(Editor: This is a first in a weekly series of interviewing Tech Stars on the Cape in every technology industry and position. If you know of a Tech Star that is worthy of an interview, please email us at feedback@atbar.com.)

Who are you and what do you do?

I am Dan Gallagher, the President and Chairman of OpenCape Corporation. I am also the Executive Director of Information Technology at Cape Cod Community College, and sole owner of Massachusetts Technology Solutions, Inc. I am a member of the Cape Cod Technology Council Board of Directors. I am also a former Naval Officer, having retired at the rank of Commander in 1999 after a career in Naval Intelligence.

What services/products do you offer?

The OpenCape Corporation’s purpose is to fulfill the need for a regional communications network to enhance education, research, and economic development, AND provide for an emergency communications network in times of crisis in the Cape Cod region. This network will provide reliable, redundant, and secure backhaul communications for public and commercial access networks on Cape Cod and the Islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. The network will support open access and promote competition in all telecommunications services.

Who/where is your audience?

Cape Cod and the Southeastern Massachusetts Region have inadequate communications infrastructure. The communications deficiencies are in both backhaul transport and “last mile” access options.

The traditional commercial providers have not developed the capacity to serve the entire region, nor have they introduced more modern services such as fiber to the premises. They apparently do not see the return to justify the cost of investment in the region. The result is old technology, limited options, inadequate capacity, lack of redundancy, and unnecessarily high cost to residents and businesses of the region.

The impact on the region is significant. Many homes and businesses cannot gain access to the Internet because they are beyond the service range for incumbent traditional providers; school systems lack access to the rich resources of Internet 2 and video content because the lack capacity and access; enterprise institutions throttle protocols and lease server space off-Cape because they have inadequate up bandwidth.

What is the website?

www.opencape.com

Well-Funded or Bootstrapped?

Full implementation of OpenCape will cost approximately $5 million. We are seeking sources for that funding through grants both private and public. We have been very successful at obtaining necessary seed funding that is required to fund engineering, legal, grant preparation, and proof of concept work. Thus far the Cape Cod Economic Development Council (EDC) has contributed $50,000; Cape Cod Community College, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and UMASS Dartmouth have each committed $30,000. A Regional Priority Grant was approved in March, 2007 by the Massachusetts Technology Council (MTC), John Adams Innovation Institute (JAII) for $150,000. The MTC has also authorized $75,000 in direct contracting support.

We are happy with our progress and confident of full funding.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years?

I am a problem solver and creator, not a maintainer. I tend to take positions that can have a tremendous impact in a few years. This can be in solving issues that are preventing an organization from achieving its goals, or creating an organization to achieve a new goal. When the goals are achieved I move on to new challenges.

I will see OpenCape up and running before I transition, and believe this is well within the five year horizon. This is completely in line with my goals at Cape Cod Community College as well.

Where were you born – where do you live now?

I was born in Boston, MA. I grew up in Randolph, MA. I left Randolph at 17 to join the Navy. I returned to the area in 1996 and stayed. I currently live in Mansfield, MA.

PC or Mac?

PC, but I dislike what this question implies. I have run dual platform enterprise environments with integrated active directory. Each platform has its benefits and detractors. Ultimately, it is the application that matters to the user. The platform is increasingly less important, and the choice is increasingly the result of marketing strategies rather than capabilities.

Where did you go to school?

BS from Boston State College, Middlebury College Mandarin Chinese Language School, and the Defense Intelligence College (MS).

What Social Networks are you on?

My social network is primarily my very large extended family. Nothing gives me more pleasure in my free time than taking my young nieces and nephews on a hike in the woods or having a “drive in movie night” on the back porch on a warm summer night.

The digital world augments my social life through Email, exchanging photo albums through Kodak gallery, and posting videos on Youtube or Google videos.

Greatest invention ever?

This may be a little off key, but I believe it is the Constitution of the United States. Many great “things” were created in human history, but the pace and depth of invention began to accelerate with the Enlightenment and rocketed forward only in the past 200 years or so with increasing acceleration. It is the context of freedom and rights that underpins the free flow of people and ideas that results in invention.

Person you believe has contributed most to the world of technology?

If the greatest invention is the Constitution of the United States, the person who has contributed the most to the world of technology is Thomas Jefferson. Though the Constitution was written by many contributors at the Continental Congress (Jefferson was not there), it was the ideas of the Declaration of Independence, written by Jefferson, that were codified in the Constitution.

Where have you traveled in your life?

As a Naval Officer I had the opportunity to travel the world. I have visited many countries on all continents except Australia. Travel in the military is different than vacation travel. A trip to a poor African country where a village has no running water, no electricity, no waste treatment, can be enlightening. I have also lived in several states, north and south, east and west, within the United States. Different regions of our country do have distinct cultures. The discussion recently on the Cape about the inefficiency of Town-based government as opposed to County-based government is just one example.

Why set up shop on Cape Cod?

I sort of stumbled into OpenCape. I took a position at Cape Cod Community College and realized right away the College had a serious bandwidth issue. When I went looking for more there were very few options and those that were available were very expensive. I quickly discovered that the issue was regional, not just isolated to the College. Thus, the genesis of OpenCape.

5 Websites you go to every day?

www.google.com
www.firstrade.com
www.foxnews.com
www.capecod.edu
www.boston.com

What’s on your iPod right now?

OK, now you are really getting at my age. I do not own an iPod. Can you believe it? The only time I listen to music is when I am alone in my car. In my car CD player are three CDs by Andrea Boccelli, an assortment of classical music, and a country singer who’s CD I bought recently at a small bar in Nashville.

What is on your desktop/screensaver right now?

A blue screen with a bunch of icons.

You are on a deserted island – do you bring a laptop or book?

A book. The laptop will have no connectivity and the battery will be dead in 3 hours.

Phone call or text message?

Hey, what happened to emails? I like the convenience of emails. I can answer when I want to and prioritize them. I prefer phone calls or in person meetings for complex issues that require communication. Text messages and emails, like all written word, are largely informative communication that are inappropriate to the exchange of complex ideas.

Feel free to tell us anything else….?

I would like people in the Cape Cod region to know that OpenCape is only one initiative of many to address the Cape’s deficient telecommunications infrastructure. The Cape Cod Technology Council Infrastructure Committee is addressing this issue from several directions. For example, OpenCape is just a start. We are lobbying to bring greater fiber capacity to the region. We have developed proposals to run fiber along the rail rights of way from Taunton to Fall River, New Bedford, Falmouth, and Barnstable. We have held high level meetings with Comcast to get them to look at business needs outside of the context of the pushing of service to residents. Comcast business class modems are 8Mbps down and one up. Business need more up bandwidth to deliver content to the Internet. We are attracting companies like Industrial Communications to Cape Cod to provide additional back haul services.

Additionally, we are trying to bring a regional focus to the Cape. Town government is not going away, but we could lay an umbrella over the region and provide telecommunications services as a region much more efficiently and effectively. For example, no school district is big enough to provide top rate network, web, and data services like a county system in the South or West. However, if the school districts and towns of the region collaborated they could bring together the mass to provide top rate services in those areas at reduced cost. We are taking specific actions to address this issue and encourage others to support that effort.

Another focus is on planning, policy, and an integrated view to development. For example, telecommunications is nothing without reliable power. Planners must look at these two infrastructure components together. They must also begin to include a future perspective into planning. For example, the Cape Cod Rail Trail was recently renovated from Dennis to Wellfleet. Why wasn’t fiber, or at least a 4 inch conduit, placed along that path while the construction was underway? Seems simple right? We have to change the way people think!

Thanks for your time, Dan!

(Note: Dan Gallagher has offered to post updates on the OpenCape project on @Bar, and we are thrilled! So, stay tuned and check back to @Bar daily!)