MetroFi's Ad-Based Model in Foster City (CA)
MetroFi's business model relies on showing a strip of carefully tailored advertising across the top of users' web browsers. "The cost structure is such that you can get an acceptable return on capital, using an advertising model," says CEO Chuck Haas.
• Source: (The Guardian, Oct. 30, 2006)
Somerville, Boston Area Picking Up Speed
Locally, Boston, Cambridge, Brookline, Malden and several other small and mid-sized cities are implementing various approaches to Wi-Fi.
• Source: (Somerville Journal, October 27, 2006)
Hartford Launches Free Wi-Fi Program
Hartford announced Friday that it is launching a $1 million pilot program to test a free municipal wireless network in two city neighborhoods. __The idea is to give lower-income families access to information on education, health care and jobs.
• Source: (WCBS-TV New York, October 27, 2006)
AT&T Builds Wi-Fi Network for Riverside (CA)
Initially companies like AT&T and Verizon resisted deploying the technology, said Roger Entner vice president of wireless telecom at Ovum. "If you can't beat them, join them," he said. "AT&T realizes if they don't provide the service, companies like Google or EarthLink will."
• Source: (InformationWeek, Oct. 18, 2006)
New Orleans to Unplug Wi-Fi Network
The City of New Orleans will give up its hard-fought battle for a free city-provided wireless Internet network once EarthLink Inc. finishes building out its initial wireless system, according to the city and EarthLink Inc.
• Source: (Times-Picayune, Oct. 19, 2006)
Three providers competing to provide Wi-Fi in Milpitas
Earthlink Inc. plans to have a citywide, fee-based Wi-Fi system in place by the end of this year. Mountain View-based MetroFi Inc. has signed a contract with the city of Milpitas to provide a free, advertisement-backed Wi-Fi service by 2007. Then there is MetroConnect, the coalition of IBM Corp., Cisco Systems Inc. and others to create one gigantic, Silicon Valley-wide Wi-Fi hot zone that would include Milpitas.
• Source: (Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, Oct. 23, 2006)
Riverside Citywide Wi-Fi Up for Vote
Riverside would become home to AT&T's first citywide network providing free wireless Internet access under a five-year agreement set for City Council consideration Tuesday.
• Source: (Press-Enterprise, Oct. 14, 2006)
Boston Adds Downtown Hot Zone
Mayor Thomas M. Menino turned on wireless hot spots that will give Internet access to anyone with a computer or other WiFi-enabled device in City Hall Plaza, Quincy Market, and the North End's Columbus Park.
• Source: (The Boston Globe, Oct. 17, 2006)
Chicago Spreads Welcome Mat for Citywide Wi-Fi
The RFP, which can be downloaded at cityofchicago.org/wirelessrfp, is targeted to respondents capable of building an affordable and easily accessible wireless Internet network that blankets at least 90 percent of the city.
• Source: (Sun Times, October 2, 2006)
SF Supervisors, Mayor At Odds Over Wi-Fi
A plan to offer free city-wide wireless Internet access is lurching forward in City Hall, with a committee of supervisors recommending a study on whether it would be feasible for the city to build the Wi-fi network itself.
• Source: (KCBS, September 26, 2006)
Chicago's Wi-Fi Inertia Harms Business
Politicians and their advisors have to understand that economic development equals broadband connectivity, and broadband connectivity equals jobs. Without good-paying jobs, there is an erosion of the tax base. Without a good tax base, state and local budgets go into a spiraling deficit.
• Source: (Wisconsin Technology Center, September 22, 2006)
Delays in S.F. Wi-Fi Talks Frustrate Google Exec
Complaints appear to be aimed at pressuring the city to speed up negotiations. Chris Sacca denied that Google has any plans to pull out of the project.
• Source: (San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 14, 2006)
Pittsburgh Launches Downtown Wi-Fi Network
The city's Downtown -- and parts of two close-by neighborhoods -- officially became a "hot spot" for outdoor wireless Internet access on Wednesday.
• Source: (Pittsburgh Tribune, Sept. 14, 2006).
Northrop Grumman Wins $500m NYC Contract
New York City's Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation a five-year $500 million contract to provide the city's broadband public-safety wireless network, the most comprehensive network of its kind.
• Source: (IR Connect, Sept. 12, 2006)
Toronto Turns on Municipal Wi-Fi Service
Toronto Hydro Telecom Wednesday launched its downtown Wi-Fi service with pricing it claims is 35 per cent below the average for high-speed Internet service in the city.
• Source: (Canadian Technology News, Sept. 6, 2006)
Should San Franciscans Trust Google, Mayor?
Whatever strategic thinking was being done by TechConnect's planners seemingly went out the window in February 2006, when Google, together with EarthLink, joined the bidding to become the supplier of San Francisco's network.
• Source: (MIT Technology Review, Sept. 8, 2006)
Silicon Valley Wi-Fi Plan Faces Hurdles
The 42 local cities involved in the proposal, as well as the team they selected last week to build the ambitious system, have clearly learned from the mistakes of others.
• Source: (San Jose Mercury News, Sept. 11, 2006)
Azulstar, Cisco, IBM, Seakay Win Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley Metro Connect, a collaboration among Azulstar Networks, Cisco Systems, IBM and Seakay, has been selected to build and operate Silicon Valley's regional wireless network that will serve 2.4 million people.
• Source: (MarketWire.com, Sept. 5, 2006)
AT&T Gets Into Municipal Wi-Fi in Illinois
AT&T this week won its first municipal Wi-Fi deal. In the past AT&T has fought against municipal Wi-Fi networks, saying the subsidies offered by local governments provided an unfair competitive advantage.
• Source: (PC World, Aug. 29, 2006)
Rhode Island Leading in Wi-Fi Investment
CDW Government Inc., in its State & Local Government Technology Investment Curve (TIC) said Rhode Island is the lead investor in Wi-Fi, with an 802.11 wireless investment profile 147 percent higher than the average. This "lead investor" state demonstrates significant, committed investment in 802.11 wireless technologies at all levels of government, said the company.
• Source: (Public CIO, Sept. 5. 2006)
AT&T Gets Into Municipal Wi-Fi in Illinois
AT&T this week won its first municipal Wi-Fi deal. In the past AT&T has fought against municipal Wi-Fi networks, saying the subsidies offered by local governments provided an unfair competitive advantage.
• Source: (PC World, Aug. 29, 2006)
Rhode Island Leading in Wi-Fi Investment
CDW Government Inc., in its State & Local Government Technology Investment Curve (TIC) said Rhode Island is the lead investor in Wi-Fi, with an 802.11 wireless investment profile 147 percent higher than the average. This "lead investor" state demonstrates significant, committed investment in 802.11 wireless technologies at all levels of government, said the company.
• Source: (Public CIO, Sept. 5. 2006)
Qwest Protest Fails to Derail Minneapolis Wi-Fi
Qwest Communications on Monday assailed the building of the Minneapolis wireless network, claiming that the project involved a surprise government subsidy and unfair bidding procedures.
• Source: (Star-Tribune, Aug. 29, 2006)
Wi-Fi Push for Downtown Phoenix
"While it's an amenity now, I think it will be an expected piece of infrastructure in the not-too-distant future," said Brian Kearney, chief executive officer of the Downtown Phoenix Partnership. "If we don't pursue this, we are shooting ourselves in the foot."
• Source: (The Arizona Republic, May 9, 2006, Ginger D. Richardson)
Hattiesburg, Miss., Considers Wi-Fi
The city council is preparing to vote Tuesday on a contract with Hattiesburg company MegaGate Broadband, which currently provides the bulk of its technological infrastructure, to install the service later this summer.
• Source: (Hattiesburg American, May 13, 2006, Reuben Mees)
Everett, Washington, Discusses Wi-Fi
Everett is looking for a way to get citywide wireless Internet for residents without spending taxpayer money. The project, which is still in its infancy, would allow people to connect to one of a series of hotspots using a computer with a wireless card. The service would likely be paid for through some combination of subscriber fees and advertising.
• Source: (Seattle Times Snohomish County Bureau, May 3, 2006)
Pittsburgh City Council Considers Wi-Fi
Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O'Connor hopes to have the system in place in time for July's baseball All-Star game. The system is expected to cost more than $500,000. This isn't a done deal, said Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership CEO Michael Edwards. "We don't have a contract, we don't have the money, and we don't have the lampposts yet."
• Source: (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 10, 2006)
San Francisco Wi-Fi Panel Reviews Bidders
Mayor Gavin Newsom's plan to blanket San Francisco with free wireless Internet access will take an important step forward this week, if all goes as expected. A panel will decide which one of six bidders the city can negotiate with to build the Wi-Fi network.
• Source: (San Francisco Chronicle, April 5, 2006)
MIT Professor Dismisses Laptop Criticism
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who hopes to give $100 laptops to the world's children dismissed recent criticisms Tuesday and said his project could begin distributing the computers by early next year. Kicking off the LinuxWorld conference in Boston, Nicholas Negroponte said he was undeterred by skepticism from two of the leading forces in computing, Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp.
• Source: (Associated Press, April 4, 2006, Brian Bergstein)
EarthLink to Rescue New Orleans Free Wi-Fi?
CIO Greg Meffert last week reached out to EarthLink. The result: EarthLink plans to take over the city's Wi-Fi network, with the goal of spending around $15 million in the next three years to build out the network to a 15-to-20-mile radius around the city.
• Source: (USAToday, March 28, 2006, Leslie Cauley)
BellSouth to Test WiMAX Equipment in Labs
The No. 3 U.S. regional provider plans to test WiMAX equipment in its labs in the coming months and expects to run a live network trial in the second half of the year. It said it has not yet decided whose equipment it would use for the tests. Coming into hurricane season, BellSouth is also starting to push its existing wireless service as a backup option to help businesses maintain data links between offices if services on the wired network are disrupted.
• Source: (Reuters, March 20, 2006)
Sprint Nextel Launches Municipal Wireless
Sprint Nextel has formally announced its entrance into the municipal wireless networking business, with a trial Wi-Fi mesh solution in Henderson Nevada, primarily targeted at government and public-safety users.
• Source: (Teleclick.ca, March 22, 2006)
Google Patents Free Wi-Fi Technologies
The search-engine giant has developed three technologies for offering wireless Internet access, and advertising, free of charge. Search Engine Roundtable points out that the patents all have to do with serving up advertising through a wireless Internet connection maintained by a third party, whose brand Google would include in the presentation of those ads.
• Source: (CNNmoney.com, March 28, 2006)
Google Goes to Capital, Learns to Lobby
Google has begun ramping up its lobbying and legislative operations after largely ignoring Washington for years, in a scramble to match bases long established here by competitors like Yahoo and Microsoft, as well as the deeply entrenched telecommunication companies.
• Source: (The New York Times, March 28, 2006, Kate Phillips)
America's Technology Future At Risk
The warning signs are clear: America faces a $55 billion and rising trade deficit in advanced technology products. Falling revenues are forcing many U.S. telecom and technology companies to cut back on R&D spending or outsource such research abroad and limited investment has slowed deployment of high-speed broadband networks. In just six years, the U.S. has slipped from first in global broadband penetration rates to sixteenth.
• Source: (Economic Strategy Institute, March 15, 2006, Clyde Prestowitz et al.)
Interview with Houston CIO Richard Lewis
"Over the next 25 years, the density in Houston will go up dramatically. And we are looking at this as an asset. I see this network as very similar to the water supply that Houston invested in back in the 1950s. The region wouldn't be here if the people back then had not invested in three surface water reservoirs to provide water to the region."
• Source: (Government Technology, March 2006, Blake Harris)
Democrat Kerry Chides Bush on Broadband
Former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry accused the Bush administration on Tuesday of falling behind in its goal to make high-speed Internet service, known as broadband, universally available by 2007.
• Source: (Yahoo, Reuters, March 14, 2006)
Pew Study: Broadband Penetration Slowing
The survey, published by independent think tank Pew Internet & American Life Project, found that high-speed Internet adoption, after growing quickly in the past several years, has been losing steam and is poised to slow even further. During the first six months of 2005, 53 percent of home Internet users said they use a broadband connection, up from only 50 percent during the previous six months.
• Source: (CNet, September 21, 2005, Marguerite Reardon)
Illinois City Inviting MetroFi to Deploy
Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner announced Thursday he plans for his to be the first city in Illinois to offer free, wireless Internet access everywhere in town by the end of the year. If plans come to fruition, the distinction should cost little or nothing to both Wi-Fi users and taxpayers. Aurora is in final negotiations with a Silicon Valley company that wants to spend $1 million installing as many as 1,200 Wi-Fi access points all around the city to which any computer user could connect for free.
• Source: (Chicago Sun-Times, March 17, 2006)
Interview with Verizon Chief Seidenberg
The AT&T-BellSouth deal "doesn't change anything for us," Mr. Seidenberg said, sitting in his lower Manhattan office that, in an odd coincidence, used to house the old New York Telephone Company, which hired him as a cable splicer's helper in 1966. Today, he said, Verizon "is all about trying to invest in technology so we can create new growth."
• Source: (The New York Times, March 20, 2006)
Miami-Dade Mayor Wants Wireless
Mayor Carlos Alvarez says: "I believe wireless technology-on a grand scale-will make Miami-Dade County a premier place to live, work and visit. Over the next two years, we will seek to offer low-cost, high-speed Internet access to all. We will work with the private sector to create a Miami-Dade County with its own wireless network."
• Source: (MiamiDade.gov, 7 March 2006)
MobilePro, Cox to Partner on Service
The agreement gives Arizona municipalities' access to MobilePro's services without an RFP process. Potential applications under the partnership include Internet and Intranet access for mobile government workers, video surveillance and streaming, Amber Alerts, location-based services and intelligent transportation systems. MobilePro will provide wireless infrastructure for redundant connections with wireless service overlays in areas where Cox's high fiber capacity infrastructure is not available or feasible.
• Source: (PR Newsire, March 13, 2006)
Citywide Networks: No Impact on Cafes?
Nick Davis, spokesperson for Starbucks, said he doesn't see San Francisco's plan impacting his company negatively. Ellis Berns, economic development manager for Mountain View, says citywide Wi-Fi looks promising for all local businesses, including Wi-Fi cafes.
• Source: (San Mateo Times, March 12, 2006, Jed Harrington)
Netgear Helping Skype Go Wireless
Later this spring, Santa Clara's Netgear Inc. plans to introduce a Wi-Fi phone that can handle Skype calls from any wireless hotspot-at home, at work, from Starbucks or through open Wi-Fi networks, such as the one at Union Square in San Francisco.
• Source: (San Francisco Chronicle, March 13, 2006)
W2i Houston Deepens Service Provider Discussion
Wireless Internet Institute (W2i) conferences have become important gatherings where government wireless community leaders can network and share experiences. This week's conference in Houston (Feb. 28 to March 2) was no exception. And if anything, it actually raised the bar by offering a richer and more in-depth program to engage participants.
• Source: (Government Technology, March 3, 2006, Blake Harris)
Toronto Going Citywide with Wireless
Toronto is set to join a small but growing club of North American cities that will offer municipal wireless Internet access. In a press release issued Sunday, Toronto Hydro Telecom said it would make an announcement Tuesday morning, when Mayor David Miller, Toronto Hydro chairman Clare Copeland and Toronto Hydro Telecom president David Dobbin will say they want a piece of the growing Wi-Fi market.
• Source: (The Globe and Mail, March 7, 2006)
Philadelphia Wi-Fi Will Be $20 Per Month
Cable and DSL broadband providers in Philadelphia are breathing easier Thursday after the city announced its final Wi-Fi contract with EarthLink that seeks to keep retail prices under $20 a month for individual customers. Verizon Communications, which had resisted the citywide wireless broadband deployment, currently offers DSL at $14.95 a month, for instance.
• Source: (TechWeb, March 2, 2006, W. David Gardner)
Philly Inquirer Yearning for Wi-Fi Details
What's worrisome is that no one knows all the details of the deal struck by the mayor and Earthlink, the Atlanta-based Internet provider. It sounds good on the surface. Earthlink will apparently cover the cost of the installation and maintenance of nearly 4,000 transmitters on city lightpoles, at a cost of $22 million, which will make Philadelphia the nation's largest Internet "hot spot."
• Source: (The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 7, 2006)
St. Cloud Offers Free Wi-Fi Service to All
After two years of planning and work, St. Cloud officials say their free wireless-fidelity Internet service will operate citywide today. Of course, this city of 28,000 is only 15 square miles. So it's not the same as a major metropolitan area going wireless, as Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco are trying to do. But chest-thumping St. Cloud officials are bragging that theirs will be the first municipality in the nation to offer free wireless Internet service citywide. It will be accessible to anyone in the city whose computer has a wireless modem.
• Source: (The Orlando Sentinel, March 6, 2006)
AT&T Gobbles Up BellSouth
In an effort to thwart the threat from cable and wireless, the new AT&T, a company formed recently as a merger of SBC and former AT&T has decided to gobble up BellSouth, the local carrier of the South East. To compete in an Internet economy, AT&T executives say the company has to become a telecommunications supermarket so it can sell more services - whether phone, broadband or television - to customers everywhere.
• Source: (New York Times, March 7, 2006)
Houston Seeks Bids on Wireless Network
The city of Houston began its search Friday for companies interested in bidding on a citywide Wi-Fi project, a plan that would provide city government, public libraries and parks with free access to broadband applications. Mayor Bill White has said no tax dollars would be used to create the wireless network of antennas that allows laptops or other devices to connect wirelessly to the Internet.
• Source: (Houston Chronicle, February 17, 2006, Dwight Silverman)
Google, EarthLink Team on San Francisco
In an interview in December, EarthLink's CEO Gary Betty praised Google's competing ambition to offer free Wi-Fi, but indicated he was skeptical of an entirely free model, saying "free wireless is not a reasonable option. Nothing's free." But, Google's weight in the San Francisco market, combined with San Francisco's interest in free service, means EarthLink appears to have changed its mind and felt like it needed to partner with the company to win the city.
• Source: (Red Herring, 22 February 2006)
South Florida Could Go Wireless; W2i
A smattering of cities, such as Hollywood, have free limited Wi-Fi networks. A new network operated by Broward County -- also free -- just went online across a swath of downtown Fort Lauderdale, and Miami Beach is testing its own free citywide network this month. "Government has to be in this business, the issue is how,'' said Daniel Aghion, executive director of the Wireless Internet Institute.
• Source: (Miami Herald, 20 February 2006, Erika Bolstad)
CEOs Call for More Wireless Airwaves
Chief executive officers of some leading technology companies plan to call on Thursday for the U.S. government to find more wireless airwaves for use as new applications emerge. The Technology CEO Council said on Wednesday it will issue a report urging Congress to order the Bush administration to analyze which airwaves are not being used best, and how they might be re-allocated.
• Source: (Reuters, 22 February 2006)
Canadian University Bans Wi-Fi on Campus
The president of Thunder Bay's Lakehead University has recently taken the controversial step of banning Wi-Fi networks on the campus. President Fred Gilbert claims that like any other electromagnetic field, there could be potential health hazards involved in the implementation of wireless networks. "These are particularly relevant in younger people (who have) fast-growing tissues, and most of our student body are late teenagers and still growing, so it's just a matter of taking precautions and providing an environment that doesn't have a potential associated risk," he commented.
• Source: (Teleclick.ca, February 25, 2006)
EarthLink's Berryman at US Senate
Donald Berryman, executive vice president of EarthLink and president of the ISP's municipal networks division, testified on Feb. 14 before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation regarding state and local issues relating to municipal wireless networks. Berryman will outline EarthLink's strategy on municipal wireless fidelity (Muni Wi-Fi). To date, EarthLink has been awarded two of the largest Muni Wi-Fi contracts in the United States for the cities of Philadelphia and Anaheim, CA. The ISP has also been selected as a finalist for projects in Portland, OR; Minneapolis, MN; Arlington, VA and Brookline, MA.
• Source: (PRNewswire, 14 February 2006)
Hayward School District To Go Wireless
This week the Hayward School District announced that it was adopting a Web-based wireless network that would change the way teaching and learning take place in the city. The ambitious project, called eDistrict, will eventually allow teachers to share lessons and materials - such as streaming video or photos - online, and students to review those lessons from anywhere in the city.
• Source: (The Daily Review, 13 February 2006, Katy Murphy)
Portland Getting Closer to Selection
A California company called MetroFi Inc. appears to be the leading candidate to unwire Portland, though officials caution they have not selected a service provider for the city's wireless Internet project and are still considering at least two bidders.
• Source: (The Oregonian, 13 February 2006)
The Midwest's Railroad Wi-Fi
Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District aims to become the first ever commuter line in the United States with Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi on the fly, that is. Internet access at 79 mph, from South Bend to Chicago, is a bit of a techno challenge. But the provider expects to have the service fully operational by mid
• Source: (South Bend Tribune, 10 February 2006)
Boston Ramping Up Citywide Plans
Mayor Tomas M. Menino announced the creation of a task force Wednesday that he said would "make Boston a world leader in wireless Internet access." A haphazard conglomeration of Wi-Fi hotspots, some located in city libraries, has sprung up in recent months, but the city has resisted establishing a comprehensive Wi-Fi plan, even as surrounding cities and towns have been moving to implement Wi-Fi.
• Source: (InformationWeek, 9 February 2006)
Wireless to Organize, Save Lives
Imagine a warning on your cell phone that tells you when a parent in ill health needs help, when you've eaten too much, or that you should avoid your regular commute because of a biohazard danger. Forget mobile music and video. Wireless may end up running your life -- down to when to wash your underwear.
• Source: (Reuters, 11 February 2006, Sinead Carew)
EarthLink Finalizes Philadelphia Deal
EarthLink Inc. has finalized a 10-year contract to provide citywide high-speed wireless Internet service, and full deployment is expected by spring 2007, a city official said Monday. Dianah Neff, Philadelphia's chief information officer and head of Wireless Philadelphia, said the contract will go before City Council for approval in February. EarthLink will own the network and charge a wholesale rate of $9 a month to Internet service providers that would resell the service to the public, she said.
• Source: (Associated Press, 30 January 2006)
Tempe Network Nearing Completion
MobilePro Corp. has deployed more than 400 access points across Tempe as part of its WazTempe metropolitan area wireless deployment and will complete the project next month, the company said Monday.The company is now providing outdoor roaming access in downtown Tempe and areas surrounding the Arizona State University campus, and it is available free for a two-hour period.
• Source: (Phoenix Business Journal, 30 January 2006)
Chicago RFP Plans Go Before Council
Thanks to the energies of Chicago's Mister Connectivity, Chris O'Brien, and his high powered team, final recommendations will so go before the City Council a week from today. Calls for an RFP (request for proposals) will be issued in coming weeks to dozens of equipment suppliers (e.g., Motorola, Tropos and similar companies) and service providers (e.g., T-Mobile) that can handle installation and network maintenance.
• Source: (Chicago Sun Times, 31 January 2006)
Illinois Lawmakers Show Wi-Fi Support
llinois state and federal legislators definitely are jumping on the Wi-Fi bandwagon, throwing their support behind a small wireless network covering an eight-mile-radius area of Rockford, Ill., situated 50 miles west of Chicago. ROC-net Services (short for Regional Optic Co-operation Services), a co-op of local private businesses that provides Internet connectivity and other high-tech solutions, launched the Wi-Fi access as the first step in a much wider initiative to provide broadband services throughout a 10-county area in northern Illinois.
• Source: (Telecom Web, 31 January 2006)
Milwaukee Wi-Fi Deal Progresses
The city of Milwaukee tied the knot last week with Midwest Fiber Networks, a locally based company that will install physical components of a citywide wireless Internet network the city envisions as a step into the future. What's best is that Marquette will reap the benefits of this union, which was approved by the Milwaukee Common Council Jan. 18.
• Source: (The Marquette Tribune, 31 January 2006)
Jury Still Out on Lompoc (CA) Network
Problems that delayed the service ranged from too few transmitters broadcasting the signal to radio interference with the system and difficulties connecting. Those problems appear to have been fixed with the installation of about 70 additional transmitters around town perched on light poles and other small changes. About 200 volunteer testers around town helped the city fine-tune the system. The city relied on testers for feedback and for gauging the connection speed. City staff members who tested the system had mixed reviews. They declined to state their opinions publicly.
• Source: (The Lompoc Record, 17 January 2006, Mark Abramson)
Broward County (FL) Expands Free Wi-F
Hotspots have been added at Stranahan Park, adjacent to the Broward County Main Library;_along Southwest Second Street from the Broward County Governmental Center through the Old Himmarshee area; and along Las Olas Boulevard, beginning at Andrews Avenue and continuing east to approximately Southeast 10th Avenue. The area is home to the Broward County Governmental Center, the County's Main Library, the campuses of Broward Community College and Florida Atlantic University, and a variety of businesses and restaurants in the Las Olas and Himmarshee entertainment districts.
• Source: (South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 11 January 2006)
Project Chapleau Is Canadian Experiment
Bell Canada, Nortel and the Town of Chapleau, Ontario, have launched Project Chapleau, a joint initiative to research the impact of advanced technology on rural and dispersed communities. Project Chapleau will evaluate the positive effect of technology and how it stimulates economic, healthcare, education and social activity in the community. Over the next 18 months, Bell and Nortel will contribute technology and other resources to enable high-speed wireless broadband access service in Chapleau, as well the applications necessary to fully leverage this technology.
• Source: (Project Chapleau, January 2006)
Philadelphia Net Installation Delayed
Installation of the city of Philadelphia's Wi-Fi network has been put off until March because of delays in getting needed city approvals, according to the city's chief information officer. The city's contract with EarthLink to install the Wi-Fi network depends upon getting City Council approval to attach Wi-Fi transmitters to phone poles, says Dianah Neff, Philadelphia chief information officer. Neff had wanted to get construction of the network going before the end of the year.
• Source: (Wireless Week, 10 January 2006, Mark Rockwell)
Corpus Christi Selects Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been selected by the city of Corpus Christi, Texas to provide a city-wide broadband wireless infrastructure and an automated meter reading system that will streamline services for city workers and make their processes more efficient. As part of the broadband wireless program, Northrop Grumman's Information Technology (IT) sector will design and install a broadband wireless system that will provide coverage across Corpus Christi, for city government and public access.
• Source: (Broadband Wireless Exchange, 10 January 2006)