The Boston model

(Continued from front page)

Presentation at MTC explains the City of Boston’s plans to achieve an open wireless broadband infrastructure

For more than seven hours, before two different groups, Vantzelfde discussed in mesmerizing detail recommendations adopted by Boston’s Mayor Menino on July 31 to deliver wireless broadband services to Boston’s entire city footprint. (Link to presentation.)

The morning session, delivered to members of the Municipal Broadband Working Group organized under the leadership of Bethann Pepoli, Deputy CIO of the Commonwealth’s Information Technology Division, included more than 40 representatives from municipalities and institutions across the Commonwealth. Also attending was Deb Shufrin, Director for the state's Department of Business and Technology, who under new legislation has been designated head of the new broadband office under the Secretary of Economic Development. (Link to membership list of working group.)

The second group, mostly from Western Massachusetts, included representatives from throughout the region who are working to bring broadband to the under-served communities. Led by co-chairs of Pioneer Valley Connect, Linda Dunlavy and Rick Oliveri, and by Donald Dubendorf, the Chairman of the John Adams Innovation Institute Governing Board and Chairman of Berkshire Connect, the afternoon group examined the Boston plan for ideas about how to meet the needs of Western Massachusetts.

“We are not claiming that the Boston model is a one-size-fits-all model for the Commonwealth,” said Bill Ennen, Program Manager at MTC's John Adams Innovation Institute, in his introduction to the morning session. ”The purposes of today’s sessions are to share information, engage in dialogue, and to ask and answer questions, in order that you can better shape decisions where you live and work.”

And, stressing the nature of a voluntary approach being developed, Ennen said, “I believe everyone in this room agrees that the last thing we need is any type of mandatory approach.  Our interests are best served by the voluntary adoption of technology and solutions which create access and choice.”

The Boston Model

When the Boston Wireless Task Force began its intense deliberations to develop a business model, Vantzelfde described the national environment as “the Wild West.”

What emerged, he said, “was a consensus decision to create a not-for-profit model, which would be carrier neutral, with room for everyone to play.” Vantzelfde said it was a way to maximize competition, as well as lower barriers to access and lower prices.

Vantzelfde said Boston’s business model offers “a platform for innovation.”
He said that “the real value” of ubiquitous, wireless broadband services would be in the capability to access different applications through one source, creating a “personal ecosytem” of applications. Today, most applications are “embedded” in the network system.

In the morning session, many of the questions focused on the nature of the not-for-profit corporation. Presented below is a synopsis of some of the exchanges.

Would the new entity be controlled by the City of Boston?
Vantzelfde: No, it will have a completely independent board of directors.

Wouldn’t it be unfair to the incumbent carriers, who have invested millions in wiring of customers? Won’t it constrain the private markets?
Vantzelfde:  Mayor Menino’s task force strongly believes that its recommended  wireless infrastructure complements and does not compete with private-sector investments that are bringing fiber to home or office.  Furthermore, the new not-for-profit entity will not be in the retail business. All ISPs, regardless of size, will have the non-exclusive opportunity to support end-users via the new infrastructure. The choice will be the end-user’s to make. It will be a model that serves as a platform for innovation and new ideas in the free market. Imagine if the railroads 50 years ago said: You can’t make investments in highways or airplanes, because it would constrain travel.

What kind of shared resources would be available for small communities from the Boston model?
Vantzelfde: Each community will have to evaluate its own assets and needs. Once the Boston model is up and running, it will provide an expertise, a working knowledge, having hopefully worked out the bugs. It will also have access to capital, which can be bonded. It may – or may not -- serve as a platform for other communities, but there is a strong commitment to enable that opportunity.

What was value of public safety in the Boston model?
Vantzelfde: The Boston Wireless Task Force did an exhaustive analysis of the desired attributes and economic drivers of the new model. Affordability, access, ubiquity and speed were the primary considerations. Pubic safety was a second-tier attribute.  The task force believes that a robust, carrier-neutral wireless infrastructure offers a complementary backup solution for police and firefighters.

Return to front page of Convergence.

“Our interests are best served by the voluntary adoption of technology and solutions which create access and choice.”

‘Unwired Village,’

downtown wireless

network in Orleans

ORLEANS – A new wireless network is up and running in this Cape Cod town, in an effort to create a pilot business model to provide free wireless Internet access to the entire downtown area.

The wireless project is a partnership between the local Chamber of Commerce and the Cape Cod Technology Council. The initial capital investment came from a regional priority grant award in 2005 by the John Adams Innovation Institute.

As part of the effort, the wireless project has been working on developing a “Village Kit,” a cookbook describing the workings of its downtown wireless model.

The current infrastructure of the Unwired Village has eight access points downtown – and the project expects that the number of access points will increase and expand the network, as the numbers of users grow. Currently, more than 1,000 users have been online.

The Unwired Village does not replace local ISP connectivity in the community; it provides the “streetlights” while individual accounts through ISPs provide the “desk lights” for individuals and homes.

For more information, contact: http://unwiredvillage.com

Open Cape Initiative

BOURNE – Under the leadership of Dan Gallagher, the CIO of Cape Cod Community College, a group called the “Open Cape” initiative is exploring the possibilities of creating a wireless transport backbone that would run along Route 6 from Bourne to Provincetown, and along Route 28 from Bourne to Falmouth. The plans envision that the wireless infrastructure would also connect off-Cape in Plymouth and at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Under the proposed network now under discussion, existing water towers and communications towers on public property will provide the supporting infrastructure. The goal is for Open Cape to serve the day-to-day needs for bandwidth in education, research and government by connecting wide-area networks with the Open Cape backbone.

A demonstration capability project is planned between the Community College, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and UMass Dartmouth to establish a wireless 100 mbps connection among them,

For more information, contact www.opencape.com