In addition to City of Calgary, GoNaeco has also secured approval from neighboring communities to deploy these networks. GoNaeco is using equipment from Strix Systems; Brella Wireless, a sister company of GoNaeco, runs the network. Brella has a roaming agreement with iZone across Canada for a monthly fee.

It will be interesting to see how far GoNaeco gets with the free Wi-Fi rollout. Many companies have gone out of business (MetroFi, Kite Networks, and others) trying to do so. The business model – free but supported by advertising – works only if there are enough people using the network. Advertising can support a network if there are thousands of people using it. It means this model does not work in suburbs and other low density areas.

* * * * * *

COMPANY PROFILE: STRIX SYSTEMS

http://www.muniwireless.com/2010/02/03/company-profile-strix-systems/

© 2010 MuniWireless. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. Sponsored Post: Thanks to MuniWireless sponsors
2. Calgary “Wireless City”

According to Wavion, the WBS-2400 and WBS-5800 Wi-Fi Base Stations, which utilize digital beam-forming and Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) technology, allow service providers, communities, and enterprises to provide coverage for two to three times larger area than conventional access points.

For a limited time, Winncom and Wavion are offering a special deal: a 2.4 GHz Wavion Starter Kit, a $10,000 value, for $4,500, and a 5.8 GHz Wavion Starter Kit, a $9,000 value, for only $3,500.

COMPANY PROFILE: WINNCOM TECHNOLOGIES

http://www.muniwireless.com/2010/03/04/company-profile-winncom-technologies/

© 2010 MuniWireless. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. Wavion, ACD partner on new architecture
2. Creating Apple Airport hotspots

The FCC’s tool lets you measure download and upload speeds, as well as latency and jitter (the last two are important for video and voice applications). Nobody talks about latency and jitter, and that is a shame. For high quality video conferencing, less than 20 ms of jitter is best. Latency under 30 ms is excellent.

Test results vary depending on the test

When you run the test, it randomly assigns you to the Ookla test or the M-Lab test. Note: The M-Lab test does not work with Safari, Chrome and Opera browsers. You need to use Firefox or (heaven forbid) Internet Explorer.

When I measured my broadband connection at home using the FCC’s test (both Ookla and M-Lab) against Speedtest, this is what I got. The reported speeds, latency and jitter vary wildly among the different tests. I ran the tests over my Wi-Fi network (using Apple Airport Extreme 802.11n) and a new iMac. My ISP is Webpass in San Francisco. The Ookla test result in (2) for upload speed is the oddest one.

Both Speedtest and M-Lab reported my upload speed to be between 58 megabits per second and 63 megabits per second. Jitter and latency, according to the M-Lab test, are quite low, with 17 ms and 18 ms respectively. Using PingTest, they were 24 ms and 15 ms.

(1) Speedtest and PingTest

(2) FCC Test (Ookla results)

(3) FCC Test (M-Lab results)

And if you have no broadband?

For those who can’t even measure broadband speeds because they’ve got NO broadband, the FCC has an option: the Broadband DeadZone Report. Here’s where you get to tell our civil servants in Washington that you don’t have broadband. I wonder if the FCC will put up a Google maps mashup of all this data.

If you have a wicked sense of humor, you might actually fill in this page if your broadband download and upload speeds are under 10 megabits per second. But, let’s not test the FCC’s patience.

Are you a measurement freak?

If, like me, you’re into measuring all sorts of aspects about your Internet connection, visit the M-Lab website. You can use their tools to test if your ISP is blocking or throttling BitTorrent, you can diagnose problems limiting speed, and determine if your ISP is degrading the performance of certain applications or a subset of users, and more.

© 2010 MuniWireless. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. Our broadband sucks but at least we have a lot of company
2. PC World survey shows AT&T with fastest download speeds
3. Broadband speeds in the United States are shockingly low

Background

In 2006, Riverside issued a Request for Proposals seeking a provider to deploy a citywide Wi-Fi network. Three companies submitted bids. In October 2006, Riverside awarded the contract to AT&T, which hired MetroFi (now defunct) to deploy the network. MetroFi completed a 25 square-mile area, but it went bankrupt before finishing the project (which required coverage over a 55 square-mile area). Nokia Siemens took over and finished 77 percent of the project.

AT&T’s decision not to continue supporting the network

AT&T bought Wayport in 2008 and turned it into a division called AT&T Wi-Fi Services (AWS). AWS told Riverside in 2009 that it would not build out the rest of the network or maintain it. AWS wants to transfer the network at no cost to Riverside. You would think AT&T would want to use the network to offload data traffic from its 3G networks. This is a mystery.

User statistics

The network has 20,000 users per day. It is also part of a local digital inclusion program serving 3600 families.

What are Riverside’s options?

The city council will vote on 16 March 2010 to maintain the network, find a sponsor, or shut it down. Some people in Riverside do not want the city to spend money on the network given the city’s precarious financial state, but others who have been enjoying the free Wi-Fi service, don’t want it taken away from them (see my article about St. Cloud, Florida whose city council ran into stiff opposition from residents over the termination of free Wi-Fi service). People who have been financially crushed and are trying to save money by using the free Wi-Fi service (and canceling their DSL/cable subscriptions) are urging Riverside to keep it up and running. This is exactly the same situation that the St. Cloud city council faces today.

In Riverside, according to Steve Reneker, people wait for hours to use public computers in libraries. Many have lost their jobs and need to apply for employment; others go to the public libraries’ computers to apply for unemployment benefits. Getting the simplest tasks done, such as applying for social benefits, requires the applicant to go online.

Why not sell or lease the network to another provider?

The contract between Riverside and AT&T forbids the city from reselling or leasing the network to another operator for a period of five years. As you might imagine, AT&T does not want a private company operating a free Wi-Fi network that would compete with its DSL service. However, Riverside is permitted to get a sponsor such as Google or Microsoft to support the costs of providing free Wi-Fi.

Riverside’s application for broadband stimulus funding

The NTIA rejected Riverside’s application for Round 1 broadband stimulus funds and gave no reasons for the rejection. I suspect it’s because under Round 1 rules, Riverside was not sufficiently rural, i.e. unserved or underserved. Round 2 rules give Riverside a better chance.

Riverside is applying for a grant in Round 2. It is focusing on connecting anchor institutions such as the city’s own public utility and its public safety agencies. It has banded together with four college campuses (but not UC Riverside), the utility, the police and fire departments (which will use the 4.9 GHz frequency band for wireless communications). Here are the elements of Riverside’s application:

• Middle mile fiber network connecting community anchor institutions
• 4.9 GHz public safety network
• Digital Inclusion program that involves the Salvation Army and community colleges to provide computer training to seniors

Riverside and Google Fiber?

Riverside is well positioned for Google’s fiber experiment. Because the city owns the public utility, it has already laid down empty conduits (beneath the streets) to houses and buildings so that a fiber operator like Google can just “shoot” the fiber optic lines down the conduits.

© 2010 MuniWireless. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. Riverside, California issues RFP for citywide Wi-Fi network; my commentary included
2. Riverside, California, muni network officially launches on Tuesday
3. Update: AT&T-MetroFi win Riverside muni Wi-Fi bid

Background

PicoCELA was set up for the purpose of commercializing the fruits of the MIMO-MESH Project led by Professor Hiroshi Furukawa of the Faculty of Information Science and Electrical Engineering, the Graduate School, Kyushu University. The project is part of the “Silicon Sea Belt Fukuoka Project” promoted by the Fukuoka prefectural government to build an East Asian belt of advanced semiconductor R&D sites. It is funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (under the Knowledge Cluster Creation Project Phase 2 program) and the Fukuoka Industry, Science and Technology Foundation (Fukuoka IST).

The new wide-area wireless LAN was built as one of government-commissioned undertakings to do demonstration experiments in three area:

• technology for building a wireless broadband area with ease and at low cost;
• technology for a high-precision position-tracking system; and
• servicesusing the position-tracking system.

The experiment contract was given to Fukuoka IST by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications under the
ministry’s ICT advanced demonstration experiment program. PicoCELA will seek to promote further technological development of the next generation of mobile networks through the wide-area wireless LAN operation and to help revitalize the content market, which is expected to play a major role in the future mobile communications market, through the test use of various future applications software.

Related websites
– Open4G:
http://open4g.jp/Top
– MIMO-MESH Project:
http://mimo-mesh.com/en/index.html
– Kyushu University:
https://portal.isee.kyushu-u.ac.jp/front-page-en
– Fukuoka Knowledge Cluster Initiative II:
http://www2.lab-ist.jp/english/
– Fukuoka IST:
http://www.ist.or.jp/english/index.html
– Canal City Hakata:
http://www.canalcity.co.jp/eg/index.html

Q&A with Prof. Hiroshi Furukawa, Department of Intelligent Systems, Kyushu University

What inspired you to develop this technology?

I wanted to create a 4th generation mobile communication system. Please visit the website which outlines my idea of Open 4G: http://www.open4g.jp/Top

Due to physical Tx power limitation of transceiver, communication range of each base station has to decrease as transmission speed increases. Under the situation, we must place many base stations to extend coverage area, which increases deployment cost of broadband mobile communication systems. On the other hand, mobile operators face declining ARPU every year due to cutthroat competition but demand for bandwidth is increasing because more people are using iPhones and other smartphones.

Our technology can solve many of the problems faced by mobile operators. With our technology, WiFi is appropriate as an access network because the standard has been widely spread into terminal devices. WiFi is the only wireless standard that can peacefully coexist with cellular systems. In fact, as you may know, Softbank mobile (a carrier who offers iPhone in Japan) announced last November that all their new handsets will have a built-in WiFi.

Our technology can be summarized as follows.

1. Easy setup of multicell WiFi. You don’t need any special knowledge about radio technology and radio propagation physics. Of course, complex network configurations are unnecessary. Just place units not requiring Internet cabling, push reroute button of one of them (this process is to trigger optimization of backhaul network), then wide range WiFi gets ready to go. Such an easy setup feature can cut the cost of network deployment.

2. Multihop relay of more than 10 hops. Capability of large number of hops is very important in this kind of product because the feature widen use cases.

3. Full usage of open technologies. All components inside PCWL-0100 are commonly used in PCs. This feature can reduce rollout span and cost for manufacturing process. Our competence is based on protocols that can be implemented by software.

Where do you see PicoCELA in 12 months?

What we have to do in the next few months is to sell the products. In this time period, we have to broaden our experience in the real market and continue tweaking the technology to fit our customers’ needs. So far, we have received no serious complaints! Then we want to go a next stage: build a sales team. To do this, we have to raise additional funding.

Who will be your main customers?

- Communication carriers handling wire and wireless services
- Hotspot operators
- ISPs
- cableTV companies
- building owners
- shopping centers
- enterprise IT departments
- municipalities including libraries, fire stations, police departments, etc.
- railway companies (not only stations but also inside trains).

© 2010 MuniWireless. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. University of Twente largest European hotspot
2. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, deploys WiMAX
3. How do you get quality VOIP calls on a mesh Wi-Fi network?

Why should you call?

- If you are thinking of applying for a broadband stimulus grant, I can connect you to people who can help. (I’ve helped a Native American tribe in Northern California, an organization in NYC planning a middle mile fiber network that connects public housing, the network manager of a large university, a hospital network administrator, a person putting together a business plan for a free community-wide Wi-Fi network — and that’s just in one week!)

- If you need recommendations on wireless equipment, software, systems integrators, consultants, etc. for your network, I can save you time and money.

- If you want to know who else has done what you are trying to do, I can connect you to the right people.

- If you want to share your experiences rolling out and running your network: I am interested in business models, ways to pay for the network, benefits, etc. so I can help others.

- If you want to share ideas, I’m here to listen and pick your brains.

How long can we talk?

Let’s keep it down to 10 minutes or less to give others a chance to call in.

Who should not call?

People making unsolicited sales calls. There’s a blacklist for overly aggressive vendors. If, however, you want to pitch your products and services, please do it discreetly: email me (esme at muniwireless dot com).

And if you can’t get through?

Drop me an email at esme at muniwireless dot com. I also have a Twitter account: @esmevos.

OFFICE HOURS:

8:00 – 10:00 San Francisco
10:00 – 12:00 Houston
11:00 – 13:00 New York

[Note: I borrowed this idea of office hours from Jason Fried, CEO of 37 Signals, whose blog I follow. I also use their products: Highrise, Basecamp].

© 2010 MuniWireless. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. Event: 19 November 2009 – New Media, Technology and Internet use in Indian Country
2. Sauk-Suiattle Indian reservation goes wireless
3. Cool wireless application: no more waiting for hours in the ER

NTIA received applications representing all 50 states, 5 territories, and the District of Columbia to participate in the program, meaning that all governments that were eligible to apply for grants did so, whether directly or through a designated entity. NTIA has now awarded 54 grants totaling approximately $102 million under the program, including today’s announcement.

“Congress rightly recognized that increasing broadband access and adoption in communities being left behind in the 21st Century economy depends on better data collection and broadband planning. Our goal is to carry out this initiative on schedule and at the lowest cost necessary to do the job right,” said Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling. “We have now awarded all but two of the grants in the program and will continue to work with the remaining applicants so they can bring the benefits of broadband to more of their citizens.”

American Samoa: NTIA has awarded the American Samoa Office of the Governor approximately $558,000 for broadband data collection and mapping activities over a two-year period and $500,000 for broadband planning activities over a two-year period in American Samoa, bringing the total grant award to approximately $1.1 million. The Office of the Governor is the designated entity for the territory of American Samoa.

Virginia: NTIA has awarded the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology $1,799,979 for broadband data collection and mapping activities over a two-year period and $500,000 for broadband planning activities over a two-year period in Virginia, bringing the total grant award to approximately $2.3 million. The Virginia Center for Innovative Technology is the designated entity for the state of Virginia.

NTIA carefully evaluates each application to determine whether the applicant directly represents the interests of the state. This state-applicant connection is especially critical in the context of the broadband planning activities that NTIA considers the responsibility of the state. CNMI and Guam are providing direction and supervision to the planning activities that will be undertaken by its designated entity, which is a non-state government entity, to ensure that planning funds are used to address the specific needs of the state.

Awardees will collect and verify the availability, speed, and location of broadband across the state. This activity is to be conducted on a semi-annual basis in the next two years, with the data to be presented in a clear and accessible format to the public, government, and the research community.

The State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program is a matching grant program that implements the joint purposes of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Broadband Data Improvement Act (BDIA). The program will provide grants to assist states or their designees in gathering and verifying state-specific data on the availability, speed, location, and technology type of broadband services. The data they collect and compile will also be used to develop publicly available state-wide broadband maps and to inform the comprehensive, interactive, and searchable national broadband map that NTIA is required by the Recovery Act to create and make publicly available by February 17, 2011.

The national broadband map will publicly display the geographic areas where broadband service is available; the technology used to provide the service; the speeds of the service; and broadband service availability at public schools, libraries, hospitals, colleges, universities, and public buildings. The national map will also be searchable by address and show the broadband providers offering service in the corresponding census block or street segment.

All awardees, except the Territorial governments in Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, are required to contribute at least 20 percent non-federal matching funds toward project costs. In addition, while the BDIA mandates that each state may designate only one eligible entity to receive funds under the program, each state’s applicant will be carefully evaluated and must meet the standards described in NTIA’s Notice of Funds Availability for this program in order to receive funding.

U.S. Department of Commerce’s NTIA serves as the executive branch agency principally responsible for advising the President on communications and information policy.  For more information about the NTIA, visit www.ntia.doc.gov.

© 2010 MuniWireless. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. Ten states receive broadband mapping and planning grants from the NTIA
2. New Jersey gets $2 million for broadband data collection and mapping
3. California, three other states get broadband mapping grants

The Louisiana Broadband Alliance, a collaboration among six state agencies, plans to deploy more than 900 miles of fiber-optic network to expand broadband Internet service in some of the most economically distressed regions of Louisiana. The new network intends to provide direct connections for more than 80 community anchor institutions including universities, K-12 schools, libraries, and healthcare facilities. The 3,488-square-mile service area includes 12 impoverished parishes targeted by the state’s Louisiana Delta Initiative and a separate five-parish area that is home to four federally-recognized American Indian Tribes. The new network would connect to the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative (LONI), a more than 1,600 mile fiber-optic network that connects Louisiana and Mississippi research universities to National LambdaRail and Internet2.

Earlier this week, Secretary Gary Locke of the Commerce Department (which runs the NTIA) announced a $1.4 million grant to the Deaf Action Center of Louisiana to provide on-demand, cost-effective sign language interpretation at community anchor institutions such as hospitals, courts, public safety agencies, shelters, schools and libraries.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), funded by the Recovery Act, provides grants to support the deployment of broadband infrastructure, enhance and expand public computer centers, and encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service.

“Today, we have taken a big leap in our efforts to expand high-speed internet to throughout rural Louisiana, including the Delta parishes in the Northeast part of our state,” Senator Mary Landrieu said.  “Creating jobs and spurring rural small business growth, these new funds will increase broadband capacity at our homes, schools, and hospitals to advance education, research, and healthcare delivery to areas in need of modern infrastructure.  I am thankful for the Department of Commerce’s support of this, and the many, innovative projects we have going on in Louisiana to improve broadband access.”

NTIA received more than 1,800 applications proposing projects totaling nearly $19 billion during the first BTOP funding round and is currently awarding grants on a rolling basis. NTIA is currently accepting BTOP applications for a second funding round. Applications for Public Computer Center and Sustainable Broadband Adoption projects are accepted through March 15, 2010 and Comprehensive Community Infrastructure projects are accepted through March 26, 2010.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided a total of $7.2 billion to NTIA and the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) to fund projects that will expand access to and adoption of broadband services. Of that funding, NTIA will utilize $4.7 billion for grants to deploy broadband infrastructure in the United States, expand public computer center capacity, and encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service. NTIA will announce all grant awards by September 30, 2010.

© 2010 MuniWireless. All Rights Reserved.

.

Related posts:

1. Utah gets $13.4M broadband stimulus grant
2. NTIA announces more broadband stimulus grant recipients
3. Nevada gets $4.7M broadband stimulus grant for public computer centers

]]> http://www.muniwireless.com/2010/03/07/louisiana-gets-80m-broadband-gran/feed/ 0 http://www.muniwireless.com/2010/03/07/louisiana-gets-80m-broadband-gran/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/muniwireless/~3/iK51D8dvisU/ http://www.muniwireless.com/2010/03/07/digital-cities-and-why-i-moved-to-northern-ohio/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:42:34 +0000 Marc Canter http://www.muniwireless.com/?p=12690 This is part 2 of a series written by Marc Canter about digital cities and fiber optic networks.

As the economic roller coaster ride over the past 20 years has taken us to new highs and lows, Cleveland and the…

Related posts:

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2. Philadelphia addresses the digital divide
3. Ohio initiative addresses digital divide in Appalachia

]]> This is part 2 of a series written by Marc Canter about digital cities and fiber optic networks.

As the economic roller coaster ride over the past 20 years has taken us to new highs and lows, Cleveland and the Northern Ohio region have seen their economy flatline.  Once known as the home of innovation in America, Northern Ohio has turned into a poster child of the demise of our manufacturing base, as we exemplify what it means to have economic doldrums and experience urban decay.

When the white labeled social networking world started to tank two years ago, I started to search around for a change. I had lived in California for 21 years, moving out there on our VC’s insistence, but refusing to move into the Valley.  Instead we wore our black leather jackets proudly and moved into an area called (South of Market) SOMA in San Francisco – actually being the first software company to do so – in 1988.

If I would have tried to start my Digital City project in NY, LA or SF – I would barely be noticed.

But here in Cleveland I’ve been welcomed with open arms! I was offered a teaching position at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), I was made a portfolio company of the Youngstown Business Incubator and I met a cadre of social media mavens – who actually knew who I was and had been following my blogging on open standards and ‘dashboards’ for years.

So it was with newfound conviction that I set about to figure out how to build the Digital City project I envisaged here in Cleveland and the surrounding NEO region.  Akron, Youngstown, Oberlin – are all within an hour’s drive and by my Bay Area standards – that’s the same place!

I quickly identified that the real issues here in NEO (North Eastern Ohio) had nothing to do with software infrastructure or open standards.  Here in NEO the issue is JOBS – first and foremost! Without jobs your city disappears (as Chrissie Hynde sings….)

The best part of being here is that everyone I’ve met seems pretty pissed off at all the failed attempts at digging themselves out of their economic doldrums.  They’re tired of sitting around and waiting for change.  They’re doing it themselves.

I sat and talked to workforce development experts here and to my surprise (and horror) not one of them defined workforce development the same way.  One even went so far as to dividing up the population into two camps: unemployable and those with five years experience on the job. In the workforce development world – a job is something you go to work for 40 hours a week, join a Union (if you’re lucky), put in 30 years and call it a life.

This spelled opportunity to my entrepreneurial eyes and ears.  All I could think of was how much this system needed to be improved. It’s a similar challenge to what we were faced with in 1983-84 – when we set about to turn a black monochromatic PC into a multimedia authoring and playback system.

So I’ve dug my heels in, moved to Ohio and have been working on this Digital City project since August 2009.

One of the first things I discovered was that there IS money here, but it has to be pried loose.  Some of the world’s oldest and richest foundations are based here in NEO – all derived from the original industrialists who built our country and made this region a leading innovation center between 1870-1920.

I also discovered that right after agriculture (which is a $93B a year industry), polymers comes in at $89B a year!  That includes a company called P&G – where almost everything they make and package with – is made of polymers. In Akron there’s the Goodyear Polymer Center that houses over 50 PhD’s, holds over 1,000 patents and had this huge building that just reeks “we got money.”

But what they don’t have are extensive on-line multimedia encyclopedias on polymers.  There is this wonderful place called the Akron Global Polymer Academy which provides videos and training materials to high school teachers – but in general – there is almost NO on-line polymer multimedia encyclopedias filled with visualizations, animations, interactive user interfaces, or other forms of live dynamic multimedia.

So I thought “gee – why should people have to  get onto a plane and FLY to Akron, OH – why can’t they go on-line and find out all this information?” And then I thought “Gee – shouldn’t P&G or Chevron or Monsanto or DuPont want to sponsor some sexy polymer multimedia encyclopedias that would emblazon their logo for all to see – for the rest of eternity?”

“Isn’t this the fulfillment of our dream of persistent ubiquitous multimedia encyclopedias?”

Indeed in 1987 I was caught saying “I want to develop multimedia encyclopedias.” It just seemed really obvious to me.

So that set me thinking about Wikipedia and how long it will take to convert it to multimedia and how much money it will cost to convert even a  fraction of the more than 3 million entries in Wikipedia into multimedia.  “If the people won’t pay for the NY Times, movies or music – who is going to pay for all this on-line multimedia content?”

P&G!  Monsanto!  DuPont!  Chevron!

As marketing dollars have moved from traditional advertising and media to on-line media, so too will major marketing spends get diversified and channeled into new forms of sponsorship.  If I was P&G or Chevron I’d want to be associated with creating the world’s best, most exciting set of polymer multimedia games, visualizations, interactive construction kits, dynamic simulations and videos.

Take a look at these images from a recent NSF contest.  This is what I’m talking about!

Animated arrows depicting battles.  Scientific visualizations.  3D microscopic fly throughs.

Self-assembling polymers – from Harvard

Flower imagery – 10 micrometers tall – from UNC – Chapel Hill

And if Ohio is a hotbed for polymers – so would every region and city in the world have some native, regional industry and set of corporations who might want to sponsor on-line multimedia content if that money was ALSO going into workforce development and creating a software infrastructure platform that their local Digital City and Citizens would benefit from.

This is the 3:1 essence of the sustainable model I envisage.

Workforce development dollars are ALREADY being poured into training projects and programs that do no good – so why can’t we repurpose that money into a sustainable model which WILL work!  In Ohio alone $540M was spent last year in job training.  $540M and there’s barely anything to show for it!

Now add to the equation that these dollars spent on sponsorships could be paid to a non-profit who would build and run the Digital City shared servers, operate the ‘virtuous circle’ training process and produce the multimedia content – and all of a sudden these corporations now have charitable write-offs to cut their taxes!

Think of the combination of a) tax writeoffs, b) PR windfalls, c) help out your local economy and d) the fact that you’re going to get credit for all this sexy online multimedia content and games that you paid for – which will reside in the Cloud and be viewed by people all around the world!

Do you know that the Burger King driving game – which sold for $4.99 at POS in 1,000’s of Burger Kings – made over $200M in revenues?  Marketing today is taking on a new face, made up of 100’s of different angles. Sponsoring the world’s multimedia encyclopedias is going to be one of those angles….

We’ve all seen viral videos, blogging campaigns and loyalty and ratings contests become mainstay on-line marketing promotional techniques– so TOO will sponsoring compelling multimedia games, content and visualizations!

Once I came to this realization that the number of bodies with relevant skillsets necessary to produce all this content would need to increase 10 fold – then 100 fold – then 1,000 fold – I knew that the business of training workers in multimedia skillsets was going to be huge.  But today’s training methods fall short of producing knowledgeable workers the intricacies and potential of using computers as a tool – just like some modern day hammer or screwdriver.

So I knew we needed a radically different approach to training – and my hunch was that social media had something to do with it!

Too often the computer is thought of as a specialized device, capable of doing one or two tasks.  But today’s “Facebook generation” know only too well how flexible and powerful on-line technology can be.  Virtually all new workers coming into the workforce are comfortable and familiar with basic social media skills.

Tomorrow’s workforce will utilize social media skillsets to ‘build relationships between customers, colleagues, vendors or bosses, or provide forms of help or support.  And since most jobs have some aspect of interaction with people, applying a knowledgeable set of ‘social media’ skills to any given job will become a common practice.  Applying social media skillsets to a given problem will often lead to positive solutions.

Workers of tomorrow will participate in, and immerse themselves in a community, conversations and sharing that will enable them to harness social media skillsets that can be applied any job.  These skillsets might be how to blog about the intersection of your profession and interest or use Google Docs for accounting and invoicing.  Some social media training might include multimedia skills like how to take a photo, emboss a title on it – and sell it as a card or poster or shoot video footage and edit it together for a marketing promotion.

I envisage social media ambassadors being “lent” to medium to large sized corporations and embedded within an enterprise organization.  Our trained ‘social media advocates’ would demonstrate specifically how blogs, wikis, mail lists, dashboard start pages, social media sharing, real-time conversations and aggregating content would help out the enterprise.

Our bet is that after six months – the corporation would hire these social media advocates.  But we have to work from the inside out, rather than approach an enterprise organization from the outside with “you need to fix this, and act like that and do this” kind of consulting.

Our virtuous circle process will train our interns how to harness the power of social media and apply it to a wide range of jobs and professions.  We’ll show them how to set up their dashboards, configure their aggregators, identify the RIGHT kind of content to watch and read and apply their job skills and personality to the right kind of profession.

This act of “learning by doing” is a time honored technique for acquainting a trainee to a new job skill.

My past life (in multimedia) helps my present life (building Digital City infrastructures) to help build our future (with plenty of jobs for all).  For every project we produce with our sponsorship partners, we’ll promise to: a) create this incredible compelling on-line content, which will b) train local workers in the job skills necessary to produce that content and c) use the same money to serve up this open content – for all to benefit and use.

Let me get more specific.

Let me use a different example than polymers – probably a bit esoteric for most to understand.  Let’s say that we do a project with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.  The Hall has 25,000 artifacts in its collection yet the Rock Hall is a mausoleum – pretty much an example of best intentions gone awry. A typical Cleveland story.  Now let’s say we go to Key Bank or Progressive Insurance or some other local financial institution and propose “let’s create a series of exciting on-line games, videos, historical documentaries and visualizations on the ‘History of the Blues’.”

We hire 50 local videographers, web page designers, scriptors, writers, programmers, editors and producers and attach a trainee to each one of them. Now we’ve got between 100 and 150 people working on a project, creating something that not only brings the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to life – around the world – but also provides an open platform with open APIs (application programming interfaces) so that OTHER software products, services and students can access and utilize this same content in THEIR own work.

This re-usage of content and open data is at the essence of what the Creative Commons is all about and what our new ‘remix’ culture has embraced and highlighted over the past decade.  Public domain and copyrighted materials that are covered by Creative Commons licenses can legally be utilized – via open APIs.  And if we can get local sponsorship dollars to pay for these kind of ‘shared open data servers’ – we can help the R&R Hall of Fame get some street cred AND train local Cleveland workers in marketable skillsets along the way.

And how do we identify which trainees get to learn these skillsets?  We’ll vet them by putting them through a ‘virtuous circle’ process of training and volunteerism.

I’ll dive into more details on this ‘virtuous circle’ process in my final installment of this series, but let me finish up this article on the other kinds of shared servers which will be available in our Digital City.  These servers will provide ubiquitous, cloud based infrastructure 24/7/365.  These shared servers will utilize this fiber optic we’re getting installed into our streets, mid-mile hubs and ultimately into our homes and apartments.

-       A Digital City ID server – this server will federate all of the local city’s banks, hospitals and health systems, libraries, large enterprise employee system’s and other institutions with OpenID and other open ID systems.  This means that Digital Citizens will be able to have a standard card which they’ll use to login anywhere and have an integrated compelling experience.

-       Historical timeline server – which would aggregate tagged on-line content, media, and interview footage shot with local senior citizens.  An oral history of a city can be built – with open APIs allowing any software developer to build on top of those interviews or ‘Ken Burns’-like historical artifacts.  Other history databases can be layered into the content of this shared server, enabling new kinds of applications and services that utilize historical data.  This is what augmented reality is all about – layering history on top of the physical world.  Historical data which will be visualized, animated or told as a story and made available for inclusion in presentations, curriculum or news stories.

-       A webcam and surveillance cam server –would aggregate all of the city’s real-time cameras into one environment.  The server would host ‘location pages’ which would be dedicated to the intersection and geo coordinates of a particular camera.  Each location page would list what other cams were in the direct vicinity, what Digital Citizens lived nearby, what restaurants, shops and other key commercial entities were located nearby and provide a way for any citizen to contribute to that page.

-       Jobs, Events and Business Directories – would be open sourced and made available for all to use.

-       Structured Content databases – such as Freebase or Twine – which would enable all kinds of data to be compared to other kinds of data – thereby allowing Digital Citizens to tap into the real value of their social capital – and monetize their reputation.

References:

History of Innovation timeline

Chrissie Hynde – “Ohio”

Goodyear Polymer Center

Akron Global Polymer Academy

Self-assembling polymers – from Harvard

Flower imagery – 10 micrometers tall – from NUC – Chapel Hill

My post on the images from the contest

R&R Hall of Fame

Creative Commons

Augmented reality

Freebase

Twine

If you missed part 1 of this series, click below:

Digital Cities and Fiber Optic Technology

* * * * * * * * *

About the author

Marc Canter, CEO of Broadband Mechanics (BBM) is a 25+ year veteran of the software business. BBM is a boutique social networking design and platform shop -specializing in building systems that support the open stack, custom semi-private networks and strategic thinking. Marc is an advocate of open social networking, open standards and what he calls the ‘open mesh‘. Marc was the co-founder of MacroMind, which became Macromedia.

© 2010 MuniWireless. All Rights Reserved.

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Related posts:

1. Digital Cities and Fiber Optic Technology
2. Philadelphia addresses the digital divide
3. Ohio initiative addresses digital divide in Appalachia

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Winncom Technologies® is a Value Added Distributor of broadband wireless equipment and a complete telecommunication solutions provider.  Since 1993, Winncom remains at the forefront of the global technology marketplace, serving customers in over 30 countries worldwide.  As 4G becomes a reality…

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Winncom Technologies® is a Value Added Distributor of broadband wireless equipment and a complete telecommunication solutions provider.  Since 1993, Winncom remains at the forefront of the global technology marketplace, serving customers in over 30 countries worldwide.  As 4G becomes a reality with an increasing demand for a wide range of data, speed, and bandwidths, Winncom Technologies continues to provide highly efficient solutions.  The newest additions to our ever-expanding portfolio of integrated technology include IP video surveillance equipment and solutions, as well as “green” solar power technologies.

Winncom’s engineering team identifies, designs, and implements effective combinations of the latest technologies in order to produce turnkey solutions for our end-users.  No matter the barrier, Winncom enables even the most remote users with unrivalled performance and superior quality at the industry’s most competitive prices.  We offer our clients a variety of options during the consultation process in order to ensure the best and most economical solution.  This demonstrates our tailored approach to customer service and our company values.

Our Solutions

• WiMax
• Enterprise Wireless LANs
• VoIP
• Metropolitan Mesh
• PTP unlicensed broadband backhaul
• PTP licensed broadband backhaul

• Broadband PTMP systems
• IP security and video surveillance applications
• Solar power supply systems
• Outdoor Wi-Fi
• LTE

Our Services

Pre-Sale Consulting & Project Development. Winncom provides expert guidance during the pre-sale consultation process.   We offer our customers a starting point solution recommendation for their broadband projects.  Our procedures, centered on customer satisfaction, ensure a consistent and client-focused approach at every juncture.  The dedicated technical support group is staffed with highly qualified professionals trained in network engineering, RF systems, and infrastructure design, and they are there for the client every step of the way.

Product Advice & Reviews. Our expert engineering team is constantly testing new equipment in order to offer our customers only the best products for each individual application.

Post-Sale Service & Support. Our customers can always count on Winncom post-sales support.  Our support goes beyond the manufacturer with additional documentation, diagrams, and product guides which are available on demand.  Our representatives have extensive experience with all the products we sell and our post-sales service goes far beyond standard equipment setup. Winncom’s specialists carry over one hundred professional certifications including those of Cisco, Motorola, Proxim, Bridgewave, Alvarion, Radwin, and Axxcelera.

Seminars & Training. Winncom and its trusted business partners offer periodic Webinars and seminars covering a multitude of topics, from in-depth vendor information to introductions to new technology.  One of our top priorities is to provide our customers with important industry news and developments.

Winncom Partner Rewards Program. Winncom values strong business ethics and loyalty which is why we align ourselves with partners who share these values.  Built on excellent communication and collaboration efforts with our manufacturers and resellers, we create business opportunities for each other, thus providing value to our customers.  Winncom’s Partner Reward Program demonstrates the appreciation we have for our loyal business partners.

Our Products

Winncom implements solutions using the best technologies and partnerships to ensure customer satisfaction and a successful deployment every time.  We carry best in class equipment from top vendors which fall under the following categories:

• Amplifiers & Frequency Converters
• Antennas
• RF Accessories
• Fiber Optic Cables & Assemblies
• Installation and Diagnostic Tools
• Licensed Wireless PTP systems
• Unlicensed Wireless PTP systems
• Mesh Wireless Equipment
• Network & Network Management Systems
• RF Cables & Assemblies
• Solar Power Equipment
• Environmental Enclosures
• Video Surveillance Products
• Broadband Wi-Fi Equipment
• Wireless WAN/LAN PTMP Systems
• WiMax equipment

Please visit our list of manufacturers to view the complete spectrum of products and services Winncom has to offer!

Contact Us

Winncom Technologies Corporate Office
30700 Carter St., Suite A
Solon, OH 44139
Toll Free: (888) WINNCOM | Phone: (440) 498-9510 | Fax: (440) 498-9511

Email: sales@winncom.com

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