Long Island: Big project, small integrator
Long Island is betting its very big municipal broadband project on a very small technology integrator — e-Path Communications, Inc. The Tampa, Florida-based firm will work with Cisco Systems and Keyspan on the network. Who are the people behind e-Path and what’s their strategy for the Island?
We spoke with e-Path Chief Operating Officer Michael Martin and also poked around the industry for some answers. Here’s a quick FAQ based on our conversations with Martin and sources around the industry.
Q: What experience does e-Path have in the municipal wireless market?
A: COO Martin mentioned e-Path has a 16-square-mile project under way in Delray Beach, Florida. He also noted that the company is in the running for a project in Trenton, New Jersey. However, the company’s Web site doesn’t mention any particular customers and the site’s press area remains under construction.
Translation: e-Path isn’t to be confused with Electronic Data Systems, Northrop-Grumman or IBM Global Services. Nor is it really a mid-tier player. e-Path is more of an IT boutique shop that claims to specialize in municipal broadband. In many cases, boutique shops provide superior, targeted customer service in market niches that big integrators can’t match. Frankly, we wish e-Path could more fully describe the successful municipal broadband projects it has under its belt.
Q: Who is going to pay for the Long Island network deployment?
A: According to Martin, the network will be paid for by a combination of private equity (to be raised by e-Path) and by other debt. Martin speculates that Keyspan could take an equity position, but details about the e-Path-Keyspan relationship are still being worked out, he noted. “We expect they’ll make a significant contribution [to the project],” Martin adds.
Q: How will the network generate revenue?
A: Here, some of Martin’s answers surprised us. Instead of focusing first and foremost on municipal applications, it sounds like e-Path will aggressively promote managed services to small businesses. Here’s a sampling of e-Path’s tiered service concept:
Low-speed, ad-based service: Certain, high-traffic pedestrian areas — such as beaches and parks — will have free, sub-1Mbps service that’s supported by advertising revenue. Those who log onto the free service will receive a limited amount of connection time per day.
Higher-speed, subscriber based services: At the higher-end (1Mbps and 3Mbps), e-Path intends to offer subscription-based managed services. The company, Martin notes, could potentially offer voice-over-IP services to small businesses. e-Path also is taking a close look at dual-mode phone service.
In theory, that dual-mode would allow customers to roam between cellular and WiFi networks. But that technology remains in its infancy, while public safety and other municipal applications are maturing rapidly. e-Path is also taking a look at remote data backup and other managed services.
Our take: We wish e-Path and Long Island were kicking off every conversation about the network by focusing on municipal applications. In our observations, the most successful deployments (examples: Corpus Christi, Texas; Buffalo, Minn.; Phoenix, Arizona; Providence, R.I.) involved public safety and/or video surveillance applications. Once those public safety applications deliver ROI, it eases the path to additional projects — such as digital inclusion.
Q: Will Suffolk and Nassau counties serve as anchor tenants on the network?
A: “Anchor tenants are the buzz in the financial community,” Martin concedes. “We see that as important but not as exclusive.” He expects Keyspan, for instance, to potentially use the networks’ managed services.
Our take: If KeySpan signs on as an anchor tenant–say for automated meter reading across Long Island–that could represent a significant revenue stream, and it could provide the foundation for additional, revenue-producing applications. But here again, Nassau and Suffolk counties need to very clearly communicate which departments — if any — will be tenants on the network.
Q: What are the next steps for Long Island?
A: e-Path is working with its partners and an implementation committee on Long Island to “walk the streets” and finalize a list of ideal pilot locations. Published reports predict the overall network will be completed in roughly three years.
Our take: Start small, Long Island. Focus on one key municipal application and make it a success. And tell us more about e-Path’s financial viability. It’s a small company with an antiquated web site and no real customer references to be found online. Two days after the Long Island deal was announced, e-Path’s site still had no mention of it. In the company’s defense, maybe they’re so busy focused on customers that they don’t have time to refresh their own site.
Regardless, this is a huge project for an integrator of any size.
For more discussion and comments on the Long Island project, go to Analyzing Long Island’s strategy.
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This is the largest urban Wi-Fi project in the US and they’ve chosen a company nobody’s heard about. e-Path says they have done a small project in Delray, Florida. Give me a break! Delray is 16 square miles and has a population of 65,000 people. Unbelievable. Weren’t EarthLink and MetroFi among the bidders? On the other hand, given their new “business model”, they probably would have pulled out because Suffolk and Nassau counties were not going to pay them any money or promise anchor tenancy.
It’s really easy to give a nice song and dance, and take grant money.
Proof will be in the pudding.
Who in this new and exciting industry segment we all call “muniwireless” isn’t new? Who isn’t a small to mid size company? Earthlink, MetroFi? That’s right…two companies struggling to make the projected numbers because “FREE” got everyones head clogged with Monopoly Ad Money and dreams of FREE wifi Utopia.
Friends, peers, get real. Over 300 projects and a small tiny handful of small companies to do most of them. IBM and HP have DeeeeeeeeP pockets yes; but they do not have a product or a business plan that does not rape and pillage municipalities, and then the put in TROPOS or CISCO. hehehehe
You guys are professionals, not paid for puppets of the aforementioned Big Players. We are all in this together,quit beating up the little guy! NO ONE new who MetroFi was a few years ago, no one.
Sounds like they are working from the ground up. No pie in the sky promises with hefty price tags or being shafted by vendor lock-ins.