The Juneau Economic Development Council is hoping the city's unusual isolation and geography will give it an edge when Google selects "a small number" of trial locations for an experimental broadband network said to be 100 times faster than the average current Web connection, reports the Juneau Empire. Continued on jump

Hundreds of cities have applied since the California-based [Google] posted a request for information last month. In addition to applying, Topeka, Kan., has temporarily changed its name to Google.

Juneau is small, but the city doesn't have to take drastic measures to look attractive to the company, said Jeremy Hansen, an information technology specialist working on the application.

The company is looking for a challenge, Hansen said.

"Juneau offers up a very unique geographical technical problem," Hansen said. "It's mountainous, distant, there's water, the rugged terrain is challenging in itself, as well as the transport of that much bandwidth to Juneau."

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