The Roanoke Times has an excellent article about Danville, Virginia and its success in transforming the community from a traditional Southern mill town to an Information Economy powerhouse.
The City's early investment in Gigabit fiber played a big role, along with visionary local leaders who recognized that fiber was essential infrastructure but not a complete solution. Danville leaders rehabbed historic tobacco warehouses and created Class A office space for high tech businesses, and they also focused on workforce training and local higher education opportunities.
Perhaps most importantly, they recognized that they had to stick with their strategy for the long term to see results. From the first meetings that I attended in 1998 to today (twenty years later), the City has truly transformed the local economy--something many places talk about but don't always commit the leadership and hard work needed to actually do it.
WideOpen Networks provides network management services for the much expanded Gig network in Danville.