Bangor Daily News

Hermon: Town's internet technology inspected by French diplomat

By Toni-Lynn Robbins Wednesday, February 14, 2007 - Bangor Daily News

HERMON — The town’s computer technology has gone global.

The science and technology attache for the French consul in Boston, Jean-Jacques Pierrat, visited Hermon on Tuesday to study Hermon.net, a free Internet service the town has offered to its schools and the entire community for almost a decade.

Pierrat asked few questions during his visit to the Hermon High School library, where he was escorted by University of Maine officials, retired regional Fleet Bank president Claude P. M. O’Donnell, and others.

Hermon.net has drawn wide attention because of its distinctive approach: All the town’s students can use cheap, sometimes castaway computer terminals that get their computing power from central high-speed servers. Any town resident with dial-up access can use the system, too.

As the technology evolves, the central server system could also work with wireless Internet and laptops, said Jeff Wheeler, director of technology for the Hermon school system, which runs the system.

So the Town Council wants to provide wireless Internet, at minimal cost, to everyone in the community by the end of this year.

"It’s very impressive," said Pierrat of the town’s system. "The challenge is to give access to students at the cheapest price we can. For schools, this system is very cheap and maintenance is very effective. You don’t need a lot of people to work on it."

Pierrat’s visit follows a similar tour last September by French Consul General Francois Gauthier.

One server in the Hermon system costs about $2,000 and can run a maximum of 40 users at a time, said Wheeler. More than 1,000 residents log in to Hermon.net each day, he said.

"This is something schools in Maine could have been doing two to three years ago and saved a ton of money," Wheeler said.

Area businesses have used Hermon.net, too — something Pierrat hopes to duplicate in France, but some local businessmen see even more potential. O’Donnell said he was surprised a private business has not caught on to the Hermon idea.

"This is a very attractive solution," O’Donnell said. "You don’t need to spend a fortune to provide great technology to a community."