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July 23, 2007

Metro Round-Up: Silicon Valley Review; Face of the Digital Divide; Pittsburgh-Fi

By Glenn Fleishman

Six cities, one county review whether they participate in the Wireless Silicon Valley project: Recall that this massive project, awarded to the Silicon Valley Metro Connect consortium (Azulstar, Cisco, IBM, Seakay) has no per-se official standing. The RFP they responded to had a lot of sign-off by encompassed municipal entities on the intent, but no commitment to participate. The first stages aren’t yet live. No model contract is out for circulation that I’m aware of. Several south Bay cities are looking at whether to participate as the network proceeds.

Washington Post puts faces to the digital divide: The Post looks at Charleston, S.C., and how a lack of Internet access affects low-income parents and their children. It also shows how truly eager the kids and adults are for the Internet: for entertainment, sure, but also for communication, and to study. The more experience a kid has with the Internet as a tool, certainly the greater chance they have to succeed in the modern economy when coupled with other skills. Charleston’s effort to build a city-wide Wi-Fi network has apparently stalled, this article notes.

Pittsburgh wants to expand their network city-wide: The mayor will solicit informational proposals starting August 1 on how to bring the whole city—not parts of it—into a wireless future with Wi-Fi or other technology. A downtown business-backed Wi-Fi network draws 200 users per day; the network offers two hours free per day, with paid options for a day to a year ($8 to $120). The operator says it’s sold 10,000 “subscriptions” over 10 months, which includes day passes. The city’s timing is tricky, because the industry is in a period where even a city of Pittsburgh’s scale might not find a provider willing to bear the costs of building the network. As I’m quoted saying in the article, the city might want to wait until the shakeout is over; a “request for information” as they’re issuing is a great idea, too, as they can study without commitment.

Posted by Glennf at July 23, 2007 3:01 PM

Categories: Metro-Scale Networks, Municipal

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