The City of Portland Requests Bid for Wireless Network

By Linda Barney, Barney and Associates

Abstract:

The City of Portland proposes building a citywide wireless network. Find out what free wireless services are available, what the Unwire Portland initiative is and what the benefits would be of a citywide wireless network.

Article:

Portland ranks as one of the most “unwired” cities in the US

Portland is already ranked as one of the most “unwired cities” in the nation, with more wireless access than most of its peers. Part of Portland’s ranking is the result of the non-profit organization Personal Telco and their installation of free wireless sites where anyone with a wireless laptop can access one of their free nodes. But access to wireless service could increase even more if the City of Portland’s plan to install a wireless network is implemented.

The City of Portland formed an Unwire Portland committee and has issued an RFP requesting that companies bid on building, installing and maintaining a citywide wireless network. In this section, a representative from Personal Telco describes their current wireless network. Various members of the Unwire Portland committee answer questions about the proposed network and then Personal Telco gives their response on whether they think a citywide wireless network is needed.

Q: How many "free" wireless sites are there in Portland through Personal Telco?

Volunteers from the Personal Telco Project have been building "sites" or "nodes" since 2001. The traits that all Personal Telco nodes have in common is to use a network name of www.personaltelco.net and to the highest reasonable extent, allow for use of services on that network. Don Park, president of Personal Telco, states, “The Personal Telco website has a map of 57 of the more popular nodes in the city of Portland. I estimate there are at least that many more nodes set up in homes and apartments that are not on the map.”

While a node is usually a single access point providing Internet access, there is another opportunity for wireless networking. Some locations use directional antennas to create long-distance, permanent connections to another location. This expands the network into a customer-owned data utility.

The City of Portland is taking bids on installing a citywide wireless network

Q: Why is the City of Portland pursuing a wireless network?

Rashid Ahmed (senior project coordinator, Portland Development Commission) indicates that the City of Portland has been considering economic development and telecommunications strategies since 2002, when the Portland Development Commission (PDC) released an economic development strategy for the City of Portland. The strategy was based on input from 300 businesses throughout Portland. One goal of the strategy states, “For the city to support, with investment as necessary, expansion of state-of-the-art communications technology.”

The City of Portland pulled together a committee to determine how to meet the telecommunications goal. The Unwire Portland committee consisted of a diverse group of stakeholders, private and public individuals, representatives from the City of Portland IT staff, various city bureaus that would require services, other institutional users such as TriMet and schools, universities and counties. The committee also included individuals from the Venture Capital community, various individuals from Intel, and ISP representatives such as Rich Bader from EasyStreet Online. The committee sought to answer the question: “What should we be doing to support economic development and expand the state-of-the-art telecommunications technology?” The committee fairly quickly coalesced around the idea of a citywide wireless cloud.

Q: What is the goal for a citywide wireless implementation?

Ahmed states, “We started our vision with the idea of how a fully integrated City of Portland wireless cloud might be used and how it would make life easier. We envisioned how citywide wireless might benefit a business traveler. In our scenario, a business traveler arrives at Portland International Airport on a wireless-enabled flight, opens his PDA and receives information which tells him where his luggage is located and when the next the MAX train is coming. Using this information, the traveler picks up his baggage and gets on MAX. While riding to downtown Portland, he can read email and locate information on hotel prices and availability, still using WiFi access available via the citywide wireless cloud.”

From this vision, the committee needed to answer questions such as: What does the technology look like? What is the business model? How is it going to be funded? How is it going to be operated? The City of Portland approached Intel for its expertise in wireless technology and advice on what the city should consider in developing a citywide wireless network.

Intel is currently involved in a new Intel® Digital Communities initiative “to help communities use wireless technology and innovative applications to expand and improve services for municipal governments, businesses and citizens.” Two representatives from Intel provide us with more information on the Unwire Portland initiative: Paul Butcher (marketing manager, State & Local Government) and Nigel Ballard (manager, Digital Inclusion Intel Americas, State & Local Government; former committee member).

Q: How was Intel involved in the Unwire Portland initiative?

Paul Butcher indicates that Intel is involved in technologies that are as much as three generations out and often has information on PC platforms and what’s going to be available for several years. Butcher states, “In our state and local government group, we work to help groups understand how technology will affect them in the future.” Butcher indicates that hundreds of cities are making decisions about installing wireless networks. According to Nigel Ballard, “Intel believes a citywide WiFi cloud enables mobility and productivity. This cloud of wireless coverage can also meet the needs of underserved communities by providing affordable or even free Internet access.”

In the Unwire Portland committee, Intel representatives helped answer technical questions about various technologies (such as WiFi, WiFi mesh, and Wi-MAX), explained business models, and helped define the purpose of a citywide wireless network. Nigel Ballard states, “The Intel state and local government group has assisted cities by bringing together our extensive ecosystem of traveling companions to ensure the city is aware of all the technology choices out there.” It is very important that a city has a very clear understanding of what it wants a wireless network to do so that it can achieve that goal. Intel had a team of engineers evaluate the city’s vertical assets, such as rooftops or towers, to identify possible sites for wireless network installations. They also introduced people on the Unwire Portland committee to groups in other municipalities, such as Philadelphia, so they could learn from what has worked in other cities. Butcher states, “In our work with the City of Portland, we believe an investment in WiFi or WiFi mesh will yield a network that should provide value to the community for years to come.”

Q: How would city government and schools use the wireless network?

Ahmed says that groups who need the services supported by the wireless project include the City of Portland and all of its bureaus, TriMet, and Portland public schools. These groups have a number of things they need that are either services that can’t get or are prohibitively expensive. For example, the City of Portland has 100 remote facilities that don’t have high-speed wireless access and many fire stations don’t have Internet service. The city currently contracts with a telecommunications provider for the parking meters to upload credit card information but it is expensive. If citywide wireless access were installed, the credit card information could be uploaded without additional cost. It is cost-prohibitive for schools to install phones in each classroom – using Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) through a citywide wireless network would let schools easily access phones and provide wireless online access in classrooms. Initially, TriMet could use the wireless network to allow additional communication between drivers and provide wireless service for passengers. In a later phase, TriMet could use the wireless network to enable a transit tracker system, something that is currently cost-prohibitive.

Q: What kind of wireless technology will be used in a citywide wireless network?

The Unwired Portland committee wants WiFi at a specified minimum number of locations and throughout the city, if possible. Matt Lampe – chief technology officer, City of Portland – indicates that the city is expecting two tiers of service: a WiFi tier and a Wi-MAX tier (or similar, preferably standards-based technology). Lampe states, “We are anticipating a series of WiFi mesh regions with links back from the mesh via a wireless Wi-MAX type connection back to a series of aggregation points, with the Wi-MAX tier also providing point-to-point and/or point-to-multipoint wireless service to fixed locations. From the aggregation points, whether it will be a wireless or wired connection to the major point-of-presence (ISPs) is unclear. The final technology decision will be up to the company who is awarded the RFP and builds the WiFi network.”

The city may be able to offer capacity on a microwave ring that the City of Portland will bring up later this year in conjunction with the vendor using some of the City’s radio towers. The vendor winning the bid can choose an alternate technology but the City’s strong preference is for an interoperable standards-based technology solution. Lampe states, “Part of our goal in the Unwired Portland initiative is to try to provide a more affordable broadband option than what is available in the marketplace today. There isn’t a wireless network available on the scale we are talking about. We believe the convergence of technology can support such a wireless network and make it commercially viable at an affordable price.”

Q: How will the City of Portland request bids?

The City of Portland, with the assistance of the steering committee (which dissolved just prior to the issuance of the RFP) and Intel, created an RFP requesting a bid by companies to build the Portland wireless network and released it on Sept. 16. Ahmed states, “This is a bid for a private company to finance, develop, operate and maintain a citywide wireless network.”

According to Ahmed, “The City of Portland could put up WiFi towers for its own needs but decided that by pooling resources we could not only lower cost for the city organizations but we could achieve a benefit for the rest of the community as well.” The RFP has limited the services the City is requesting to those it either currently contracts for or would were they not prohibitively expensive. Portland has a number of “vertical assets” they could offer such as street lights, traffic signals, building rooftops, communication and water towers. According to Ahmed, “If a provider is willing to come in to the community and develop a wireless network to help lower our costs, we might be willing to offset some of their costs of installing equipment. We think this gives the provider significant incentive without risking taxpayer’s money, other than for the services we intend to purchase. Ultimately, this should reduce costs and increase efficiencies for delivery of City services.”

Q: What kind of provider is the City seeking?

The Unwire Portland committee is seeking an open-service provider network. In this business model, a provider would provide wholesale access to other service providers – such as EasyStreet, EarthLink or others – who want to get access to this network. The provider would contract with third-party ISPs to provide retail services to businesses and citizens. This approach should increase competition in the marketplace, thereby increasing choice and reducing costs for end users.

Personal Telco’s response to Unwire Portland

Don Park, president of Personal Telco, provides his response on whether the Unwire Portland initiative is needed.

Q: Does the City of Portland need the Unwire Portland initiative?

Park indicates the Personal Telco Project is committed to providing input to the process of implementing data services in any form in the city of Portland. Park states, “The Unwire Portland project appears to be primarily a cost-reduction plan for the city, and secondarily a for-pay service offering for the public. The Personal Telco project pushed hard for a zero-cost option, described as the ‘Benson Bubbler’ approach. Throughout the core of downtown Portland, there are water fountains that are free to drink from by anyone who passes by – a useful service since everybody needs a fairly constant supply of clean water. Data service to connect all manner of portable electronics is arguably as important to busy people. Mandating a zero-cost level of service along with other service levels would have made for a more interesting RFP.”

Benefits of the Personal Telco nodes and the proposed Unwire Portland network

So what are the benefits of the Personal Telco nodes and the proposed Unwire Portland wireless network for city government, citizens, businesses, and software developers? In this section, representatives from Personal Telco, the Unwire Portland committee, and Intel describe the benefits and how they see Personal Telco and a citywide wireless network coexisting. They also answer the question of how Personal Telco nodes or the proposed citywide wireless network would benefit the area’s software developers.

Q: How do Personal Telco nodes benefit the city?

Don Park, president of Personal Telco, states, “The number of locations in the city of Portland that provide no-cost wireless access to the Internet has changed the way people look at Internet service. The for-pay wireless networks are surviving, but they didn't win. Wireless Internet access did not turn out to be the monopoly that wired Internet access often is. The nature of radio communications and the ever-decreasing cost of wireless hardware helped create a new environment. The cost of entry into providing wireless data service on a small scale is approaching zero. The benefit for the city is to demonstrate a model of providing a useful service that is user-owned and neighborhood-based.”

Q: Does Personal Telco provide wireless nodes to low-income areas where people may not be able to afford wireless/Internet access?

Personal Telco Project received a $14,500 grant from the Meyer Memorial Trust in conjunction with equipment donated by Intel and Internet service from local company Stephouse.com to install wireless infrastructure in the North Mississippi corridor. This will allow people living on or around North Mississippi to get free wireless Internet access. According to Michael Weinberg of Personal Telco, “In addition to Internet access, we want to offer localized services such as streaming music, information about upcoming events in the neighborhood, local news and blogs. We're also going to deploy some VoIP phones which people can use to call over the network. In conjunction with the network building, we're going to offer training classes to teach local residents and business owners about the network so that they can take control of it upon completion of the grant.”

Q: If a citywide wireless network is completed, how will it affect the current and future work of Personal Telco?

Park states, “If the Unwire Portland project is successfully completed, that will provide more competition in the for-pay wireless arena. More competition tends to lower prices. The mission of Personal Telco, to teach and build community wireless networks, will progress as it has been so far – organically, one node at a time.”

Q: How will a citywide wireless cloud benefit business?

Ahmed states, “The Unwire Portland network will provide a number of benefits to businesses in the city of Portland. These include providing a lower-cost means of accessing wireless services, as well as providing Portland with a data/communications infrastructure that directly supports knowledge-based industries and can help retain and grow companies locally. The Unwire Portland network will also stimulate new businesses creation and give Portland an edge in company site selection.”

Benefits to software developers

Q: What are the benefits of Personal Telco to software developers or other technical individuals?

Park states, “The benefits of setting up a Personal Telco node are varied. One benefit is the availability of knowledge and documentation on setting up a node that has the desired coverage area. Another benefit is to be listed on the map at www.personaltelco.net/map, which brings traffic to your area. Most of the more popular nodes use a portal or gateway system that provides a “terms of service agreement page” that helps establish the expectations of node owner and node user. Another important benefit is the reputation of the Personal Telco name as being a source of free Internet service. When someone sees a wireless network name of www.personaltelco.net, it’s clear that this node is meant to be used by the public.”

Michael Weinberg of Personal Telco, indicates that Personal Telco also provides important educational services to technicians and software developers. Weinberg states, “Part of Personal Telco's mission is to be an educational group empowering the citizens of Portland to create community networks. While we do a lot ourselves, it's just as important – if not more important – that we teach others to do what we do, both for the longevity of the group and to ensure that the network we build remains free and wholly owned by the community that built it.”

Q: Would a citywide wireless network increase software development opportunities?

Intel’s Butcher envisions a tremendous opportunity for the area’s software developers if a citywide wireless cloud is created in the city of Portland. He believes that software developers can have a major impact by developing wireless tools in the categories of mobile worker, device monitoring and control, first responder, telecommunications infrastructure, and business and citizens. One particular area of need would be for wireless communication software to help first responders pinpoint what is needed in an emergency. This might involve personnel or vehicle tracking which is currently very expensive because it involves satellite tracking. But with a $50 GPS and WiFi software tracking, a City of Portland crew could bring up the location of police cars or other emergency vehicles and even show them on a map – all with an inexpensive web browser.

Butcher wants the area software developers to think about creating tools that could automate communication in ways we currently don’t think about. He gives an example of a newspaper box that is empty at 7 a.m. – a WiFi device in the newspaper box sends a signal to the newspaper organization so they could send out someone to stock the newspaper box. Butcher states, “There will be opportunities for the area’s software developers to create tools that will help make people’s lives better and help us work more efficiently. We can’t even begin to imagine all of the opportunities that are available to us with a pervasive WiFi network and it will expand the opportunities for our area software developers.”

The 2005 NW Wireless & Security Summit/State Interoperability Executive Council (SIEC) Summit will be held October 19, 2005 at the Portland Convention Center from
8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The NW Wireless & Security Summit is the premier educational summit and technology showcase focused on the challenges surrounding both public and private wireless technologies and security. We encourage you to attend.

Linda Barney is the founder and owner of Barney and Associates, a technical and marketing writing firm. Founded in 1990, Barney and Associates specializes in technical writing, documentation, online help, web content and training. Barney and Associates also provides a wide range of marketing writing services including creating media articles, white papers, data sheets, solution briefs, case studies and reviewer’s guides. Contact Linda at linda@barneyassoc.com.