MuniWireless

The city of San Fernando (Los Angeles County) has issued an RFP for the design and installation of a wireless data network using mesh technology in the licensed 4.9 GHz public safety spectrum. Note that network has to support future use of 2.4 GHz for automated meter reading and municipal Wi-Fi access. You can request the specifications and other requirements from the San Fernando Police Department or from the city website www.ci.san-fernando.ca.us (as of this writing, I did not see…

New-Generation Mesh Networks Offer Low-Cost Broadband Alternative

Some mesh networks have recently been discredited when unrealistic business plans as part of municipal in partnerships with poorly written proposals failed. The failures were incorrectly attributed to unlicensed 2.4 GHz mesh technology instead of the financial models. The technology worked, but the real cost was never understood by the municipalities. Systems to support automatic meter reading (AMR), automated parking meters (APM), police cars, fire trucks, video analytics and surveillance and low-cost Internet for…

The city council of Riverside, California has agreed to take over the Wi-Fi network that AT&T has deployed across the city. Steve Reneker, CIO of Riverside, also informed in that the takeover will occur on 15 September 2010. If you have not yet done so, please read last week’s interview with Steve Reneker.

A large Wi-Fi hotzone has been deployed in the low income Pleasant Ridge housing community in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. The network provides free access to a job search portal, as part of a digital divide project that offers job training, as well as laptops to residents of the housing community.

Over the same network, WiFi Pittsburgh offers a fee-based Internet access service for residents, businesses, and visitors, providing an alternative to other Internet services. Allegheny County Housing Authority police officers use to…

Residents of the Calgary neighborhood of Hawkwood can now get free Wi-Fi access throughout their community and they can upgrade their service at lower prices than the traditional ISPs, says Wi-Fi provider GoNaeco. Every resident and business using the GoNaeco network also has access to a community portal site, featuring community-specific news, events and local advertising.

In addition to City of Calgary, GoNaeco has also secured approval from neighboring communities to deploy these networks. GoNaeco is using equipment from Strix Systems;…

Winncom Technologies, a value- added distributor of wireless equipment, has a new distribution agreement with Wavion Wireless Networks for North American customers. Wavion makes Wi-Fi base stations that use spatially adaptive beam-forming technology. Read the full announcement here.

According to Wavion, the WBS-2400 and WBS-5800 Wi-Fi Base Stations, which utilize digital beam-forming and Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) technology, allow service providers, communities, and enterprises to provide coverage for two to three times larger area than conventional access points.

For a limited time, Winncom…