Google’s semi-secret WiFi network has established a foothold in New York City, says blogger Mark Evens and C/Net.
Someone who recently visited saw a plaque and took a photograph. As most people know, Google dipped a toe in the WiFi market in April by sponsoring a free hotspot in San Francisco’s Union Square. So how long is it going to take before Google unveils its WiFi plans? I mean, you can’t have Om Malik and IP Media Monitor do all of Google’s PR work, right? For some good insight into Google’s Secure Access service, check out AugustJackson.
In other (mostly) unrelated news:
- New York City is planning a WiMax network for first responders. The $3 million GUARD program (Geospatially-Aware Urban Approaches for Responding to Disasters) which covers a 35-mile stretch of southwest Manhattan, hopes to become a template for other cities seeking ways to upgrade emergency worker communications. GUARD uses both the instructional television s 2.5GHz band and pre-802.16e gear from Minneapolis-based NextNet Wireless, owned by Craig McCaw s Clearwire.The testing phase should begin in April or May of 2006 and last for six to eight weeks.
The National Technology Alliance, a government program with the goal of using commercial technology for national security and defense work, named Rosettex Technology & Ventures Group as the integrator. Rosettex works with the NTA assessing commercial technology for use by homeland security or the Department of Defense. Cranite Systems was selected to design the security architecture for the program, including encrypted voice, video and data. Cranite is going after the U.S. federal budget of $10.9 billion for improving first-responder communications.
Smart Nets makes use of the Educational Broadband Service Band (EBS), formerly called the Instructional Television Fixed Service band, to provide dependable two-way wireless broadband communications to fire, police, EMS, and other personnel in the field. New York s PBS Thirteen/WNET, which broadcasts atop the Empire State Building, provides the spectrum. SmartNet also utilizes KenCast software to IP multicast files and live streams and Grey Island Systems for real-time vehicle tracking and telematics. Several channels of live streaming video was multicast to handhelds by KenCast from access points in Central Park during the New York Marathon last year.
The City of Sioux City Iowa has public/private partnership with an Internet Service Provider to utilize NextNet Wireless Expedience system (right), in the 2.5 GHz band. The system is divided into two Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANS): one for the public and one for public safety. This gives police officers speeds of 1024 Kbps in the downstream and 256 Kbps in the upstream.
- The State of New York is also planning a big, state-wide network for public service workers and has signed a $2 billion contract with M/A-COM to build it. According to M/A COM, this will be the largest statewide public safety communications project in the United States. The system has been designed to provide communication in isolated parts of the state despite mountains and other impediments to clear signals.It will utilize M/A-COM s OpenSky, P25IP and NetworkFirst solutions. OpenSky provides 700/800 MHz integrated voice and data, with in-building coverage. P25IP provides coverage for New York s terrain challenged areas using VHF overlays. NetworkFirst connects legacy systems through its IP network architecture.
- Some 130 emergency management experts, developed and tested the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), an open technical OASIS XML standard for public warnings.The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) endorses the CAP-compliant, public-private partnership plan for an emergency alerts system based on the Internet-linked AMBER Alert system. But there was a funding problem. FEMA reduced the scope of the pilot to a single state.
FEMA began planning a larger initiative which became known as the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). Funds have been used to upgrade some existing systems and utilize NOAA All Hazards weather radios. But, reports GovTech, IPAWS remains largely conceptual, a “hodgepodge” of inadequate, aging and arcane systems according to a report by the Congressional Research Service.
