m-Travel.com |
7
January 2003 |
Mark Baker of Long Beach,
California, sends an e-mail from a downtown Long Beach outdoor
cafe via the community's new Downtown Wireless Internet
District.
City of Long Beach offers
free wireless internet
LONG BEACH, California
— As part of a marketing campaign to attract tourists and new
businesses, the city of Long Beach is offering free wireless
internet access in a four-block area of its downtown business
district. The city's next project is to deploy a wireless hot spot
at Long Beach airport.
Now, visitors to the downtown
area can connect to the internet for free, courtesy of the city's
new Downtown Wireless Internet District. Unlike other wireless hot
spots, which typically require monthly or per-minute access fees,
Long Beach provides the high-speed access at no
charge.
Four Long Beach tech
companies, two global suppliers and the City have combined their
expertise to create the Downtown Wireless Internet District. With
the coordination of the City's Economic Development Bureau, local
companies, Development Tech, Color Broadband, G-site Web and
MMInternet in conjunction with regional suppliers, Vernier Networks and Intermec created
the city's first free Wireless Internet District. The network is the
first step in a plan to develop wireless districts in selected
business areas throughout the city.
Anyone with a laptop or
Microsoft Windows Pocket PC-equipped personal digital assistant with
an 802.11b wireless radio card can access the internet. The
weather-proof Intermec MobileLAN 2100 wireless access points, based
on the Wi-Fi 802.11b networking standard, provide a broadband
connection to a centrally located switch at speeds up to 11Mbps. In
comparison, an average dial-up connection runs at approximately
54Kbps.
To access the system, users
simply open their internet browser, which will automatically load a
portal site for Long Beach's Pine Avenue Hot Zone. Users then can
check e-mail, download files or just surf, all at speeds up to 50
times faster than with a standard dial-up connection. The Wireless
Internet District, which can accommodate hundreds of simultaneous
users, encompasses several blocks in Long Beach's downtown core, an
area of restaurants and retail shops popular with visitors and
business travelers. Future plans include extending the wireless
network to the convention center, marina area and the Long Beach
Airport.
The wireless network is
designed to allow users to roam throughout the District without
losing connectivity. For example, a user may be downloading a
presentation while finishing a cup of coffee at a local cafe. With
the network's roaming capability, there's no need to wait for the
file transfer to be complete before heading down the street to do
some shopping. To ensure this seamless coverage, Intermec conducted
a site survey to determine optimum placement for the access points
and antennas to maximize the range and speed of the
network.
"We wanted to make sure that
we provided easy, hassle-free connectivity with no gaps or dead
spots," said Bruce Mayes, project manager for the Long Beach
wireless HotZone. "Intermec's expertise in wireless network design
was one of the keys to making that happen. And since the MobileLAN
2100D is designed to withstand harsh environments, we know people
will be able to rely on the wireless network even on the rare days
when it rains in Long Beach."
The expandable network will
eventually cover the entire downtown area. The initial network
currently covers an area on Pine Avenue beginning at Ocean Boulevard
runs north a little beyond 4th Street. Utilizing the 802.11b
standard (also known as Wi-Fi) this network will allow almost anyone
with a laptop computer equipped with a standard 802.11b wireless
card to lunch or dine on the sidewalk patio of their favorite Pine
Avenue restaurant and browse the internet or answer
e-mail.
The system is a free broadband
service and will have some time controls, but will give the downtown
visitor a new experience and offer local businesses some very
interesting marketing opportunities. Besides its broadband service,
a number of features have been developed specifically to give the
visitor a chance to become familiar with downtown Long
Beach.
The system incorporates a
specialized web portal that automatically loads when the visitor
first logs on. The portal features links, specific to Long Beach
events and Long Beach web sites. Using the LongBeachOnLine.net database,
it is designed to give local businesses and organizations (with a
web presence) an opportunity to reach an audience that is already in
the area.
The portal also incorporates a
real-time events calendar to allow merchants and organizations to
list upcoming, events, sales, specials, entertainment or other
services. Merchants may also purchase impulse advertising as well.
Programs for various advertising packages are available. The
objective is to maximize the visitor experience by helping them find
out about Long Beach.
"Our goal was to make it easy
for unsophisticated wireless users to access the network in a public
place without any hassle or confusion," said Tom Paradise, IT
consultant for the project. "Vernier Networks makes it seamless to
the user which in turn makes it very user friendly. We sent out a
number of inquiries in search of just the right vendor to provide
the appropriate access point management. The IS 6000 features
delivered the necessary access control and wireless connectivity we
wanted."
"Long Beach city officials
have tapped into the idea of convenient wireless internet access for
its business community and patrons of local shops and hotels," said
Doug Klein, CEO at Vernier Networks. "By managing every access
point, Vernier makes it possible for the city's mobile users to
experience seamless wireless connectivity when accessing the
internet. The opportunity to play an integral role in the successful
implementation of the city's wireless network was in fact quite
remarkable."
Long Beach Mayor Beverly
O'Neill will officially unveil the public WLAN at a grand opening
event on Friday, January 10 at 10:00 a.m. The festivities will
include invited guests, Melanie Fallon, community development
director, Chet Yoshizaki, manager of economic development bureau,
City Council members and various local press representatives.
Laptops and access to the WLAN will be available for attendees to
demonstrate how it works.
"Intermec has 20 years'
experience designing and installing mission-critical wireless
networks for high-traffic outdoor and industrial environments," said
Pam Cory, Intermec vice president of systems marketing. "Public
wireless network access is becoming a Main Street phenomenon.
Intermec is proud to have been selected by the City of Long Beach to
help it fulfill this exciting vision."
m-Travel.com
editor@m-travel.com