Government Technology - August 2008 - (Page 45)

To set up a network, a user simply installs the routers and then logs in to the Meraki dashboard on the Web site, www.meraki .com, to create an account. The administrator then uses Meraki’s software, via the dashboard, to set policies and manage the network. “The software lets you do things like manage hundreds or thousands of users,” Biswas said. If the operator wants to charge for the service, the software handles the billing. The administrator, Biswas explained, may also use the dashboard to enter text messages, which appear in a bar at the top of the screen while a user is on the network. Some operators sell ads in that space to help support the service. Terre Haute INDIANA Bloomington Ohio Cincinnati CHARLES Ohio Huntington WES VIRG te Whi Louisville Ohio FRANKFORT Lexington Prestonsburg Pikev e Pikeville Pikeville Evansville KENTUCKY VIRGIN Bowling Green Barren River Lake Lake Barkley Lake Cumberland Norris Lake Dale Hollow Besides handling administrative chores, such as billing, Meraki monitors customers’ networks from its data center and makes modifications as needed, such as rerouting traffic. “If you were to add more DSLs or T1s [for backhaul from the mesh network], we would automatically balance the load across those,” said Biswas. “If interference suddenly shows up, we will route around that as well.” Because Meraki handles so many of the technical aspects, Graden was able to install Prestonsburg’s entire network himself. “If I had a bucket truck with me and a driver, I could probably put it up in one day. It’s that easy,” he said. “If you can screw in a light bulb, you can do this.” A Small Pilot Graden first learned about Meraki from a magazine advertisement. He investigated the technology with help from ConnectKentucky, a nonprofit, technology-based, economicdevelopment organization. Then he decided to install a pilot system. “I just bought a couple of routers to try it out first. And it worked exactly like they said,” said Graden. “So then we bought the full amount to go 2 miles.” The 48 outdoor and 12 indoor routers cost Prestonsburg about $5,300. About $2,700 paid for three DSL connections with two years of service. With the remaining money, Graden bought advertising to publicize the service. For Prestonsburg and many other customers, Meraki includes three years of its data center services in the price of the hardware, Biswas said. Larger customers can opt for a plan that discounts the hardware, but adds a monthly fee for service, he said. Graden logs in to the dashboard about three times a day to check on the network. If there’s a problem, he usually can fix it himself, he said. But there haven’t been many problems. “It’s self-healing,” Graden said. “It sends packets of information, called pings, to each node to double-check, to make sure the system is running smoothly. If not, it sends me an e-mail reminder.” Because the dashboard is accessible via the Internet, Graden said, he can manage the network from anywhere. “I could be on vacation in Paris, France, and get on my iPhone and control the whole system.” Currently Prestonsburg isn’t selling ads in the messaging bar, and since it’s not charging for the service, the network isn’t producing revenue. The city might start selling advertisements in the future, though, as Graden develops an e-government Web site. When that’s ready, the first stop for anyone connecting to the Wi-Fi network will be the city’s home page. The city would sell display ads on that splash page, Graden said. Meraki is exploring more sophisticated advertising options. The advertisement service is still in beta testing as Meraki works out details such as who — Meraki or the network operators — will do the selling. “We need about another year or so to get that put together,” said Biswas. In the meantime, the service brings in money indirectly by attracting new enterprises, Graden said. “The first thing I tell a business when I’m driving them around, showing them different properties for their business is: ‘Did you know the whole town’s wireless for free?’” San Francisco Network Gains Momentum Meraki ofﬁcials don’t always know immediately when a new network comes online because users install the networks themselves. But co-founder and CEO Sanjit Biswas says they’re popping up everywhere — from northern Alaska to Cape Horn, with many in Latin America and Europe. “We’re all over Western Europe for sure, and we’re now entering Eastern Europe, and [there are] a bunch in Africa and India as well,” he said. There’s another spot on the map where Meraki is taking the lead in building a network: That’s San Francisco, site of the company’s “Free the Net” initiative. Meraki aims to blanket the entire city with Wi-Fi by distributing consumer-grade, indoor repeaters free for volunteers to install in their windows. “We have about two neighborhoods online right now, which covers roughly 2 square miles. We’re probably crossing 75,000 users today,” Biswas said in early April. For a coverage map, see http://sf.meraki.com/map. Since Meraki isn’t using public assets, San Francisco’s city government isn’t involved in the initiative. Meraki paid to install a couple dozen Internet-gateway points and sponsors the DSL service at those points. Setting up an outdoor Wi-Fi router lets people ﬁnd their way to the network. Meraki offered to give participants indoor routers, known as “boosters,” which retail for about $50. Each time a volunteer installs a booster, the signal becomes available to people outside that building, and the mesh network grows. Free the Net is both a research project and a public relations initiative. “We wanted to see what happens when you build a really big Meraki network,” Biswas said. “So this is partially to have a test bed for our own technology, and also to show the world that it can be done.” CONTRIBUTING WRITER MERRILL DOUGLAS MDOUGLAS@ STNY.RR.COM IS BASED IN UPSTATE NEW YORK. SHE SPECIALIZES IN APPLICATIONS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. 45 http://www.meraki.com http://www.meraki.com http://sf.meraki.com/map http://www.govtech.com

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

Government Technology - August 2008 Contents Point of View The Last Mile Big Picture On the Scene Four Questions for... Net Gains A Government Technology® Industry Profile: CA CA Contents IT Network Management: State and Local Governments Face New Challenges MyFloridaNet Arkansas Department of Information Systems Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Government Tightens Its Belt Rocking the Vote High-Speed Portal Project On Track Wi-Fi on a Shoestring From Paintball to Video Virtually Vulnerable How It Works Products signal:noise

Government Technology - August 2008

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