Cafenet News

Fredericton Leads Way With Wireless Technology

26 November 2003

The City of Fredericton announced this morning that it has launched Fred-eZone, a free wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network that will allow anyone with a Wi-Fi enabled laptop or personal data assistant (PDA) to access their e-mail, calendar or the internet in many of the municipality's public areas.

Fredericton becomes the first municipality-wide Wi-Fi network in Canada offering free, unlimited access. Like streetlights and sidewalks, this intellectual infrastructure is becoming the new municipal infrastructure of the 21st century for smart communities.

The technology uses radio waves to send data to a series of special antennae located around the city. Users will then connect to the Fredericton Community Network, the municipality’s high-speed fibre optic network.

"Today's announcement is the culmination of a lot of hard work and vision by City Council, our Information Technology Committee, City staff, the members of Team Fredericton and a variety of partners," said Fredericton Mayor Les Hull. "Fredericton is a great place to live, work and play, and with this morning's announcement, we will join the ranks of 'connected cities' around the world."

The first phase of the project has already been completed. This means that Wi-Fi technology is now available in much of the City’s downtown and at the Fredericton Airport. By the end of the year, the network will be expanded to include the Knowledge Park, Main Street and the balance of the downtown. In the future, coverage will include all of the City's business corridors and public spaces.

The City is teaming with Cisco Systems, the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, to deliver Fred-eZone. Cisco is assisting in the roll out and development of the network, which is based on industry-leading Cisco wireless technology. The first phase of the project will cost $150,000 and is already part of the city’s capital budget for this year.

"This builds on our decision in 1999 to install fibre optic cable throughout Fredericton," notes Fredericton's Information Technology Chair, Coun. Tommy Jellinek. "Wireless technology has become the way to solve the last hurdle in conquering the Digital Divide. It will help us become the most successful and vibrant small city in North America."

"This initiative will give us another very impressive tool in our economic development tool kit," adds Mac MacFarlane, Chairman for Team Fredericton, the City of Fredericton's economic development marketing agency.

Background
Wi-Fi (802.11), or wireless communications allows an individual using a Wi-Fi equipped notebook, PDA or Pocket PC to stay connected with his or her corporate data. Imagine checking your e-mail just before that important meeting for the latest sales numbers or price quotes. Imagine checking your calendar in the client's office to see when you are available for follow up. Wi-Fi makes this possible.

This is possible because back in 1999, the City's IT Committee was looking at the City's own communications needs. As a growing and distributed organization, staff needed to communicate with each other and effectively share information and files. The best solution was to build a municipal fibre network.

The network had extra capacity and the question became how could this be made available to the community at large. Several private sector firms helped make the fibre network a reality. The next step was Wi-Fi. Wireless data transmission goes a long way to solve the last hurdle in conquering the Digital Divide.

Fred-eZone is the next step in ensuring that Fredericton has a first class communication network. It is also another reason why Fredericton is a world class Smart City. The next great differentiator of communities will be communications. Ever-present and high-speed communications are the new drivers.