The grant request is to fund the cost of connectivity to the Internet and security of data exchange for two rural North Carolina counties: Anson and Beaufort. This connectivity and the firewall security system would be achieved by the installation of a T1 line through the North Carolina Information Technology Services (ITS) in Raleigh or another vendor whose costs and services-are comparable. Anson and Beaufort counties were two of six counties which were part of the Rural Utilities Service Grant of 1998, which funded the purchase of 3 IBM multimedia workstations with proshare 500 cards, a desktop camera, and audio equipment for tele-conferencing and data exchange. These two counties do not have Tl line connectivity and thus have service which is inadequate for the data requirements of the health departments. The total cost of T1 line connectivity for one year is $22,050 for each county (a total cost of $44,100). This cost includes a one-time T1 line installation charge of $1,300, a one-time firewall installation charge of $1,250.00, monthly Tl line charges of $1,100 ($13,200 for one year), and monthly firewall charges of $525 ($6,300 for one year). Paying this amount for connectivity for these two counties would be a tremendous help to them in speeding the accessibility of the public health professionals in accessing current training opportunities, research and resources needed by their largely rural, poor clients. This grant allocation will give each site time to plan for this cost in future budgets.
