MuniWireless

Anderson, Indiana’s city-owned Municipal Light and Power Utility expects to realize a net savings of $18.7 million over 15 years as a result of its ability to monitor water and electrical usage via its automated meter reading (AMR) wireless network.

The city has been able to significantly reduce costs associated with the inaccuracies of manual meter reading while, at the same time, improving overall customer satisfaction.  Improved meter reading is resulting in more accurate bills and the ability to immediately detect electrical outages, pinpoint the areas that are affected and…

Technology writer Jeremy Hsu, writing for the IEEE Spectrum, reports that widespread individual and corporate adoption of wireless technologies has produced a Wi-Fi cloud over Salt Lake City could be a “make do” alternative to a municipal wireless network. The article goes on to postulate “Such unplanned wireless networks could provide the foundation for integrated citywide wireless coverage without huge investments in new infrastructure.”

Ad hoc networks can be–and are–powerfully attractive in areas where public access is the only goal of a…

The city of Houston plans to re-launch its muni wireless initiative and has issued an RFI to review proposals for the project. It was only a matter of time before cities recovered from the shockwaves from EarthLink’s retreat from the muni market and began re-evaluating how to provide broadband coverage. Houston is the first major city, among the many that put wireless initiatives on hold in the post-EarthLink shakeout, to announce plans to move ahead and re-issue an RFI. Houston…

Gainesville Regional Utility, a public utility owned by the city of Gainesville, Florida has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a wireless network that will be used for traffic synchronization, public safety and public Internet access. Gainesville Regional Utility (GRU), a municipal utility owned by the City of Gainesville, FL, has released an RFP for a wireless network that will be used for the following applications:

Traffic synchronization: Gainesville will acquire 200 IP-based traffic signal controllers (Models 980 and 981)…

The city of Burbank, California (pop. 100,000) has a very interesting model for municipal wireless networks, thanks to the Burbank Water and Power utility. The network goes beyond just reading meters; rather the utility is using it to help customers save money and conserve energy.The city of Burbank, California (pop. 100,000) has a very interesting model for municipal wireless networks, thanks to the Burbank Water and Power utility. The partner in this project is SmartSynch. The network goes beyond just…

I am blogging from the Muniwireless conference taking place in Santa Clara (Oct 22-23). The first session is a presentation of the 2007 State of the Market Report by Mike Perkowski, with insights from Joanne Hovis, president of CTC. There were a lot of interesting points made this morning that could be summarized as follows: muni wireless isn’t dead.I am blogging from the Muniwireless conference taking place in Santa Clara (Oct 22-23). The first session is a presentation of the…