The latest in the series of MuniWireless shows finished up on Tuesday, March 6th with well over 400 hundred people attending. As any of you who have attended a MuniWireless event already know, this is not your usual trade show.
As an example, Ebrahim Keshavarz, VP, New Services Innovation, AT&T, a company that spent enormous resources trying to dissuade municipalities from building their own WiFi networks, is now building one in St. Louis.
Janet West, VP Access Sales and Marketing, EarthLink also gave an excellent talk. In all honesty, her speech was nowhere as entertaining as watching Drew Lentz (Meshtek) ask her why Earthlink was ?deploying antiquated, first generation, Mesh equipment? especially when you understand that a sales rep from Tropos was standing within earshot - unnoticed by Drew until after the conversation.
Ms. West addressed Drew’s question in a very straightforward manner and (from a personal perspective) clearly reinforced exactly why Earthlink is proud to be represented by people of her caliber.
Also deserving mention was Jim Baller, of the Baller Herbst Law Group, who captivated the audience by touching on several of the potential legal issues a municipality might face as they move through the process of deploying a broadband network, all done with his characteristic quiet, down to earth, sense of humor. Jim suggested World Wrestling Federation has nothing on the debate that erupts when city council members argue over which district will be the first to see service.
In that same two hour session, Ash Dyer, Cambridge Wireless Initiative, provided a breakdown of how the City of Cambridge deployed broadband in a 268 unit housing project for a grand total of $5,720 and almost half of that cost went to the licensed electricians!
Drew Lentz, Meshtek, took everyone through the evolution of Mesh networking, (in English, no easy feat) from single radio, low bandwidth equipment all the way through to the current generation of multi-radio, high bandwidth devices that are available now and why understanding this subject is important when a municipality is planning a broadband wireless deployment.
Karen Archer-Perry, Karacom, managed to condense what should have been a longer power point presentation into a very engrossing 12 minutes that discussed just about everything you need to know about Digital Inclusion ? something that most municipalities inherently understand is critical but oftentimes overlook in their budget forecasts.
Anne-Marie Fowler, Seakay, explained the role that non-profit organizations can play in managing municipal broadband networks, highlighting the entrepreneurial aspect of forming a non-profit, correcting the idea that non-profits are a kind of charity. (On a personal note, I was floored by Anne-Marie’s presentation, something that normally doesn’t happen to me at these shows.)
Glenn Strachan (pronounced Strawn) discussed the different business models that can be utilized including the ?PPP? (Public Private Partnership) the non-profit and the privately run, for profit model. Glenn has some real world experience in this field as being the first person (that I am aware of) to deploy a countrywide wireless broadband network.
The above six sessions (as well as one other - some guy named Ken), were all delivered in a two hour time-frame on a Sunday afternoon. Immediately after the presentations were complete, there was a 30 minute question and answer period that didn’t stop even with the announcement that the bar was open and food had been served.
Monday kicked off early and continued to deliver a steady stream of information that I heard on attendee express was more like a firehose. Andy Abramson, Comunicano, Inc., showed off several hand held devices including the incredible Nokia N800. As Patrick Leary, Alvarion, once reminded me, it isn’t the technology, it’s the effect this technology has on the way people’s lives who are touched by it that makes all the difference.
Late Tuesday afternoon, continuing in that vein of how this technology is reaching into people’s lives, O’Neal Smitherman, CIO, Ball State University, gave a presentation that completely floored the audience. Ball University has deployed a WiMAX network (yes, a real WiMAX network) and used it to enhance education. In one short video clip we saw a fifth grade student ask if she could access an educational site from home. This was enough to almost convince me that WiMAX might be able to do everything including slicing bread ? almost.
The exhibit floor was pretty well filled out with all of the major Mesh manufacturers represented. One of the more distinctive booths was shared by ADI Engineering and RoamAd. ADI manufactures a pretty neat SBC with four Mini-PCI ports on it but the one thing that separates them from the rest of the ?roll your own? manufacturers is that ADI had gone to the trouble of FCC certifying their board, radios, antennas and enclosures making a legitimate product platform for many of the open source crowd.
At this point, I need to apologize to all the speakers I did not mention, there were simply too many good sessions to choose from and I expect that this article would take longer to read than the two and a half days the show lasted for if I tried to cover everything.
There is one thing that I need to communicate to you all, one distinct feeling that permeated the entire event — there was a new excitement in the crowd, one that could be felt.
As best I can describe it, it was an enthusiasm, a feeling of sureness, one born from the knowledge that municipal broadband wasn’t simply a passing fad, no longer just an interesting concept or a pipe dream, not something that is only to be studied in committee, it is something that almost every city has made a commitment to build.
It isn’t ?if? any longer but ?when?. When we look back, a decade from now, I believe that this technology will be regarded as one of the most important innovations in our world’s history.
We are now dramatically changing the world, one city at a time.
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