Public Power - September/October 2007 - (Page 55)

prospect more financially attractive to potential vendors. The 10 communities combined have about 630,000 people or about the same population size as a large city, Puccio said. “The wi-fi technology is fairly mature but it is the business model that needs to be looked at,” Puccio said. “In the Internet era, people were throwing money at companies that had no business model or way of making money. Then the whole thing flopped. This is fairly new and no one knows for sure which business model will work.” The top two proposals the CWC is considering represent the two most common business models for city-wide wi-fi, Puccio said. One is a subscriber-based model that charges the customer a set amount each month. The other model is free, but is supported by advertising. “Both companies are convinced that they have the right business model,” Puccio said. “Give it a couple more years and the clear business models will evolve. Then a lot more cities will get involved. It could all fall apart. There is risk involved. There are no guarantees.” In addition to providing wifi for residents and commercial customers, the 10 Colorado communities are interested in city-wide wireless for municipal applications. The 10 cities combined could save about $2 million total annually by applying wireless to internal applications. Smart parking option—One unique application might be smart parking for a small downtown area. The coin-operated parking meters could be replaced by one parking kiosk for numerous parking spaces. Patrons could swipe a credit card to pay for parking for the day or the month. The kiosks could be used for demandbased parking in which more would be charged for parking spaces during the weekdays than on weekends. Parking technology is currently cellularbased, but could soon switch to wi-fi, eliminating monthly cellular charges. City-wide wi-fi is still a fairly new concept and will take a few more years to spread in a big way. “The industry itself is young,” Puccio said. “Philadelphia is one of the leaders in this and they are just getting be- yond proof of concept and starting to build their network. Technology-focused partnerships with the private sector are also a fairly new model. Many cities are just exploring this type of partnership. But momentum is starting to build for this.” s Prevent Transformer Explosion and Fire During a transformer short circuit, the TRANSFORMER PROTECTORTM (TP) is activated within milliseconds by the first dynamic pressure peak of the shock wave, avoiding transformer explosions before static pressure increases. Avoids oil fire to transformer and surrounding equipment; Allows transformer repair after internal fault; Minimizes the possibility of environmental pollution by containing the oil; Eliminates risk to human life E HELP LIGHT THE WORLD WE HELP LIGHT THE WORLD WITH OUR MAST ARMS, WITH OUR MAST ARMS, POLES & BRACKETS POLES & BRACKETS Works with all oil-filled transformers up to 1,000 MVA and more. OVER 30,000 MAST ARMS, POLES AND BRACKETS READY FOR IMMEDIATE SHIPMENT • Competitive pricing • Large inventory ready for immediate shipment • Custom fabrication experts Contact your manufacturer’s representative or call us direct for a catalog. NOW AISC CERTIFIED For more information call: 281-358-9900 www.transproco.com / info@transproco.com Manufacturer Visit us at of Outdoor www.utilitymetals.com Lighting Products 800/627-8276 502/363-6681 502/368-2656 FAX www.APPAnet.org SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2007 55 http://www.transproco.com http://www.APPAnet.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - September/October 2007

Contents Washington Focus 10 Questions Public Power (Every) Week Training Tomorrow’s Work Force What’s in Your Wallet? U.S. Lags in Broadband Deployment Now What? For Engineers Safety Community Broadband For Governing Boards Human Resources Hometown Connections Customer Service DEED Index to Advertisers Advertisers by Category Parting Shot

Public Power - September/October 2007

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