Wi-Fi news is never in short supply. Last week, EarthLink Inc. announced that it teamed with Google Inc. to submit a proposal for San Francisco’s Wi-Fi network contract. Instead of having to choose between free or paid options to get Wi-Fi services, the city may get to have it both ways. The joint proposal suggests a Google-managed free network alongside an EarthLink-managed fee-based service.
In August and September, the companies submitted separate proposals during the city’s RFP period. Google offered to install an advertising-funded Wi-Fi network at no charge to the city and to provide free Internet access to all city residents. EarthLink proposed a paid service similar to its plans for Philadelphia and Anaheim, Calif., where the company won contracts to provide citywide Wi-Fi.
“EarthLink and Google jointly submitted a `Request For Proposal’ to the City of San Francisco to build a citywide wireless municipal network,” stated Donald Berryman, executive vice president of EarthLink and president of the ISP’s municipal networks unit. “This proposal presents a unique opportunity for both companies. By coming together to leverage the strengths of both companies, we will be able to offer services to different customers on the network that fit with their own individual needs and wants.
“Customers shouldn’t be tied to their desks, or to a single provider, to get the Internet experience they want. Both EarthLink and Google recognize this and are attempting to provide great service and choice in San Francisco.”
Silicon Valley-based Google was selected in November to build an advertising-funded Wi-Fi network for its home town of Mountain View, Calif.
EarthLink is also a contender for Portland’s Wi-Fi business, but the city has also been in talks with MetroFi and VeriLAN to build a citywide, privately funded Wi-Fi network. MetroFi is rumored to be the frontrunner in Portland; the company already provides free Wi-Fi in northern California using SkyPilot gear. VeriLAN has used equipment from Vivato to build smaller networks in Portland, but the company wants to use dual-radio mesh technology from Cisco Systems Inc. for Portland’s citywide deployment.
The city has said it plans to name a contractor by spring and hopes to see the network construction begin shortly thereafter.
And the RFP process is just getting started in Chicago, where city officials plan to make broadband Internet access widely available by next year.
Meanwhile, Strix Systems announced it’s working with international carrier Accatel Inc. to cover Chittagong, Bangladesh, with wireless mesh networking infrastructure for voice, data and video services.
Accatel said it’s partnering with Nextel Telecom, a local carrier in Bangladesh, to build a turnkey solution that includes Strix’s Access/One outdoor wireless system network nodes, along with a softswitch, IP infrastructure and a billing system. Accatel and Nextel Telecom also plan to handle the operational and management aspects of the network, the companies said.
Initially, the 90-node Strix network will provide phone and Internet services to about 10,000 residential and business subscribers in an eight-square-mile area of Chittagong, which is home to 3.5 million people. Within three years, Accatel expects to serve about 200,000 subscribers with wireless voice services. Ultimately, Accatel and Nextel Telecom plan to expand the wireless mesh network with hundreds of Strix’s network nodes to cover all of Chittagong as well as other cities and towns within the licensing area, the companies said.
The companies said Strix OWS nodes will be deployed at a central access hub, where the wireless network connects to the Ethernet, while the rest of the OWS nodes will be deployed through the network, radially from the hub. Local calls placed on the Strix wireless mesh network will be sent to Strix nodes at the hub and forwarded to the softswitch. The switch will forward local calls through the Strix wireless mesh network and connect in-country calls to the local PTT.
“In developing countries such as Bangladesh, a reliable wireless mesh network is a quick and cost-effective way to facilitate communications and bring more citizens into the world economy,” explained Yishai Shapir, chief executive of Accatel.
Interestingly, in addition to being completely wireless, the network will also be completely electric-less, meaning it will run on battery and solar power instead of relying on the city’s electric grid for power. Chittagong is a port city and the commercial capital of Bangladesh.
With Ethernet IP at the network core as well as throughout the wireless network, subscribers in areas that do not currently have phone service will now have access to wireless voice, data and video services, the companies pointed out.
“The ability to support an all-IP deployment in Chittagong really distinguishes Strix’s solution from those of its competitors,” said Nan Chen, vice president of marketing at Strix. “We expect to see other emerging markets also go straight to an all-IP Ethernet solution not only because it’s cost effective but also because they don’t have to concern themselves with maintaining compatibility with legacy copper-based infrastructures.”
In early February, Strix won a contract with NeoReach Wireless to construct a 72-square-mile municipal Wi-Fi network in Chandler, Ariz. The network is expected to offer Wi-Fi access to about 19,000 businesses and 240,000 residents in the area, while another separate network would serve municipal employees, the companies said.
NeoReach Wireless, a subsidiary of MobilePro Corp., is already using Strix’s mesh technology in nearby Tempe, Ariz., where it is building a 40-square-mile municipal Wi-Fi network.
As fun as it is to watch the progress of municipal Wi-Fi projects, it’s probably just as important to take notice of corporations’ use of Wi-Fi. Companies including Microsoft Corp. and others have built Wi-Fi networks across their corporate campuses in order to encourage employees to stay in touch wherever they are. Although such deployments generally go unannounced and unnoticed, they serve to lend further credibility to the growing Wi-Fi movement.
The strength of the Wi-Fi market has given rise to a number of players. Indeed, Aruba Networks launched its 200 Mobility Controller and Management System to cash in on the needs of corporate branch offices, the retail industry and the health-care field.
Aruba explained that its new products are designed to support a number of modestly sized, dispersed wireless LANs that are interconnected and managed from a central operations center. The company said its products support applications including mobile point-of-sale transactions, inventory management in warehouses and retail spaces, information kiosks, pricing and auditing, guest Internet access, Voice over WLAN, streaming video and RFID asset tracking.
Keerti Melkote, co-founder and vice president of product management at Aruba, explained that the company’s new components can be installed and set up by non-IT personnel. Once the units are plugged in, they configure automatically by connecting to a home office or central database. This scenario has the potential to save on cabling and IT personnel costs.
“One of the primary difficulties in deploying WLAN technology in branch offices and retail stores is the lack of onsite IT expertise to manage the network,” stated Joel Conover, principal analyst at Current Analysis. “In order to be successful, branch and retail WLAN solutions must deliver several capabilities: strong centralized management, wide-ranging integrated functionality for security and voice, a highly reliable implementation and competitive pricing for cost-effective deployment to a large number of sites.
“Aruba’s new additions to the Mobile Edge portfolio meet all of these needs.”
The company said its new Wi-Fi equipment is in trials now, and that it expects to announce several new contracts within a few months.
