CHEROKEE — When people think of high-tech, Silicon Valley, Boston and Research Triangle Park come to mind. Soon, it may be Swain County, leading the list for broadband.

With the completion of the nearly 300-mile BalsamWest fiber-optic network, the six farthest counties of Western North Carolina can boast connectivity better than many major cities. Read more...

CHEROKEE – When people think of high tech, Silicon Valley, Boston and Research Triangle Park come to mind. Soon it may be Swain County, leading the list for broadband.

With the completion of the nearly 300-mile BalsamWest fiber optic network, the six farthest counties of Western North Carolina can boast connectivity better than many major cities. Read more...

Communities in the Tri-State Appalachian region of Western North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee and North Georgia now have a fiber network worthy of any large metropolitan area in the world, thanks to a seven-year project just completed by BalsamWest FiberNET.

BalsamWest's backbone ring fiber forms the Western North Carolina Education Network (WNC-EdNET) Read more...

SYLVA, N.C. -- March 9, 2007 -- Dignitaries, business leaders and community members throughout North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee gathered today at Harrah's Cherokee Hotel in Cherokee, N.C. to celebrate a historic event: connecting the Tri-State Southern Appalachian region with major metropolitan areas through an ultra-high-speed fiber optic network. The world-class technology will facilitate access to improved and competitive services, introducing the rural area to high-capacity communication services, such as IPTV, movie downloading, medical imaging, real-time distance learning and video security. Read more...

BalsamWest FiberNET announced its latest accomplishment in improving Internet accessibility through the once secluded Tri-State Appalachian region - direct connectivity to the Atlanta Internet backbone, the third largest Internet backbone in the nation. Read more...

BalsamWest FiberNET announced its latest accomplishment in improving Internet accessibility through the once secluded Tri-State Appalachian region - direct connectivity to the Atlanta Internet backbone, the third largest Internet backbone in the nation. Read more...

USCarrier Telecom and BalsamWest FiberNET LLC have partnered, tying together USCarrier’s 3,400 route-mile high-capacity fiber-optic network with BalsamWest’s 300-mile tri-state fiber-optic backbone. Read more...

The rugged western end of North Carolina is a good place to get away from it all. However, this isn’t always a good thing; what the nearby Great Smoky Mountains offer in beauty is offset by the obstacles they pose to the efforts of the region’s relatively sparse population to keep up with the economic and social advances the residents in many urban areas take for granted. Read more...

ROBBINSVILLE — Stanley Furniture Co. workers will start the drive home Friday by passing through the plant’s guardhouse gate, just as some have done for most of their adult lives.

But it won’t be a typical day. The shift’s end begins a two-week round of layoffs that will cut the plant’s work force of 450 people by about half while pushing Graham County toward a future much different from today. Read more...

SYLVA — Students in 45 rural schools in Western North Carolina just saw their access to the future get a lot faster.

BalsamWest FiberNet, the partnership formed by Drake Enterprises and the Eastern Band of the Cherokee, announced the opening of a new ultra high-speed fiber-optic network as the first phase of the WNC-EdNet. Read more...

BRYSON CITY — Robin Fronrath figures a corporate retreat center near the log cabins he rents to tourists would be a natural except for one thing.

“If I could get DSL in here and make my little valley hot where people could come here with wireless laptops — it’s going to be a big deal for me,” he said. Read more...

SYLVA - Five months ago, the nation's leading producer of tax preparation software rather quietly opened a new call center 30 minutes and 20 miles away from its home office in Franklin.

The company expansion - which added 20 jobs - didn't garner much press. A four-paragraph item appeared on page 12 of the business section. And the development, at first glance, might not seem like a large feat. Read more...

SYLVA — The three counties west of the Balsam Mountains served by WestCare Health System just got a little closer, thanks to the lightning-fast flow of information over a new fiber-optic network.

“I could drive the film of a CAT scan 30 miles from Bryson City to Sylva faster than I could send it over our T1 line,” said Shawn Remacle, WestCare’s chief information officer. “Now we can move that same image in 13 seconds.” Read more...

Q: How has it been for you being a freshman senator, what are your gut reactions about how your first term in office has gone?

A: When people think of you as a lawyer and a judge they think that you already know a lot of this stuff, which is an assumption that is not necessarily true. A lot of my background as a judge and working with the laws is very helpful in trying to work in the legislature. Read more...

Franklin - BalsamWest FiberNET announced the expansion of its next generation high-speed fiber optic network to Georgia and Tennessee. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will provide the tools needed to improve the quality of life of the people of western North Carolina through advances in education, health care, government and business. Read more...

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has provided $1.9 million for a fiber optic network in six Western North Carolina counties. Read more...

CHEROKEE - Brandon Spears sees the future edging closer for the Eastern Band of the Cherokee.

With a new high-speed connection to the Internet and the outside world, the tribal planner foresees the possibilities of videoconferencing or even telemedicine, linking the residents of remote communities such as Snowbird or Big Cove on the reservation with the best medical specialists. Read more...

Southwestern Community College and Drake Enterprises of Franklin announced last week the formation of BalsamWest FiberNET, a public/private partnership created to facilitate the deployment of a high-capacity fiber-optic network ring through Jackson, Macon, Swain, Graham, Clay and Cherokee counties. Read more...