anything that, because of the accent. Jessica Denson (16:21):

Yeah. Uh, Jerry Smith (16:22):

Kind of throw Jessica Denson (16:23):

It off. It sounds perfect to me. <laugh>, Jerry Smith (16:25):

Right? Uh, yeah. I grew up, I grew up in Texas, uh, and then, uh, I attended Baylor University, which is in Waco, Uhhuh. And then, uh, great school. I, I worked over, uh, I worked overseas for a couple of years and then, uh, came back and started my, uh, career actually in Nashville, Tennessee for a while. And then ended up landing back in Texas, uh, working for a vendor that supported schools and installed networks and schools, uh, out of, out of Waco. And then got an opportunity to go be an IT director in, uh, Cleaver, which is just south of Fort Worth, Texas. And, uh, did that for 15 years and raised my kids there. And my wife was a teacher, so that worked out well. But my wife is from New Mexico, so we were always looking to get back, uh, in the land of Enchantment. Jessica Denson (17:13):

And it's a beautiful state. I I, my great aunt used to live in Albuquerque. Jerry Smith (17:17):

Okay. Jessica Denson (17:18):

So I love Albuquerque. You've been to the Ball balloon fest there? Jerry Smith (17:20):

Oh yeah. <laugh>, I'll be going, uh, this in October again. Oh. Jessica Denson (17:24):

If people, if you're all listen, go sometime. 'cause it's amazing. Yes, it is. Truly, Jerry Smith (17:28):

Definitely should be a bucket list for Jessica Denson (17:29):

Everybody. Yeah, I think so too. So, uh, you said you were a fan of the, of the show. Is there anything that you remember that you really liked that we've done? Or is there something you want to, that you would love for us to tackle a topic? Jerry Smith (17:41):

Well, I'm, I'm a fan of a, uh, of one of the programs that Connected Nation has that does the, um, s uh, think the CX piece? No, it's, uh, it's the schools seniors, uh, oh. Students working with seniors Jessica Denson (17:58):

Do teach check. Jerry Smith (17:58):

That's it, Jessica Denson (17:59):

That's a great program. Yeah. Jerry Smith (17:59):

I love that. I love that program. And, uh, we've, we ended up having a program that a local person is doing and it's very similar to that, but I'm a big fan of that. And, uh, so yeah, that'll kind of what got me Jessica Denson (18:14):

Attracted. Well, we'll keep listening because we actually have two episodes coming up where we talk to some kids and a teacher. Great. Awesome. Who did Teach, teach Check. And we're gonna do that in the school year and a and we'll talk to the, the people who've organized teens Teach Check. Jessica Denson (18:26):

Very Jessica Denson (18:26):

Cool. So that'll be coming. Very cool. Well, Jerry Smith, you said you were a fan of us. I'm now a fan of yours, <laugh>. Alright. Thank you for that. Thank you so much for joining us. Uh, Jerry Smith, the Broadband manager of Los Alamo County, New Mexico. Thank you, sir. Thank you. I will continue our coverage from Mountain Connect 2025 on the next episode of Connect to Nation. Until then, I'm Jessica Denson and this is Connect to Nation. If you like our show and wanna know more about us, head to connect nation.org. Our find our latest episodes on all major podcasts.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Jessica Denson

Host