University of Wisconsin officials say UW is a key factor in Madison’s pursuit to become a test city for Google Fiber, Google’s future high-speed Internet experiment.

Google has announced its plan to build Google Fiber for Communities, an ultra high-speed Internet network that will boost Internet infrastructure within a city and provide connections at significantly faster speeds.

Brian Rust, spokesperson for the Department of Internet Technology, said UW’s presence as a top research institution would make Madison one of the superior candidates for the implementation of this plan.

“The Madison population is more likely to come up with applications to use Google Fiber in our community,” Rust said. “With the UW as a leader in research, the Madison population would be very creative with applications for this project because they already have high expectations for Internet use.”

David Devereaux-Weber, network consultant at DoIT, said “universities invented the Internet” and have been technology leaders for the past 30 years, which is why the presence of this major university plays a key role in attracting Google to the city of Madison.

The UW is a top research university, and many people within UW and Madison communities are exposed to high-bandwidth Internet on campus, so they are ready to use it at home, Devereaux-Weber said.

“When students come back to school in the fall, they consume twice as much Internet as… (was consumed) the previous year,” Devereaux-Weber said. “The UW continues to have to buy more capacity, and the current DSL lines can’t handle it. We need to make the transition.”

UW students, faculty and staff have been rallying around this request for Google Fiber on Madison’s behalf. The execution of this project would mean improved access to resources for people who live in Madison and work on campus, Rust said.

This ultra high-speed network would improve quality and access to live audio and video-conferencing and the streaming of video in high definition. Instruction and research at the university would see outstanding results with the application of this plan, he added.

“Google Fiber wouldn’t make a huge difference on campus, but it would rather allow off-campus Internet to work at the same speeds as on-campus Internet,” Rust said. “It will help the UW because we have many facilities in other parts of the city that will benefit.”

He added these facilities currently have to make use of slower Internet connections because they are not always part of a continuous campus network.

Rust said substantial measures have been taken in an attempt to attract Google to Madison including a pep rally, network professionals’ participation in meetings held by the city, a “Google” ice cream flavor created by Babcock Hall and a letter to Google from UW Chancellor Biddy Martin.

“I like to dream about how Google Fiber technology would allow me to better communicate with and learn from the talented students, faculty and staff who make up our university,” Martin said in the letter.