W2i Finalizes Program Agenda for Digital Cities Convention in Chicago
Local-Government CIOs and Their Network Providers Assess Their Agreements; Mexico City, Chicago, Toronto, and Boston Compare Plans; Wireless Applications from L.A.P.D. to U.S.D.O.T.
Boston. 05/17/2007 —
To provide local-government, agency, and institutional technology stakeholders with a firsthand understanding of broadband-wireless infrastructure planning, applications, and services, the Wireless Internet Institute (W2i) hosts the 12th Digital Cities Convention, May 22–23, 2007, at the Donald E. Stevens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois. The Conference is co-chaired by Hardik Bhatt, CIO, City of Chicago, and Daniel Aghion, Executive Director, W2i, with opening remarks by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) (pre-recorded) and Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn, chair of the Illinois Broadband Deployment Council. The City of Chicago is in procurement for a citywide broadband-wireless infrastructure, and Mr. Bhatt will provide an overview of the City’s wireless vision at a “North America Town Hall Meeting,” with representatives from two of Chicago’s Sister Cities—Sharyn Gravelle, Vice President, Wireless, Toronto Hydro Telecom; and Sam Podolsky, President, Mexico City Council of Competitiveness and Economic Development—and from Boston—David Epstein, RFI/RFP, Operations & Fundraising, OpenAirBoston. Keynote addresses will be contributed by Kevin Tenbrunsel, Director Government Broadband Solutions, Motorola; Mark Myers, Director, Vertical Sales – State, Local Government & Education, Cisco Systems; and Michael E. Dillon, Director, Industry Solutions, Safety, Security & Community Broadband, IBM. GENERAL-SESSION PANELS ADDRESS APPLICATIONS, PARTNERSHIPS The panel “Wireless-Enabled Applications at the Metro Scale” features city and agency field practitioners presenting on the range of applications enabled by a citywide wireless infrastructure, from solutions for police, fire and transportation to Web-hosted applications and authentication/session management for multiple user groups. Chaired by Doug Boswell, IBM Wireless Solutions Sales Consultant, Public Sector, the session features Charles Beck, Deputy Chief, Los Angeles Police Department; Don Green, Director of Technology, North Forest Independent School District, Houston; Francisco Leyva, Program Manager, Transportation Department, Tucson, Arizona; and Craig Pickering, Senior Associate, Booz, Allen, Hamilton, which is a consultant to the ITS Joint Program Office at the US DOT. The panel “Public-Private Partnerships: A Diversity of Communities and Providers” will feature three teams of urban and rural local-government CIOs and their network providers—representing multiple wireless-networking technologies—assessing the negotiation process and establishing balance in their respective agreements. Chaired by James Farstad, President, rClient, the panel includes Brian Feist, Director of Emergency Services, Cambria County, Pennsylvania; Todd Tanner, Executive Vice President, CONXX; Tom Hulsebosch, Vice President, Municipal Network Sales, EarthLink Municipal Networks; Tom McQuillan, CIO, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Terry Phillis, CIO, City of Philadelphia; and John Storch, Vice President, Network Deployment, Clearwire. ROUNDTABLES HIGHLIGHT CASE STUDIES, PROVIDE STRUCTURED BRAINSTORMING To encourage peer-to-peer best-practice sharing on emerging broadband-wireless implementation challenges and solutions, attendees participate interactively in several Roundtable discussions co-presented by W2i and its partners IBM, Karacomm, Novarum, rClient, Yankee Group, and the U.N. Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID), among others. Track 1: Institutional Opportunity - At the 6th “Service-Provider Executives and Local-Government CIOs Roundtable: The Digital City Realized,” chief information officers and service-provider executives will explore the high-level strategy and team-building processes needed to bring the parts of a digital-city plan together as a unified whole. Moderated by James Farstad, President, rClient.
- At the 2nd “Wireless in Education Roundtable,” university and school-district field practitioners provide project updates and share expertise on the broadband-wireless opportunity for campuses, faculty, students, staff and surrounding communities. Moderated by Karen Archer Perry, Principal, Karacomm.
Track 2: Business Model Opportunity - The inaugural “Local-Government Business Processes Reengineering Roundtable” will emphasize the critical role of government services as a model for funding local-government broadband-wireless infrastructure. Moderated by Dr. Costis Toregas, President Emeritus, Public Technology Institute.
- The “Wireless Web-Based Advertising and Services Roundtable,” Web-based advertising executives, location-based services managers, service providers, and CIOs will explore the wireless-enabled Web-based advertising opportunity through community, media and national-aggregator models. Moderated by Berge Ayvazian, Chief Strategy Officer, Yankee Group, with presentations by Skip Ballou, President, LastMile Communications USA; and David Blumenfeld, Vice President, Marketing, JiWire
Track 3: Digital Inclusion - At the 4th “Digital Inclusion Roundtable,” local-government and institutional stakeholders representing government-backed digital-inclusion programs—both rural and urban—discuss project goals, challenges and time frames, and brainstorm on urban versus digital inclusion approaches. Co-moderated by K. Anne-Rivers Forcke, Public Sector Market Manager, Human Ability and Accessibility Center, IBM Research, presenters include Ryan Croke, Office of Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn; Jane Smith Patterson, Executive Director, E-North Carolina; Catherine Settanni, Founder, Digital Access Project, Minneapolis; Julia Stasch, Vice President, Program on Human & Community Development, MacArthur Foundation; and Laura Taylor, Vice President, Research, ConnectKentucky.
- The inaugural Municipal Services Applications and Digital Inclusion Roundtable explores the synergies between public safety and digital inclusion as major drivers of citywide broadband-wireless implementations. To what extent do the two overlap? Moderated by Karl Kaiser, CIO, City of Minneapolis. Presenters include Charles Beck, Deputy Chief, L.A.P.D.; Paul Hackerson, Rockford (IL) Housing Authority; Catherine Settanni, Founder, Digital Access Project, Minneapolis; and Galen Updike, Arizona Information Technology Agency.
Track 4: User Experience - At the 2nd “Wireless-Networks User Experience Roundtable,” local authorities and CIOs; police, fire, and land management end users; and wireless Internet service providers and systems integrators will explore how various parties to an agreement manage expectations appropriately among the clients and constituencies the network will serve. Moderated by by Phil Belanger and Ken Biba, Co-Principals, Novarum.
- “The Wireless Internet Opportunity for Disabled Persons: New Horizons for Assistive Technologies” builds on the launch at the United Nations in November, of the Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and Communication Technologies (G3ict), this Chicago-based inquiry will explore accessibility and wireless-enabled information and communication technologies. Co-moderated by Axel Leblois, Director, Global Initiative for Inclusive Technologies; Karen Tamley, Commissioner of the Chicago Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities; James Farstad, President, rClient; Michael Jones, PhD, Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Mobile Wireless Technologies for Persons with Disabilities, Shepherd Center, Atlanta; Prof. Licia Sbattella, Milan Polytechnic Institute.
PRECONFERENCE SPECIAL SESSIONS FOR BEGINNERS AND VAR’S On Monday, May 21, Scott Akrie, President, and Eric DaVersa, Vice President, Business Development, NetLogix and W2i co-present the day-long “Municipal Wireless Networks and Technology Training Seminar” exploring municipal wireless models, city strategies, technologies, system capabilities, and the applications these networks empower. The seminar provides attendees with hands-on community and solution exercises designed to jumpstart the planning and deployment of a broadband-wireless infrastructure. On Monday, May 21, BelAir Networks presents “From City to Stadium – Broadband Wireless Mesh Technology for Value-Added Resellers” which will focus on the opportunities and challenges inherent in addressing the broadband-wireless mesh market, including the state of the market, the technology, and providing several customer case studies. For full program details, please visit: http://www.w2idigitalcitiesconvention.com/05232007/ PRIVATE-SECTOR ENDORSEMENTS In addition to ongoing cooperation agreements with international-development organizations, such as the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and CIFAL Atlanta, the W2i Digital Cities Convention is endorsed by the WiMAX Forum and has secured the sponsorship of Cisco Systems, IBM and corporate host Motorola; EarthLink Municipal Networks, Firetide, Simdesk, BelAir Networks, GO Networks, LastMile Communications, MultiState, Packethop, Wavion, Proxim Wireless, Redline Communications, SkyPilot Networks, and Identiprise. ABOUT W2i AND THE DIGITAL CITIES CONVENTION The Wireless Internet Institute (W2i) is an independent forum bringing together stakeholders around the world to accelerate the adoption of wireless Internet in support of social and economic development and better-managed cities. Held annually in three to four regions of the world, the W2i Digital Cities Convention includes a thought-leadership conference exploring the planning and deployment of broadband-wireless infrastructure, applications and services; practical training for local authorities; roundtables for wireless service-provider executives and digital-inclusion stakeholders; the annual Wireless Communities Best-Practices Awards; and a Technology Showcase produced in partnership with the public sector, private sector, and international development institutions. Building on conventions in Philadelphia, Shanghai, San Francisco, Bilbão, Houston, Rio de Janeiro, Los Angeles, and London, planning is in final stages for Chicago (May 22-23), Seoul (June 26–27), São Paulo (Sept. 11), London (October 16–17), and Washington, DC (Dec. 11–12).
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