Government Technology - January 2008 - (Page 35)

Reader Survey: WiMAX In December, Government Technology surveyed a portion of our state and local government readers on their awareness of and interest in WiMAX technology. We received 171 responses — 60 percent from state government, 24 percent from city government and 13 percent from county government (3 percent answered “other”). Here’s what they had to say: 1. How familiar are you with WiMAX? Very knowledgeable Somewhat knowledgeable Heard of it, but don’t know much about it Never heard of it 4% 26% 35% 36% director of Brownsville. The city will spend roughly $2 million for the network. “At the very beginning, we started looking at Wi-Fi mesh networks, talked to different entities and it became a question of how many units we wanted to maintain,” Bruciak said. “Did we want to maintain 1,000 or 2,000? We didn’t want to shoot ourselves in the foot. Who was going to manage all those access points?” She said the city wasn’t interested in saddling its IT work force with that sort of maintenance demand. Three base stations will blanket Brownsville’s flat terrain with WiMAX coverage. Rather than waiting for WiMAX-embedded products to hit the market, Brownsville is retrofitting its mobile devices with WiMAX antennas and conversion cards as part of the project’s start-up costs. The city will purchase 100 PCMCIA antenna units for $250 each and 150 CPE WiMAX conversion cards at $195 each. The city’s MIS leadership believes that WiMAX is the future of municipal wireless networks. “We are all sitting here waiting for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to get themselves together and come up with the standards that everybody’s going to use,” Bruciak said. “However, I think everybody’s headed toward WiMAX.” Some WiMAX critics point to the technology’s higher cost, noting that most Wi-Fi equipment is sold at major commercial electronics stores. Bruciak rejects the lure of Wi-Fi’s cheaper hardware. “I’ve had some people say, ‘Well, you can go get Wi-Fi equipment at Best Buy or Circuit City.’ We’re not building a toy here. This is not for home use. This is a government,” Bruciak said. “It needs to be secure. It needs to be consistent. It needs to be up 365 days a year and can’t be down if you’ve got public safety on it. It’s not as simplistic as people would like it to be.” WiMAX proponents contend the technology can save governments more money in the long term because they won’t pay IT staff to maintain countless Wi-Fi nodes across town. As for the deployment, Bruciak said it has gone relatively smoothly. Land-use regulations and weather were the only obstacles the project faced. Once the network is fully functional, Brownsville will deploy mobile applications 2. Has your jurisdiction considered a WiMAX deployment? Not considered Interested, but no planning has begun Planned, but not deployed Deployed Don’t know 3. What would be the primary use for your WiMAX network? Public safety Public access Fixed Internet access for government buildings Field access for government employees 33% 24% 7% 36% 21% 23% 5% 1% 50% 4. Why is your jurisdiction considering WiMAX over other wireless technologies? Security Cost Simplicity of deployment A good addition to jurisdiction’s existing ﬁber infrastructure We’re still considering a number of wireless options 5. What is the reason WiMAX is not under consideration? We are not interested in deploying any wireless infrastructure at this time We are waiting for the market to mature We don’t want to own/maintain the infrastructure We don’t want to be an early adopter/technology untested 41% 24% 31% 28% 33% 35% 30% 28% 61% for government workers in the field. Among the planned deployments are new tools for building and health code inspectors. New World Systems will provide the mobile applications using a .NET platform, allowing end-users to work in the familiar Microsoft Windows environment. These applications will interface with the city’s GIS and financial systems. Users will access the application via a Citrix front-end. The network also will provide broadband connectivity to workstations at firehouses, police stations and other government buildings. C O N T I N U E D O N PAG E Another Early Adopter Manchester, Conn., deployed Wi-Fi at one of its heavily frequented sections in 2002, but bypassed the citywide municipal Wi-Fi option in favor of WiMAX. 52 35 http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - January 2008

Government Technology - January 2008 Contents Point of View Big Picture The Last Mile On the Scene CIO Sightings Four Questions for... Spectrum Location, Location, Location Digital Governor Back to the Drawing Board Waukesha Goes Green Collaring Dangerous Dogs Public Sector Goes Web 2.0 Bounce Back SACWIS Rollout Simple Strategy Products Personal Computing How It Works signal:noise

Government Technology - January 2008

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