New agreements, contract details from Philadelphia and a smidge of a slowdown in product certifications kept Wi-Fi circles buzzing last week.
In Philadelphia, reports surfaced early last week that the city had worked out the terms of its contract with Earthlink Inc. for the city’s Wi-Fi network. But, by the end of the week, neither side was talking about the expected contract terms.
Nevertheless, it has been widely reported that the city and Earthlink are proposing a 10-year deal and expect full deployment by spring 2007. Reports also indicated that Earthlink would own the network and charge $9 per month to Internet service resellers. Though reports said the contract doesn’t specify how much Philadelphia’s 1.5 million residents ultimately would pay for Internet access, city officials have stated that they wanted the price to hover around $20 or less.
Construction could begin immediately if the council approves the contract, possibly in the spring. The contract is set to be submitted this month. Earthlink has said it plans to build a 15-square mile trial network in Northeast Philadelphia and would carry the cost of the entire citywide network buildout, which an Earthlink official estimated to be about $13 million, not including yearly operating costs.
As part of the deal, Earthlink reportedly would pay fees to the city for the right to mount Wi-Fi equipment on city property, including streetlamps. Earthlink would also turn over 5 percent of the revenue from the Philadelphia Wi-Fi network to Wireless Philadelphia, a nonprofit consortium overseeing the city’s Wi-Fi project. Wireless Philadelphia is expected to use its revenue share to buy computers for low-income residents in the city.
However, nothing has been signed, and until the city council votes on the proposed contract, none of the terms are set in stone.
Meanwhile, word came from across the country that a group is seeking to create a 1,500-square-mile high-speed Wi-Fi data network covering California’s Silicon Valley. A coalition called Smart Valley agreed to begin collecting bids for the wireless broadband network.
Smart Valley members include the San Mateo County Telecommunications Authority, Intel Corp. and Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, a high-tech civic group. The group said it envisions a broadband canopy that would increase wireless-enabled business development, improve government services and include applications for public safety and emergency response personnel.
“Silicon Valley is a hotbed of innovation in wireless technologies,” said Eric Benhamou, chairman of Smart Valley as well as Palm Inc., 3Com Corp. and Benhamou Global Ventures. “Establishing a ubiquitous network will enable the deployment of a new generation of broadband services for our entire community, including small businesses, schools, nonprofits, and all the citizens of our region.”
Smart Valley said the San Mateo County Telecommunications Authority plans to issue a request for proposal on the project in April. SAMCAT represents 16 cities as well as San Mateo County. Intel was selected to develop the RFP and has agreed not to bid on the project.
Silicon Valley-based Google Inc. was selected in November to build an advertising-funded Wi-Fi network for its home town of Mountain View, Calif. Nearby, San Francisco is still mulling over proposals for a Wi-Fi network.
From Arizona, NeoReach Wireless announced its plans to use equipment from Strix Systems, a wireless mesh-network provider, to build a 72-sqare-mile municipal Wi-Fi network in Chandler, Ariz.
Strix said the companies plan to build one network offering Wi-Fi access to about 19,000 businesses and 240,000 residents in the area, while another separate network would serve municipal employees. Strix said its Access/One Network Outdoor Wireless System is designed to support multi-radio, multi-channel and multi-radio frequency mesh networks.
NeoReach Wireless, a subsidiary of MobilePro Corp., is already using Strix’s mesh technology in nearby Tempe, Ariz., where it is building a 40-square mile municipal Wi-Fi network.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
From the standards front came news that Wi-Fi-certified products using the yet-to-be-approved 802.11n standard may not see retail shelf space until fall of 2007.
With vendors champing at the bit to get .11n certified products on the market, the IEEE 802.11n task group pushed its in-stores estimate from April 2007 to September 2007.
Until then, analyst firm Gartner warned that companies should stay away from next-generation Wi-Fi equipment described as .11n compliant.
“Plan to stay with Wi-Fi certified products under the 802.11a/b/g banner. Expect these technology investments to be good for at least four more years,” Gartner recommended in a research report, adding .11n should not be considered until 2007.
The forthcoming .11n standard is expected to be compatible with existing 802.11a/b/g standards, but provide an increase in throughput speed from .11a/g’s 54 megabits per second to 600 Mbps as well as increased range.
Broadcom Corp. and Marvell Technology Group Ltd. announced they would start producing “draft-compliant” .11n chipsets, but Gartner labeled these claims as “misleading” and “premature.”
The analyst firm believes that the technology is likely to be changed before a final standard is approved, and that additional testing would be required to ensure compatibility with existing Wi-Fi standards.
Altogether Gartner predicted it would take another year before the .11n standard is ready.
The Wi-Fi Alliance said it expects to be ready for testing of products as soon as the standard is approved.
“This latest estimate seems credible-it looks doable,” said Frank Hanzlik, managing director of the Wi-Fi Alliance. “Once the standard is approved, we expect to certify some products pretty quickly, while some may come a little later-in time for the holidays.”
