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08/15/2006Lighting Up London's High-Density Square Mile
W2i Digital Cities Convention in London (Sept. 25–26, 2006) provides a platform for local-government IT professionals and industry representatives from the U.K., Europe and U.S. to share best practices and explore the range of broadband-wireless deployment models for better-managed cities, improved services to citizens, and digital inclusion.
Steven Bage, Strategic Infrastructure Advisor at the City of London Corporation, the local authority for London’s financial district, answered questions from The W2i Report about the newly launched Wi-Fi network that will soon be serving the district, which is often called the Square Mile. In a public-private agreement between the City of London Corporation and The Cloud Networks LTD, workers and visitors to the City can now obtain high-speed wireless Internet access throughout the Square Mile area.
 Q. The primary motivation behind this network is to provide high-speed wireless Internet service to workers and visitors to the City. When did the idea to implement such a network first strike?
The City of London made the decision to go with The Cloud in January 2006, but the actual idea to install a Wi-Fi network has been around since 2004. A number of surveys were completed to determine the need for a broadband-wireless network (including possibly 3G). Obviously, in that time, the whole wireless industry has grown at an incredible rate, and Wi-Fi deployments in Canary Wharf and Westminster gave us the extra motivation to have a citywide Wi-Fi network up and running as soon as possible. The City of London has always been at the forefront of new technology, and fast and efficient communication has always been vital to the Square Mile, and this is what has been driving the project.
Q. A primary driver of neighboring Westminster’s deployment has been to improve local-government workforce efficiency. Do you foresee these uses for the City of London network someday?
It is our intention eventually to use the network for our Environmental Services Department to enable handheld devices or tablet PCs. The City of London Police have looked at it to have access to criminal records whilst on the move. It's something that we've looked at, but where we differ from Westminster is that the City of London is the world's leading international finance and business center. The 350,000 people who come to work in the City every day and visitors to the City are the primary focus, where the real need is for increased communication.
Q. Based on that 350,000 figure, how have you approached network usage and demand?
For scalability and cost effectiveness, to begin with The Cloud network will support 30,000 to 40,000 concurrent users — around 10 percent of the entire city workforce, which is a fair amount. The infrastructure is scalable in a short period of time, and if too many people come online, they will upgrade. The Cloud are also contracted to invest in the network if need be so that new technology can be fully supported.
Q. What is the network footprint in terms of area and number of radios?
The City of London is 1.2 square miles. In some parts it has very narrow streets, and in other parts it's extremely dense. We've committed to providing at least 95 percent coverage of the City, which means we'll need to provide around 147 access points mounted on street furniture.
Some areas of the City are very dense, and it’s difficult to get a radio signal down them. The City of London is over a thousand years old, and therefore it is not “open plan” like many cities in the U.S. We have narrow streets, but this doesn't mean they shouldn't be lighted up. The whole emphasis behind the City of London network is mobility; people won't be accessing this on a park bench, necessarily, but with handheld devices as they travel between meetings. Some streets may have a footfall of hundreds of thousands per day, and we’ve had to look at what large buildings are nearby. The City of London is also subject to lots of development, with more buildings coming online, and we need to make provision for this by ensuring these areas will be covered.
Q. The network has been deployed on street furniture including lampposts and street signs. Who owns these assets, how is access granted, and does The Cloud pay rent?
Aside from the CCTV poles, which belong to the City of London Police, the City of London Corporation owns the street furniture. We are providing the Cloud with an exclusivity agreement that says no other provider can put up wireless-broadband equipment. The City will be taking some sort of revenue share, but it's minimal. There is no rent.
A lot of the furniture hasn't been acceptable, so we've actually had to change and modify some of it. We’ve steered clear of mounting equipment on buildings because we can’t control whether they’re going to be redeveloped or whether we can put up an AP. In areas where there is no available street furniture, we have had to bear in mind that we're trying to stop additional clutter on these streets, and therefore we’re trying to modify some of the current poles that we have in place rather than install new poles. “One Way” or “No Entry” signs that are 3 meters high might be replaced with a pole that is 6 meters.
Q. To what extent will the network be available to the new generation of Wi-Fi phones, gaming devices and other applications?
In terms of voice-over IP, the network will benefit from two service providers to begin with — namely, Skype and Vonage — and there may soon be other VoIP providers signing up to offer their services. Nintendo will be offering their online gaming services across the network.
Q. Can you elaborate further on the public-private agreement with The Cloud? Is it an outright partnership?
The City of London Corporation had an open mind about how the relationship might work. In the end, there were a few ideas being considered. The City could form a partnership, but we steered clear of that. We're a local authority and governed by certain rules. We didn't want to choose a partner that would build a Wi-Fi network and then simply provide their own suite of services and thus restrain innovative new applications and services that could be offered. The City of London chose The Cloud because of their ability to provide an “open” network; in other words, any service provider who wanted to could offer their services across the network. This would also leave us with the flexibility to embrace new technology when it comes along if there is a perceived need for it.
We've signed a 10-year contract with The Cloud, who own the network and will manage it from their own network operations center. The Cloud will manage the relationships with the service providers, while the City provides the street furniture.
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