Wireless networks as an ED tool Wednesday, October 09, 2002 Palm City, Florida is working to become the first city in the state to own and operate a wireless network. According to one official, "We hope to use it as an economic development tool." The network would pay for itself in two to thee years, and the city would get part of the gross revenue the private contractor receives from home and business connections. The savings would come from eliminating current land-based Internet connection feess for city departments. The city is now crafting an RFP to implement the system. Wireless broadband connections represent the new wave of infrastructure for economic development. EDPros, especially those in smaller metros and rural areas, will need to learn how to implement broadband networks. The place to start is by learning what other cities are doing. Read more about Palm City. Go The model for a city-owned wireless network is not in the U.S., but in New Zealand. New Zealand's capital city, Wellington, is referred to as "Wired Wellington" because of Citylink. It is a single huge local area network (LAN) that covers Wellington's entire downtown business district. For EDPros who are technically inclined, you can get an excellent overview of the network from ZDNet. Citylink runs at Fast Ethernet speeds of up to 1,000Mbps, about 650 times faster than a T1 line. Learn more. posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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