| Point To Point Wireless Network In Wichita, Kansas |
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Municipal wireless networks are no big news in United States anymore. A number of cities which have significant presence of information technology companies are in the process of or have already deployed a wireless network.
This concept has been taken into a completely new direction by the city of Wichita, Kansas. The common use of municipal wireless networks so far has been to provide on the go internet access to people while charging them through the regular tax channels. Consider that just like you pay your water bill, electricity bill or any other bill to the utility company, you have to pay some dollars to access internet on the go. The Wichita city administration has taken the same concept but given it a completely new paradigm with their point to point wireless network. The key driver of this program is the IT Department of the city administration. The IT Department is working in close coordination with the Public Works Department, Transit, Water Utilities, Fire and Planning Department. At the beginning, this wireless network will be for city usage and for now, public internet access will not be available. As informed by the officials working on the deployment of this network, the major focus of this point to point wireless network is to provide a communication system for two projects. First is the Public Works Traffic Signal Upgrade and the second is the Transit Services Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). They also say that as the network becomes more robust, it will be opened for other uses in due course of time and subject to technical and economic feasibility. Once deployment is complete, this network will also serve a portion of the communication requirements cited by the Equus Beds Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) Project. In its current status, the basic network infrastructure covers nine locations, which include three existing structures and six new towers which have been specially erected for this purpose. The composition of the network includes two rings which cater to the east and west sides of Wichita city. Fire Station 1 of the city serves as a redundant connection for both rings direct to the City Hall Data Center. This is to ensure maximum uptime. The Fire Department has gained a lot with this network because of its outlying facilities which include the eight fire stations that are now connected to this wireless system. IT Department has already approached each District Advisory Board for the west side locations. However, before the west towers are installed, IT Department will also need the approval of Wichita's Metropolitan Area Planning Commission. Federal funding is used for 80 percent of the project cost with the rest coming from local IT spend. With the wireless network in place, the city will be able to save a lot of tax money. Related Articles
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