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Philadelphia, Wireless Philadelphia Location: USA Abstract:
Philadelphia is the fifith-largest US city, with a regional population of 5.8 million. It has 83 unique neighborhoods, 52 departments and agencies, and 25,000 full-time local-government employees, with an operating budget of $3.5 billion. Wireless Philadelphia was created to transform Philadelphia's neighborhoods by making high-speed Internet access more available and affordable through Digital Inclusion – the initiative that helps people who are not online gain access with hardware, software, tech support/information, and broadband Internet service, so they can begin to use this technology to improve their educational, employment, health, and life opportunities. Wireless Philadelphia will help all citizens, businesses, schools, and community organizations embrace this technology while strengthening the City's economy, enhancing the visitor experience, and streamlining City services. Philadelphia has been central to the debate over the rights of cities to own and operate their own broadband-wireless networks—that is, to use taxpayer money to provide a service that might otherwise be provided by the private sector. Signed by Gov. Ed Rendell on November 30, 2004, Pennsylvania's House Bill 30 was backed by Philadelphia’s local exchange carrier and set up to prohibit municipal participation in broadband services. Thanks to a grassroots efforts, however, more than 3,000 people wrote, e-mailed and called the governor’s office urging—successfully—that Philadelphia be given an exemption, a one-year delay in the legislation taking effect, and a waiver and exemption from litigation. Philadelphia found a way to avoid legal and political collisions with incumbent telecom and cable companies by forming nonprofit corporations [also known by its tax code as a 501(c)3] to manage the system. Because the network is shared, the nonprofit may use part of the revenues to lower the cost of service to underserved communities. In Philadelphia, a board oversees Wireless Philadelphia, a 501(c)3 with a CEO and staff, to evaluate potential private-sector partners and do marketing and procurement. It will also contract with service providers to do the “customer care and feeding” in the delivery of services to the end user.
Website: http://www.wirelessphiladelphia.org Practitioner Name: Ryan Nichols Practitioner Tel: 215.627.3560 x104 Practitioner E-mail: rnichols@wirelessphiladelphia.org Presentation: Only registered users can load presentations, please log-in
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Piedmont Region, Itlay Location: Italy Abstract:
In 2002, a consortium of 54 members embarked on a five-year plan to bring total digital inclusion to 1,200 municipalities facing a long-term digital divide, including more than 600 villages with populations below 1,000. "The main need is to reduce the digital, technological, and cultural divide; it's not only a problem of technology but of culture," said Margherita Italiano of CSI Piemonte, which is responsible for the technical implementation of the program. Similar to the well-known Basque Government deployment operated by Euskaltel in Spain, the infrastructure is owned by government and operated through a public-private partnership, including some 16 service providers at the last mile. The cost is around 100 M€ between 2002–2007 from the following funding sources: • About 7 M€ are National Funds (CIPE) • About 20 M€ are European Structural Funds • About 10 M€ are Provincial Funds • About 15 M€ are Private Contributions • About 48 M€ are Regional Funds (ICT Regional Department Funds) • About 250,00 € are PIC INTERREG IIIA-2000-2006 Funds (ALCOTRA) "We had an agreement with Telecom Italia to reach more territory than could have been possible without an MOU," Italiano said at the Global Forum in Venice (November 2007). "The infrastructure has been built and will be owned by Regione Piemonte, which made a European tender [in June 2005], and the winners are in charge of building the fiber optic network and operating as a wholesaler to multiple operators, which are in charge of selling services to the final users at a maximum price within the tender itself."The regional backbone became operational in November 2006. It is owned by Regione Piemonte and operated by CSI Piemonte. Italiano said funds were transferred to Telecom Italia. A tender for the provincial infrastructure was released in September 2006 and the provincial sub-backbones will be finished by April 2008. "We are using a Wi-Fi, but it can't overlap on market action and interventions. We are guaranteeing technological neutrality and open access, and the network is open to local and national operators."
Website: Practitioner Name: Margherita Italiano Practitioner Tel: N/A Practitioner E-mail: margherita.italiano@csi.it Presentation: Only registered users can load presentations, please log-in
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Pirai, Brazil Location: Brazil Abstract:
Eighty kilometers north of Rio de Janeiro rests the remote hill town of Piraн (population 23,600). Piraн has seen its struggles over the years, suffering from the privatization of the power utility and layoffs by the pulp and paper industry. But Piraн’s mayor, Luis Fernando de Souza—nicknamed Pezгo, or Bigfoot—wasn’t about to give up on his community. By pulling together a team of public- and private-sector partners, including Telemar, the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA), Idea Valley (an entrepreneurial team based in Petropolis), among others, Mayor De Souza turned Piraн into a digital community with the possibility of universal access for its citizens. After two years of planning and investment, on February 6, 2004, the town’s wireless network became operational. The signal arrives through three antennae on existing telecom base stations above the town and then expands using different technologies, including fiber-optic and different access points. The network integrates all public buildings and 21 schools (including several in neighboring villages), one laboratory, two telecommunications centers, and an association for parents and friends of people with disabilities. With the support of the Rio state government, Piraн has contracted with Rede Rio, a university broadband network, for a 3-MB link to support videoconferencing. Piraн’s success was too good to ignore. Mayor De Souza may have been approaching his eighth and final year in office, but in fact he was creating a new job for himself as an advocate for the digitalization of all 92 communities in Rio de Janeiro State.
Website: http://www.w2idigitalcitiesconvention.com/awards/2005/community_momentum.html Practitioner Name: Franklin Coelho Practitioner Tel: n/a Practitioner E-mail: fdcoelho@piraidigital.com.br Presentation: Only registered users can load presentations, please log-in
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Pittsburgh, PA Location: USA Abstract:
In 2006, US Wireless Online won a contract from the City of Pittsburgh to deploy an ubiquitous Wi-Fi network in its central business district—across approximately two square miles (where the Steelers play football and the Pirates play baseball). At the end of November 2006, the network had about 3,500 registered users and carried almost half a terabyte of data through the network on a monthly basis. In the busiest hour of the day, there are about 125 simultaneously users on the network. The business model is two hours free per day, and then you can subscribe. The registration data suggest that the free users are locals while most of the daily and monthly subscribers are visitors to the city for three or four days. For $14, subscribers get one month of access.
Website: http://www.wifipittsburgh.com/ Practitioner Name: Tim Pisula Practitioner Tel: 412-569-0209 Practitioner E-mail: tim@pisula.com
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Pomona, CA Location: United States Abstract:
Website: Practitioner Name: John DePolis Practitioner Tel: (909) 620-2442 Practitioner E-mail: john_depolis@ci.pomona.ca.us
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Portland, OR Location: USA Abstract:
On April 11, 2007, the City of Portland awarded MetroFi a Certificate of Acceptance for its "proof of concept" network. Based on this Certificate, MetroFi will expand its coverage territory to include parts of southwest Portland and east Portland. This network expansion builds on MetroFi's "proof of concept" network that covers parts of downtown, the near eastside, and the Lloyd District. By mid-April, MetroFi's network will "go live" in more Portland neighborhoods, including Sunnyside, sections of Hillsdale and Richmond, and the eastern, off-campus border of Portland State University (northeast and southwest of Market, Broadway, and 12th Avenue). The network will continue to expand in subsequent months until it delivers free Internet access at DSL-like speeds to approximately 95% of the city's areas.
Website: http://www.portlandonline.com/index.cfm?c=43147&a=150068 Practitioner Name: Logan Kleier Practitioner Tel: n/a Practitioner E-mail: unwireportland@ci.portland.or.us Presentation: Only registered users can load presentations, please log-in
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Portsmouth, UK, PORTAL Location: UK Abstract:
More than 220,000 vehicles move in and out of Portsmouth each day. But only three narrow bridges and seven lanes connect this island city to mainland England. To encourage greater use of the city’s 300 buses and ease traffic congestion, in 2004 Portsmouth connected its GPS bus tracking system to a Wi-Fi mesh network to provide arrival and departure times on bright LCD displays in new stainless steel and glass bus shelters around the city. On top of this, each of the 36 bus stops and 9 freestanding information points provide Internet and community facilities such as job listings and even video games for the kids to cut down on vandalism. Today, Portsmouth’s intelligent-transport network is among the largest in the world, with 450 nodes — of which 300 are mobile. The network is now supports multiple applications such as live video streaming from buses. The project cost was Ј4 million with partial support from the DFT Transport Direct Initiative. W2i Related: http://www.w2idigitalcitiesconvention.com/awards/2005/tech_innovation.html
Website: Practitioner Name: John Domblides Practitioner Tel: n/a Practitioner E-mail: dmblds@aol.com Presentation: Only registered users can load presentations, please log-in Vendor Name 1: MOTO Vendor Title 1: Motorola
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Renton, WA Location: USA Abstract:
In the late 1990s, local authorities in the Seattle suburb of Renton (pop. 55,000) needed to provide public-safety officers with more tools and a faster telecommunication infrastructure to serve the city’s growing population. Police needed access to information at critical times without having to return to the station. In 1998, the city spent $1.5 million on a police records project, including a remote-field-reporting component for officers. The city wanted to deliver a rich set of services to patrol cars the same as they would to a desktop. “We scoured the earth for vendors to help us solve this problem,” says George McBride, Renton’s IS Director. The IS staff purchased Cisco equipment off the state contract, saving capital expenses and staff time by avoiding the typical government purchasing cycles. After running a pilot in 2001, in 2003, the council gave another $500,000 to complete the first phase of the project for public safety. The network provides online access to the police records management system, which is in turn tied into the Washington Crime Information Center (WACIC). Officers can now access mug shots, warrants, stolen property reports, missing person reports, rap sheets, and more in seconds. Online crime bulletins keep them fully apprised of major crime incidents, and significant incident logs have replaced handwritten postings in the police briefing room. Online timecard reporting replaces a time-consuming process that formerly took two entry steps and a fulltime staff member to manage, and officers now enter their reports and time sheets over the wireless network directly into the records system. Today, about 80 percent of Renton is covered by the “City of Renton Outdoor Wireless Network,” or CROWN, and access has been extended to community centers, libraries and fire stations. In the future, Renton may add a line to its utility billing for wireless network access. “We have the infrastructure in place to handle that,” McBride says.
Website: http://www.ci.renton.wa.us/fis/wirelessfaqs.htm Practitioner Name: Ronald Hansen Practitioner Tel: (425) 430-6873 Practitioner E-mail: Rhansen@ci.renton.wa.us Presentation: Only registered users can load presentations, please log-in
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Rijeka, Croatia Location: Croatia Abstract:
Rijeka, population 140,000, is the third largest city in Croatia and the country's most important port. The city IT department along with Krk Sistemi, the local service provider, are offering free wireless broadband access in the city center to residents, visitors, and tourists. The city and ISP have engaged Proxim Wireless, a California-based technology vendor, and Proxim's European partner Datentechnik. 
The network relies on Proxim ORiNOCO AP-4000M Wi-Fi Mesh Access Points. The mayor of Rijeka has stated: “According to information from Rijeka city government, this is currently the largest installation of a free Internet access network in Croatia, and it will help the city of Rijeka to become an even more interesting destination for tourists.”
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Website: http://www.krksistemi.hr/ Practitioner Name: Bert Williams Practitioner Tel: 408 731-2610 Practitioner E-mail: bwilliams@proxim.com Presentation: Only registered users can load presentations, please log-in Vendor Name 1: PROX Vendor Title 1: Proxim
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Rio Rancho, NM Location: USA Abstract:
In March 2006, the City of Rio Rancho reached an agreement with municipal Wi-Fi operator Azulstar, Inc. to offer free High-Speed Wi-Fi Internet access to the community. The service is provided over the year-old city-wide Wi-Fi network, blanketing some 45 square miles of the city, reaching some 70,000 residents and visitors. Users of the free service can connect at 100kbps for up to 10 hours/month. Any resident and visitor need only connect to the ‘Azulstar’ Wi-Fi signal and signup to immediately begin using the Internet. Local advertisements will be used to support the service; higher speeds and Voice over IP are available as premium services.
Website: http://www.ci.rio-rancho.nm.us Practitioner Name: Peggy McCarthy Practitioner Tel: 505-896-8701 Practitioner E-mail: PMCCARTHY@ci.rio-rancho.nm.us Presentation: Only registered users can load presentations, please log-in
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