What are the Top 50 Trends in Municipal Wireless? We’re counting them down at our MuniWireless 2007: Silicon Valley conference in Santa Clara. Here are items 30-21 on the list. What are the Top 50 Trends in Municipal Wireless? We’re counting them down at our MuniWireless 2007: Silicon Valley conference in Santa Clara. Here are items 30-21 on the list.
50-41. Read that portion of the list here.
40-31. Read that portion of the list here.
30. Check Your Browser: Before you start discussing and measuring network performance, be sure that your team tests multiple Web browsers. Tull says Granbury’s network performance varies depending on your specific browser.
29. After EarthLink: EarthLink (remember them?) wasn’t mentioned much at the conference. MuniWireless founder Esme Vos described multiple potential business models for the post-EarthLink market. She mentioned:
- Municipalities as anchor tenants (example: Minneapolis);
- Municipalities building networks that leverage government applications (Burbank, Calif., for instance, with automated meter reading);
- Municipalities and private companies partnering on networks; and
- Ad-supported networks (partner examples: JiWire and MetroFI)
28. Hit the Road: Public transportation deployments continue to accelerate. One example: Stagecoach, the busiest bus line in Europe, has rolled out public Internet access to riders. In the last nine months, the network has logged 75,000 sessions from 15,000 unique users, according to MuniWireless founder Esme Vos. The average online time is 40 minutes during a 90-minute journey, according to Esme.
27. Going Green: Esme predicted that the “green movement” and clean tech will be major drivers for municipal broadband. Public transportation with attractive WiFi services could assist that movement.
26. That’s A Lot of Devices: Roughly 14 billion things will be connected to the Internet by 2010, according to Forrester. This figure, presented by a major wireless mesh company, could be conservative because the research is from 2001.
25. Forget the WiFi vs. WiMAX Debate: The smarter debate is what combination of technologies deliver true value to municipalities, communities and other types of users, according to Padmasree Warrior, executive VP and chief technology officer, Motorola.
24. More Than iPhones: Representatives from Comunicano, Trolltech, Devicescape Software, JiWire, Polycom and Motorola are set to discuss the WiFi device landscape this morning. I’ll be in the room listening for trends.
23. Partner Ecosystems: We’re starting to see some clear partner ecosystems emerge. Cisco announced a bunch of targeted mobile government partners last week. Nortel highlighted several strategic partners in three deployment announcements this week. And Rob Pilgrim, director of business development at Tropos, says the company has about 40 announced partners in its ecosystem, with an additional 60 partners assisting Tropos deployments.
22. Wintel Arrives: No, it’s not the Wintel we all grew up with. Stefan Weitz, director of planning for MSN, later today will update Microsoft’s municipal broadband strategy. And Chris Thomas, chief strategist for Intel’s World Ahead Program, will describe how Intel provides underserved community segments with life-changing technologies.
21. Wireless Country: Glenn Strachan, a senior wireless broadband consultant, described how the country of Macedonia (about the size of Vermont) has lifted its home Internet use from 4 percent in 2004 to 33 percent today. The secret to Macedonia’s success is a wireless network that covers 95 percent of the country.
20-11. Read the next portion of the list here.
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