INTERNET
Austin to build free wireless network System to serve tech gathering,
stretch from Zilker to Plaza Saltillo. By Kirk Ladendorf
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
The City of Austin plans to create a high-speed wireless network that will
deliver free broadband Internet access to parts of downtown Austin, East Austin
and Zilker Park.
The city is partnering with Cisco Systems Inc., the largest maker of computer
networking equipment, and the World Congress on Information Technology. Cisco
will donate nearly $700,000 worth of wireless networking equipment for the
project to the group hosting the international gathering of technology leaders
in Austin in early May.
But the network will live on. With Cisco's equipment and engineering
assistance, the city's communications and technology management department and
Austin Energy will build and maintain the network, which will deliver
high-speed Internet access to attendees at the technology convention and,
ultimately, to various city workers, academic and private researchers, and the
public.
"This new network can help Austin in several ways: by more broadband Internet
access for more citizens, by assisting some city services and by forming a test
laboratory for new wireless applications, services and businesses," Austin
Mayor Will Wynn said.
Glyn Meek, CEO of the congress' Austin organization, said discussions about
building the network have been under way for a nearly a year.
"We always have wanted to leave behind a legacy to the city," Meek said of
the congress, which is held in a different city every two years.
The wireless network will be built in three stages. The first, covering lower
downtown, will be completed by mid- to late April in time for the technology
meeting. It's designed to provide almost continuous broadband Internet access
to attendees.
A few dozen interconnected wireless access points, mounted on city light
poles and atop buildings, are expected to provide coverage for the entire lower
downtown area from City Hall east to Interstate 35 and from Town Lake north to
Sixth or Seventh Street.
"Our delegates live and die and breathe by (Internet) connectivity, and this
provides them with continuous connectivity for all their stay," Meek said.
"Cisco has absolutely stepped up to the plate for this, and so has the city.
This has been a great team effort."
The network will use an enhanced version of wireless networking technology
that carries data farther and faster than earlier versions of Wi-Fi commonly
used in "hot spots."
The downtown section of the network will be built first, followed by
expansions into parts of East Austin and to Zilker Park. It's expected to link
to existing hot spots at City Hall, Republic Square and the Convention Center
downtown and at Plaza Saltillo, Fiesta Beach and East 11th Street in East
Austin.
The wireless network will be able to link directly to the city's 300-mile
fiber-optic communications network that connects to the Internet.
Parts of the wireless network will be shut down occasionally so researchers
or entrepreneurs can test new services and software applications on it.
Peter Collins, the city's chief information officer, says the network is the
outgrowth of a few years of discussions between city staffers and technologists
at the University of Texas and at technology businesses on how they can best
collaborate.
Collins said his current staff can maintain the network without additional
spending. Cisco has agreed to help maintain the network for its first few years
of operation, he said.
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