6.7.2008
City unveils huge wireless network
OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma (AP) -- When Oklahoma City firefighters received a report that a body had been buried in a shallow grave at Lake Overholser, they consulted detailed topographical maps from the field as they pinpointed where to look.
"We pulled up a topographical map and were able to see where the water had receded and where someone might try to bury a body," Kruta said, adding, "We actually did find it."
The $5 million Wi-Fi network system covers a massive 555-square-mile area and was funded with money from a public safety sales tax and city capital improvement funds. City officials say it's the largest city-owned and -operated Wi-Fi network in the world. The network, which is used only for public safety and other city operations, includes 1,200 nodes, or routers, attached to street lights, utility poles and other spots across the city.
It's structured as a "mesh," meaning that if one node or router goes down, another fills its purpose.Computers in fire trucks, police cars and other city vehicles can now quickly access the Internet and city databases.
"It gets data back to us a lot faster," said police Lt. Wade Gourley as he sat inside his cruiser and pulled up video streaming from cameras mounted across downtown Oklahoma City. "With our old system, we just got text-based data."
He said the network enables police to get "better information a lot faster." Officers can gets detailed photographs of suspects or victims, run license plates of or exchange information on the go.While driving to calls, firefighters can download floor plans of buildings, locate data on all of the city's fire hydrants or determine whether there is a risk of hazardous materials on a fire call.Many cities across the country have seen commercial municipal wireless projects fail.Oklahoma City's is successful because it is focused on public safety applications, said Craig Settles, an Oakland, California-based business strategy consultant and the author of "Fighting the Good Fight for Municipal Wireless."
"My guess would be that Oklahoma City will become one of the new poster kids for municipal broadband, which is a good thing," Settles said. "The city built a network to address the needs of city government. "The pursuit of the network for city purposes is one of the primary financial justifications for doing one of these networks as opposed to the hype of free networks (for residents). Free networks are nice as a concept but pretty much useless as a business model."
City officials are excited about future applications. Oklahoma City Information Technology Director Mark Meier said traffic engineers have discussed monitoring and linking signal lights to control traffic flow, while transit authorities would like to use the system to coordinate movement of buses. "We built this for a specific purpose, and we built it with capacity in mind to do specific things, but the truth is the possibilities are even far more exciting," Meier said.
4.1.2008
Sling broadband expands Wireless broadband Network in Ft. Lauderdale
Sling Broadband, LLC. A Ft. Lauderdale based wireless Internet service provider (W-ISP), is proud to announce the launch of its wireless network in Downtown Ft. Lauderdale. With a network of over 40 cities, also known as "hotspots," we have the largest W-ISP footprints in South Florida. The footprint is currently concentrated in Broward County, and 40 more hotspots in Miami-Dade County are stated to deploy by the end of 4Q 2007. Sling Broadband is now able to deliver high availability fixed WiMAX services to area businesses with its Small Business, Enterprise and Metro-Wi products. Offering 99.999% reliability for a fraction of traditional carrier costs.
By turning on its Ft. Lauderdale network, users will now have access to high speed fixed WiMAX technology giving them a more flexible alternative for broadband with enhanced features, quick delivery and a level of service that the legacy phone networks were not designed to deliver.2007 continues to be an exciting year for Sling Broadband with completion of Ft. Lauderdale we look forward to continuing our expansion into the largest cities across Florida and eventually the nation
"We are very excited to deploy Sling Broadbands fixed WiMAX services in Ft. Lauderdale one of the fastest growing markets in the U.S., our entry into this market further validates our business model to dramatically increase WIMAX coverage and provide a clear alternative to traditional circuits," said Addiel Lopez & Gadi Hus, Founders of Sling Broadband.
Sling Broadbands Ft. Lauderdale customers will have a range of bandwidth options to choose from, including 5, 7, 10, 100 and 1250 Mbps connections as well as service reliability backed by an industry-leading Service Level Agreement (SLA). Sling Broadbands fixed wireless broadband network delivers high-speed Internet access supporting VoIP (G711-G729), bandwidth on demand, wireless redundancy, VPNs, and disaster recovery. Companies utilizing multiple appliances simultaneously, such as streaming video and VoIP, can QOS (prioritize) their bandwidth to secure mission-critical activitie
4.1.2008
Sling broadband expands Wireless broadband Network in Ft. Lauderdale
Sling Broadband, LLC. A Ft. Lauderdale based wireless Internet service provider (W-ISP), is proud to announce the launch of its wireless network in Downtown Ft. Lauderdale. With a network of over 40 cities, also known as "hotspots," we have the largest W-ISP footprints in South Florida. The footprint is currently concentrated in Broward County, and 40 more hotspots in Miami-Dade County are stated to deploy by the end of 4Q 2007. Sling Broadband is now able to deliver high availability fixed WiMAX services to area businesses with its Small Business, Enterprise and Metro-Wi products. Offering 99.999% reliability for a fraction of traditional carrier costs.
By turning on its Ft. Lauderdale network, users will now have access to high speed fixed WiMAX technology giving them a more flexible alternative for broadband with enhanced features, quick delivery and a level of service that the legacy phone networks were not designed to deliver.2007 continues to be an exciting year for Sling Broadband with completion of Ft. Lauderdale we look forward to continuing our expansion into the largest cities across Florida and eventually the nation
"We are very excited to deploy Sling Broadbands fixed WiMAX services in Ft. Lauderdale one of the fastest growing markets in the U.S., our entry into this market further validates our business model to dramatically increase WIMAX coverage and provide a clear alternative to traditional circuits," said Addiel Lopez & Gadi Hus, Founders of Sling Broadband.
Sling Broadbands Ft. Lauderdale customers will have a range of bandwidth options to choose from, including 5, 7, 10, 100 and 1250 Mbps connections as well as service reliability backed by an industry-leading Service Level Agreement (SLA). Sling Broadbands fixed wireless broadband network delivers high-speed Internet access supporting VoIP (G711-G729), bandwidth on demand, wireless redundancy, VPNs, and disaster recovery. Companies utilizing multiple appliances simultaneously, such as streaming video and VoIP, can QOS (prioritize) their bandwidth to secure mission-critical activitie
3.12.2008
Internet service provider expanding WIMAX network in miami
Sling Broadband is continuing its quest for expansion in the U.S. metro WiMAX market, with the roll-out of wireless broadband services in Miami, Florida. The company has switched on a multiple fixed WiMAX base station atop Miami’s second tallest building, the Wacovia Financial Center, allowing it to offer wireless T1 & Higher internet access to enterprise customers throughout the city.
This makes Miami the 43rd South Florida City to have a Sling Broadbands network in place. The company also operates wireless broadband services in:
Miami-Dade
(Aventura, Bal Harbour, Bay Harbor Islands, Biscayne Park, Coral Gables, Doral, El Portal, Florida City, Golden Beach, Hialeah, Hialeah Gardens, Homestead, Indian Creek Village, Islandia, Key Biscayne, Medley, Miami, Miami Beach, Miami Gardens, Miami Shores Village, Miami Springs, North Bay Village, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Opa-Locka, Pinecrest, South Miami, Sunny Isles Beach, Surfside, Sweetwater, Virginia Gardens and West Miami)
Broward
(Coconut Creek, Cooper City, Coral Springs, Dania Beach, Davie, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale Beach, Hillsboro Beach, Hollywood, Lazy Lake, Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, Lauderhill, Lauderdale Lakes, Lighthouse Point, Margate, Miramar, North Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Parkland, Pembroke Park, Pembroke Pines, Plantation, Pompano Beach, Sea Ranch Lakes, Southwest Ranches, Sunrise, Tamarac, Weston, West Park and Wilton Manors)
1.03.2008
Digital TV now available on wimax broadband
The future of television arrived today in a blaze of Wimax invisible waves, as Sling Broadband unveiled Sling Digital TV to residents of this city of Miami. Sling Broadband will begin taking customer orders for Digital TV today in Miami, and make it available in communities across Sling Broadband's footprint in the future.
"This is not cable TV. This is not satellite. This is Digital TV," said Addiel Lopez, CEO of Sling Broadband. "Customers who liked what Sling Broadband did for their Internet connection will love what it does for their TV. We've harnessed the speed and capacity of broadband with the power of broadcast to create a revolutionary, new entertainment experience."
Sling Digital TV is designed to compete with cable and satellite and win. It is delivered over Sling Broadband's WiMAX network, which has industry-leading quality and reliability. Digital TV amazingly sharp pictures and sound, and has the capacity to transmit a wide array of high-definition programming that is so clear and intense it seems to leap from the TV screen. Sling Broadband's network design includes backup facilities not common to traditional cable systems, such as duplicate "head ends" where the TV service receives national programming.
Sling Broadband has secured the necessary programming rights to launch its Digital TV service in Miami today. Sling Broadband provides Digital TV over the largest WiMAX network in the country, delivering the power and capacity of WiMAX directly into people's homes. A year ago, the company launched Sling Broadband Internet Service in Miami, where today about 10 percent of eligible households have purchased the high-speed service.
Digital TV subscribers will enjoy 100 percent digital programming, as well as access to a large selection of video-on-demand content. Today's cable operators typically have to upsell customers from analog to digital-tier packages to make more sophisticated services like video-on-demand and high-definition programming available, if they offer those services. To simplify customer choice, Digital TV packages and prices will be the same everywhere, with only the local and community channels varying by market.