So Cisco and Intel aren't pulling dollars out of their pocket, huh? This is fascinating. I assumed that the blue-chip reputations and billion-dollar spare-change purses of Cisco and IBM might prevent Sacramento's Wi-Fi network from having the startup problems faced by other service providers. Uh huh. The Sacramento Metro Connect consortium isn't self-funding, which I'm surprised by. They're "closing in on the nearly $1 million" they need to get going, which has delayed the network's start.

This article misidentifies consortium members, as far as I understand it. The Metro Connect partnership for Wireless Silicon Valley, which has had its last rites read even if it's not quite dead yet, includes IBM instead of Intel. This group in Sacramento is the reverse: no IBM. Or at least as far as I've known since the bid was accepted. The other two members are Azulstar and Seakay. Update: Reader George confirmed with the Sacramento Bee's writer that IBM was part of this group. I checked back to June, when the deal was announced, and all the sources then left IBM out; see this Wi-Fi Planet article and this Unstrung reproduction of a press release, for instance. IBM must have been added later, or omitted during initial phases?

Azulstar just faced a major setback by having the plug pulled--or lack of plug?--in Rio Rancho, N.M., where after years of work they couldn't get a network running that met the city's requirements.

This is the second attempt for a Sacramento network after a previous round in which the winning bidder withdrew during negotiations when the city asked for too much free service.