The wait is over. Well, almost. Philadelphia has decided to pursue concurrent negotiations with HP and Earthlink, two of the three finalists (AT&T did not make it). The reason: HP and Earthlink have dramatically different proposals, but very interesting ones, so the city decided to pursue dual negotiations with them and then see who gives the city the best deal The wait is over. Well, almost. Philadelphia has decided to pursue concurrent negotiations with HP and Earthlink, two of the three finalists (AT&T did not make it). The reason: HP and Earthlink have dramatically different proposals, but very interesting ones, so the city decided to pursue dual negotiations with them and then see who gives the city the best deal (not just in price but also in meeting the requirements of the RFP). Philadelphia estimates that within 30 days, they will know with whom they will sign the contract for the city’s network.
See my earlier article on the three finalists (Earthlink, HP and AT&T) with the names of the vendors in their consortia. It appears that both Earthlink and HP will use Tropos equipment. Indeed, in my previous article, the first comment submitted by Jacomo predicted that the winning bidder would be using the low-cost Tropos solution.
I will be posting a Q&A later.
I feel the Tropos solution will be a value add considering not only the cost but reliablity of the mesh arciticture. It gives this project a good chance to show case WI-FI on a grand scale.
i’m just curious – what exactly does HP bring to the table? i didn’t know they were a big systems integrator… IBM I would understand, but HP seems out of its element on this project.
seems Philly has been played by vendors pretty well since the start of this project, so no reason to be suprised.
What a strange remark about HP. They are one of, if not the leading wireless integrators in the country.
I have been able to witness their expertise up close over the last two years as they have developed and implemented the St. Cloud project.
They are one of the most professional and dedicated firms I have ever worked with. Philadelphia or any other city could not find a better partner
HP is paired with Business Information Group (BIG) on this bid. Go to their site and see for yourself, they are more than qualified to do this job.
Vendors are the window to the future. Without them we are left to the mercy of the big telcos who have for many years dominated the airwaves. Vendors are the ones who empower municipalities and small enterprise to provide a great service and sometimes are the only service available with the telcos refusing to service the less profitable “last mile” in low density rural areas.
Philly is just trying to bridge the “digital divide” and give all it’s citizens a level playing field on the information superhighway. The sad fact that many of these people with a social geography confined to the inner city and will never use the service is outweighed by the fact some will, and as we all know who can read this, it will have a profound impact on their lives.
Go for it Philly
Will it quickly be outdated by the big telcos… nobody knows but their strategists.
Lets keep our fingers crossed
Well, the news is out now and to my mind there are two big winners – Philadelphia and Tropos Networks.
Philadelphia was garnered amazing publicity for the past year which they seem to have weathered well. Kudos to Diana Neff, she’s an adroit IT person and public persona. Earthlink assumes all the financial risk is building out this network and they move to the next and essential stage of their ISP life.
And Ron Sege and Tropos get to demonstrate to all that good ole 802.11 WiFi scales well and handles all the challenges of a HUGE municipal deployment.
No WiMAX spoken here!
Now we watch the implementation and the bids in the next big cities with two players none of us would have identified 3-4 four months ago – Earthlink and Google.