Ohio Completes 2nd ECom Assessment

Ohio businesses experienced a 15 percent increase in overall Internet and website usage between 1999 and 2000, according to the 2001 report released by ECom-Ohio — a public-private collaborative project to increase Ohio's readiness for global electronic commerce. 



In Assessing Ohio's Readiness for Global Electronic Commerce, Ohio is said to have extensive connectivity infrastructure. Between May 2000 and June 2001, Ohio's network connectivity increased by more than 150 percent. Ohio's four "cybercities"– Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Dayton – place it among the best connected states in the U.S., the report holds. Overall, Ohio cities saw the total bandwidth available increase by more than 400 gigabits per second since May of 2000. At least 20 cities witnessed more than 100 percent growth in capacity, with 12 new cities said to have network connectivity capacity of 45 megabits per second or more. 



On a per capita basis, the report positions Cincinnati as the nation's leader in broadband availability with 85 percent of the city's population having access to broadband services. Seventy-nine percent of all Ohioans live in areas where they can obtain broadband services. While increasing 25 percent over six months, broadband services continue to be found primarily in urban areas. By 2005, Ohio plans to have 90 percent of its population equipped with broadband access. 



Additional highlights in the ECom-Ohio report: 

• Although broadband is increasingly available, Ohio businesses still favor dial-up modems to access the Internet more than any other method of access, including Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL), cable and wireless satellite. Their use of the dial-up modem, 71 percent, is higher than the national average, 59 percent; their use of DSL, 6 percent, is lower than the national average, 18 percent. 
• Ohio businesses appear to be "about a year behind their national counterparts in moving onto the web." 
• Ohio's manufacturing community is adopting internet and e-commerce capabilities as quickly as the are Ohio companies in the service sector. 
• Nearly 7,000 computer workstations with Internet access are available to Ohio residents through public libraries, community computing centers, colleges, universities, K-12 schools, and religious institutions. 

The ECom-Ohio report also measured the level of adoption and use of business-to-business (B2B) practices among Ohio's three main industry sectors — automotive suppliers and original equipment manufacturers, transportation and logistics, and finance and financial institutions. More than 19 percent of businesses using the Internet said they were exploring or involved in B2B. Adoption of e-commerce technologies also was said to be faster in the above sectors than in Ohio businesses, overall. 



To continue competing in the new economy, Assessing Ohio's Readiness for Global Electronic Commerce calls for Ohio businesses to employ new e-commerce and B2B tools. The report cites goals of increasing the number of businesses with websites and increased B2B usage. The report also urges Ohio businesses to enhance products and reach new markets. 



ECom-Ohio, entering its third and final year, is chaired by the Ohio Board of Regents and NCR Corporation. The project is spearheaded by the Technology Policy Group, an initiative of the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC). 

Pari Sabety, Director for Technology Policy at OSC and author of the ECom-Ohio report, is leading a workshop on related subject matter at SSTI’s annual conference September 19-21, 2001. The ECom-Ohio report is available at: http://www.ecom-ohio.org/