MuniWireless reports that Bellevue, Washington will deploy a wireless HotZone thoughout its central business district. Installation will only take about a week — from 6 November 2006 to 15 November 2006.
Here’s the proposal presented to Bellevue City Council on 16 October 2006.
The City of Bellevue plans to deliver their own municipal services then wholesale excess capacity.
Bellevue will use Cisco 1500 meshed access points (right) along with the Cisco 4400 controller.
After the 6-month trial, the city can either buy the equipment for approximately $100,000 or lease it for $25,000 – $35,000 per year (over a period of three to five years).
Between 1-4 commercial wireless ISPs are expected to provide access to residents and business. An agreement with the first wireless ISP, HarborLink of Dayton, Ohio, goes to the City Council this month.
It may be a good infrastructure/financial model for other cities, as well.
Belluvue, however, is especially well positioned since many telecommunications companies have their headquarters in Bellevue. They include Expedia.com, a leader in online travel planning, InfoSpace, a developer of online searches and content for mobile phones, Northwest Research Associates, a scientific research group that focuses on the geophysical sciences, Sierra Entertainment, one of the world’s largest publishers of interactive entertainment software, Spry.com, a supplier of virtual servers and web hosting and T-Mobile USA, the cellular phone company.
Bellevue’s Real-Time Traffic Map might be an ideal application for all citizens with reception on a PDA, phone or kiosk. Traffic congestion is coded by Green, Yellow and Red sections on the street map. IntelliOne and AirSage use cellular data to map traffic conditions.
