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HarborLink Network News & Events
November 09, 2006
Downtown
Bellevue is getting a Wi-Fi
network
By John Cook - Seattle
Post-Intelligencer
Bellevue, WA -Free
wireless Internet service is
coming to downtown Bellevue.
Workers are setting up a
Wi-Fi network this week in
the state's fifth-largest
city, hanging communications
equipment on traffic lights
and street lamps in the
downtown core.
The initial coverage will
blanket a 1.5-acre area from
City Hall and Meydenbauer
Center on the east to
Bellevue Square and the
Downtown Park on the west,
although city of Bellevue
Information Technology
Manager David Kerr said the
goal is to have a high-speed
network that covers the
entire city. The service is
open air, meaning that it is
not designed to penetrate
buildings.
"It is a pretty dense
network," Kerr said. "To the
greatest extent possible, we
want to have seamless
coverage in that area."
The city hopes to "tweak"
and "tune" the network in
the next couple of weeks for
use among city workers, with
a wireless provider
scheduled to offer a free
consumer service in early
December.
That provider is Dayton,
Ohio-based HarborLink, which
plans to make money through
advertisements that appear
on its home page. In
exchange for using the
network, HarborLink has
agreed to provide 10 percent
of its advertising revenue
to the city.
Kerr said his goal is to
have three or four service
providers leasing bandwidth
from the city's Wi-Fi
network. He added that a
company such as T-Mobile
could use the city network
to extend service from its
own Wi-Fi hot spots, many of
which are inside Starbucks
stores, to nearby public
spaces.
"Some companies may provide
a free service, others might
do a subscription service,"
Kerr said. "Whatever model
companies wanted to pursue
would be OK with us."
Bellevue
has been working on the
pilot project for more than
two years -- part of its
overall mission of creating
what it dubs a "smart city."
High-tech companies such as
Microsoft Corp. are moving
into downtown, bringing
additional Internet-savvy
workers to the city.
Although free Wi-Fi for
tourists or office workers
on their lunch breaks is one
of the added benefits, Kerr
said the real driver is
municipal services around
public safety,
transportation and
utilities.
Offering wireless
connectivity choices to
consumers just "kills two
birds with one stone," he
said.
It is not the only
municipality experimenting
with wireless networks.
Renton has created a
wireless network that covers
about 85 percent of the
city, allowing police
officers to access records
or park employees to control
irrigation systems while in
the field.
Seattle is testing a Wi-Fi
pilot project that includes
parts of Columbia City and
the University District, as
well as some downtown parks
and the City Hall lobby.
Spokane, Everett and Federal
Way also have built wireless
networks. Nationwide, it is
estimated that more than 300
municipalities have set up
or are planning to create
wireless networks.
Large companies also are
expanding wireless coverage
in the Seattle area,
including major carriers
such as Verizon.
Kirkland-based Clearwire,
which is advertising on
local radio and billboards,
is expected to launch a
broadband wireless service
here soon.
Glenn Fleishman, publisher
of Wi-Fi Networking News, an
online publication devoted
to wireless technologies,
said that Bellevue's
decision to add a Wi-Fi
system makes sense.
"Bellevue seems ideal,
because it is a real
business district with tons
of people coming into it,"
Fleishman said.
While it is too early to
tell whether the municipal
Wi-Fi systems will become a
huge success, Fleishman said
that Bellevue is doing the
right thing by focusing on a
finite outdoor area where
people do not currently have
service.
Equipment for Bellevue's
Wi-Fi network is being
provided by Cisco Systems at
no charge for 180 days. In
March, the city will have
the option to buy the
networking equipment for
$101,000, lease it for
$25,000 to $35,000 per year
or return it with no
obligations.
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