Are Governments Missing the Mark with Muni Wireless
Funding Options
One thing I can say about municipalities is that, given the uniqueness of most cities and counties, there's a consistency of thought about how to pay for muni wireless networks that's a little unsettling. Unsettling because starting your wireless initiative locked into a business or funding model potentially shortchanges your constituents, and increases your odds of failure.
Municipal high speed networks are great projects that are worth doing, but the way some governments pursue them needs a different thought process with regards to how these projects are funded.
Read the full commentary here…
The views expressed in this Guest Commentary are those of its author and are not necessarily reflective of Tropos Networks. Tropos Networks, its partners and customers are not responsible for the third-party Guest Commentary content.
Mobile Internet…Fueling Today’s Digital Lifestyle
For many people, Mobile Internet means cellular data connections…but it shouldn't!
Increasingly, today's digital lifestyle is fueled by Wi-Fi-enabled Mobile Internet connections. Metro-scale Wi-Fi networks offer coverage and mobility comparable to cellular services but with multi-megabit connection speeds and lower-priced subscriptions. Wi-Fi uplink speed, which is at least 10x faster than cellular, is especially important because it enables mobile content creation. User content creation is a hallmark of Web 2.0. Mobile Internet using Wi-Fi mesh networks removes place as a barrier to content creation.
In addition to metro-scale Wi-Fi networks, adoption of Wi-Fi for Mobile Internet applications is being spurred by the proliferation of digital lifestyle devices with Wi-Fi connections such as digital cameras, camcorders, digital music players, video phones and even automobiles. These devices are seeing increased adoption in the market place. For example, Colgate University recently used Tropos MetroMesh routers to unwire its campus and downtown Hamilton, New York, spurred by a survey that showed that their students owned an average of three to four mobile devices with Wi-Fi connections.
As customer adoption of these devices increase, their usage continues to drive new opportunities for application providers, service providers, media and communication companies. This new wave is changing the perceptions of the Mobile Internet and the role of metro-scale Wi-Fi networks.
Tropos Networks a Finalist for EE Times ACE Award
EE Times just announced the finalists for its 2007 ACE Awards and Tropos Networks was among them. The awards recognize creators of technology who demonstrate cutting-edge breakthroughs, innovation and leadership.
Tropos is a finalist for the Small/Medium Company of the Year, given to the company with under $750 millions in sales that exhibits the highest degree of professionalism in staff development and retention, customer focus, technical excellence and profitable growth. Other finalists in this category include Atheros Communications, CSR, National Instruments and Wind River Systems.
What's especially remarkable is that Tropos is part of the small/medium company category, not the start-up category. Consider for a moment, the other finalists:
- National Instruments is a 30 year old publicly-traded company with $164 million in revenue in its most recently reported quarter.
- Wind River Systems is a 26 year old publicly-traded company with $71 million in revenue in its most recently reported quarter.
- Atheros is a nine year old publicly-traded company with $80 million in revenue in its most recently reported quarter.
- CSR is a nine year old publicly-traded company with $214 million in revenue in its most recently reported quarter.
The inclusion of privately-held Tropos in this august group is both an honor and a validation of our leadership in the rapidly growing metro-scale wireless mesh networking market.
For the full list of finalists, see www.eetimes-ace.com/finalists.htm.
BT Begins Six-City Rollout with Tropos
British Telecom has begun rolling out its first six Wireless Cities in the U.K. using Tropos MetroMesh routers. When live, the networks will support the BT Fusion smart mobile phone service. Pictured below are Tropos 5210s installed by BT in Birmingham and Newcastle. Service launch in these cities is expected in February.
To read more about the BT Wireless Cities initiative, go to news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4993038.stm.
EarthLink Rolls Out New City
EarthLink added another FeatherSM to their cap by announcing the rollout of Milpitas, California. It network in service launched on December 19th, beginning with a 30-day free trial that allows residents and visitors the freedom of mobility between the various Tropos nodes.
This announcement followed the city of Alexandria, Virginia's selection of EarthLink to help promote "digital inclusion" in their coverage area by offering a reduced rate plan for qualifying residents and by including free access at several public locations. "We believe this is a smart way for the City to encourage broadband development, without interfering with the private sector", said Mayor William D. Euille in the EarthLink press release.
On a sad note, our thoughts go out to family and friends of EarthLink's CEO, Gary Betty, as well as to the entire EarthLink team. Gary was a man of vision and a true technology pioneer. He will be missed.
Additional Service Providers Turn to Tropos
Metro-scale Wi-Fi service and Tropos continue to grow in the service provider market with two new service provider networks.
Kite Networks, a MobilePro subsidiary, announced that they had completed a citywide network deployment in Longmont, Colorado. The 22 square mile network, deployed in a record time of 12 weeks, utilizes Longmont Power's fiber optic ring for capacity injection. The City of Longmont will utilize the network for public safety plus other municipal applications and residents can get in-home and mobile access.
Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, the City of Pittsburgh, and US Wireless Online partnered to launch a metro-scale Wi-Fi network in downtown Pittsburgh. The Tropos-powered network, covering the hilly terrain of the Central Business District, Golden Triangle, North Shore and Lower Hill District areas of the city, provides free and paid access tiers to the community.
Municipal Ownership Still a Path to Success
Despite the trade press focus on service providers as the owners and operators of metro-scale Wi-Fi networks in areas large and small, the municipal ownership model is still alive and well. Municipally-owned and Tropos-powered networks in Corpus Christi, Texas; Rock Hill, South Carolina; and Southaven, Mississippi have been announced to support applications such as public safety and public access.
Corpus Christi launched their network in December at a comprehensive "Wi-Fi Done Right" event attended by media and agencies from throughout the U.S. The exhibit floor highlighted live demonstrations of some 29 city applications working over the 100+ square mile metro-scale Wi-Fi network. Applications demonstrated include: high bandwidth access for all fire, police and emergency vehicles, field connectivity for housing code enforcement teams, and automated vehicle locators for public vehicles.
Rock Hill is installing the largest municipal Wi-Fi network in the southeast, one that will cover 32 square miles. The network will support municipal applications in public safety, public utility, and public workers to increase productivity and reduce costs. The public safety applications will utilize the Tropos 4210 mobile MetroMesh router installed in police and fire vehicles to provide mobile, broadband access to critical state and federal databases.
Southaven will own its 36 square mile network, providing access for local consumers, businesses and city services. Southaven police department will utilize the Tropos 4210 to support their public safety needs. Forty thousand city residents and twenty-five thousand weekend visitors to the regional baseball tournaments will be able to utilize low cost, mobile broadband access provided by the city.
3GSM
Barcelona, Spain
February 12-15
MuniWireless
Dallas, TX
March 5-6
CTIA 2007
Orlando, FL
March 27-29
Digital City Expo
Reston, VA
April 2-4
NXTcomm
Chicago, IL
June 18-21
|
