Intel unveils Digital Communities initiative
To help build big wireless 'umbrellas' worldwide
Walden Kirsch, Employee Communications, and Press Relations August 19, 2005 (WW34)
From Taipei to Cleveland, from Rio de Janeiro to Dusseldorf, Intel announced Thursday a broad global initiative to help local governments significantly expand their use of wireless technologies.
Watch this flash demo for an overview of how Digital Communities work.
The new Digital Communities initiative will directly touch people all over the world and from many walks of life: ambulance and fire crews, building inspectors, road crews, small businesspeople, parents, teachers, students.
Along with a group of other leading technology companies such as IBM, Cisco, Dell, and SAP, Intel will help communities develop wireless solutions that will increase government efficiency and promote local economic growth.
Intel has named 13 pilot communities as part of the initiative, which is part of Intel's broader strategy to drive new wireless usage models across time zones, nations, and cultures.
Texas city building 147 square mile wireless network
Case in point: The city of Corpus Christi, Texas. That city is now building a large wireless mesh network that will soon cover 147 square miles. City employees, 70 percent of whom typically work in the field, will be able to conduct much of their business without having to return to their offices.
In Corpus Christi the new mesh network will have broad impacts:
- Building inspectors will be able to download permit data remotely, reducing the inspection cycle by as much as six days.
- Police cars will be able to stream video, helping cops cooperate real-time and make better decisions on how to respond to crime
- City vehicles will be tracked wirelessly, enabling dispatchers to juggle work crews more efficiently
|
Intel experts will help to design networks
In Taipei, Taiwan, population 2.6 million, Intel experts with the Digital Communities initiative will be working to enhance the city’s already impressive wireless and digital infrastructure.
Working with wireless provider Nortel, Taipei has created an e-University that offers nearly 700 online classes wirelessly. And the city’s 500 agencies now use a paperless administration system that handles 400,000 electronic documents every month.
Taipei is calling its effort Cybercity. Mayor Dr. Ying-Jeou Mai says Taipei's plan
“consists of an infrastructure of 3,000 access points…approximately 28 square kilometers, which is where almost 50 percent of the population resides. By early next year, we will have the enlarged the downtown coverage area to approximately 113 square kilometers, providing citizens with access to wireless broadband.”
Mayor Ying-Jeou Ma, Taipei, Taiwan.
In Taipei and elsewhere, Intel experts will be contributing technical smarts, helping design infrastructures, and sharing best practices with these pilot communities.
These communities are currently deploying wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi, mesh networks, 3G and UWB, and are evaluating future technologies such as WiMAX. WiMAX is in the early stages of deployment, with some communities now participating in trial or pilot programs.
13 cities worldwide in pilot
In addition to Corpus Christi and Taipei, cities that are included in the Digital Communities initiative are Cleveland, Ohio; Philadelphia, Pa.; Portland, Ore.; Mangaratiba, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Duesseldorf, Germany; Győr, Hungary; Jerusalem, Israel; Principality of Monaco; Seoul, South Korea; Osaka, Japan; and Westminster, London, United Kingdom.
Joining Intel in the Digital Communities initiative are Accela, Airpath Wireless, Alvarion, British Telecom, CapGemini, CDW Government, Inc (CDW-G), Check Point, Cisco, Civitium, Dell, EarthLink, IBM, iMove, Panasonic Computer Solutions Company, Pronto Networks, SAP, Szintézis Inc, Telindus, Tropos and Vertex
|
