For Immediate Release
Special appearance by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, including mayors from Taiwan to Colorado, Texas to Georgia; more than a dozen citywide broadband-wireless case studies, from Cleveland to Cupertino, Tempe to Lenexa; co-hosted with the City and County of San Francisco, local-government associations, international-development organizations and the private sector
BOSTON, Mass. (September 22, 2005) To provide local-government technology stakeholders with high-level panels, focused brainstorm sessions and best-practices sharing on the major issues surrounding the planning and deployment of broadband-wireless networks for cities, counties and regions, the Wireless Internet Institute will host the W2i Digital Cities Convention (West) at the San Mateo Marriott (San Francisco Airport), San Mateo, CA, October 1012, 2005.
Local-government officials, industry thought leaders, technology and service providers and systems integrators will participate in an interactive three-day program to explore the full range of opportunities and roadblocks surrounding the planning and deployment of these networks. In addition to expert panels, case study presentations, and a dozen structured brainstorm workshops, the program features:
• the W2i Wireless Communities Best Practices Awards Ceremony (October 11);
• a day-long Practical Training Session co-hosted by NetLogix (October 13);
• a Technology Showcase of leading vendors (October 1012);
• a Citywide Mesh Network Tour in nearby Cupertino (October 10); and
• a Press Conference with attending Mayors (October 12).
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will make a special appearance, and Chris A. Vein, Senior Advisor for Technology to Mayor Newsom, will co-chair the Convention. They are leading an effort called TechConnect to bring universal, affordable broadband-wireless access to all the residents and businesses of San Francisco.
A Mayors Panel for local elected officials, chaired by Lori D. Panzino, President Elect, National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA), will gather together Mayor Newsom with Mayor Richard C. Barr, City of Adel (GA); Mayor Joe Chow, City of Addison (TX); Deputy Mayor Pu-Tsung King, City of Taipei; and Mayor Patrick Kwok, City of Cupertino (CA).
Executives from IBM, Intel, and Motorola will deliver keynote addresses reflecting on their experiences with digital cities and communities.
Mayor Kenneth Fellman of Arvada (CO), who is chair of the ITC Committee of the National League of Cities (NLC), will chair a Public-Private Partnerships Panel featuring Dianah Neff, Chief Information Officer, City of Philadelphia; Dave Heck, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Tempe (AZ); Martin Levetin, Vice President, Eastern Region, WAZMetro; and Chuck Haas, Founder & CEO, MetroFi.
Additional plenary panels on the technology “roadmap” and federal, state, and local regulatory issues will be chaired by Rizwan Khaliq, Wireless Global Solutions Executive, Public Sector, IBM; and Lauren Gelman, Assistant Director, Center for Internet & Society, Stanford Law School, respectively. Panelists include Greg Richardson, President & CEO, Civitium; Scott Akrie, President & Managing Partner, NetLogix; John Foresto, Managing Partner, Stratum Broadband; Carl Peede, President & CEO, Camvera Networks; Abe Kani, Chief Information Officer, City of Atlanta; and Alan Scrime, Chief, Policy & Rules Division, Office of Engineering & Technology, FCC.
Enrique Barkey, Worldwide Director, Civilian Agency Solutions, HP, will chair a Case Studies panel featuring presentations by Mark Ansboury, Chief Operating Officer, OneCleveland; Richard Bull, Chief of Police, City of Ripon (CA); Michael Lawrence, Chief Technology Officer, Lenexa (KS); and Pu-Tsung King, Deputy Mayor, City of Taipei, with Rosemary Ho, Managing Director, HP Taiwan.
A series of Structured Brainstorm Workshops exploring the challenges and opportunities of implementing broadband solutions for cities, counties and regions will be chaired by Tom Lockard, Managing Director, and Nick Ellis, Analyst, Stone & Youngberg, LLC; Todd Myers, CEO & Founder, Airpath Wireless; Patrick Leary, Chief Evangelist, North America, Alvarion; Richard Rotondo, Vice President of Marketing, Motorola; Nigel Ballard, Manager, Digital Inclusion, Intel Americas, State & Local Government (tbc); Bert Williams, Vice President of Marketing, Tropos Networks; Michael J. Kleeman, Senior Technical Advisor, WAZMetro; and Lee Tsao, Worldwide Solutions Director, Pronto Networks.
Private-Sector Endorsements
In addition to cooperation agreements with the UN ICT Task Force, UNITAR, CIFAL Atlanta, and the National League of Cities, the W2i Digital Cities Convention (West) is endorsed by the WiMAX Forum and has secured the early sponsorship of global-technology leaders such as IBM, Intel, and Motorola; Alvarion and Tropos; EarthLink, HP, and WAZMetro; Airpath, BelAir Networks, Pronto Networks, and SkyPilot; MetroFi and Stone & Youngberg, LLC.
“Visionaries everywhere are moving beyond broadband. These Digital Communities not only enable people to have affordable access to information but are also advancing the quality of life,” said Paul Butcher, Marketing Manager for State and Local Government, Intel. “The W2i Digital Cities Convention explores the full range of wired and wireless broadband solutions that truly have a positive impact on the way we live work and play.”
“Motorola strongly supports the Wireless Internet Institute’s mission to provide a forum for exchanging vital information between vendors and end users of municipal wireless broadband networks,” said Rick Rotondo, Director of Marketing, Motorola. “As metro-area deployments transform the way communities communicate, Motorola is committed to offering cost-effective, reliable and robust solutions that meet the needs of all constituents in cities worldwide.”
“EarthLink is proactively pursuing local-government initiatives to provide broadband-wireless services,” said Don Berryman, EarthLink executive vice president for customer support. “We believe these public-private partnerships are a great opportunity for us to offer consumers more choices in high-speed Internet service and provide them with another affordable option to stay connected to the Internet.”
“We are seeing a global explosion in the demand for large-scale Wi-Fi implementations,” said Enrique Barkey, worldwide director, Civilian Agency Solutions, HP. “The Convention provides a terrific forum to examine the associated benefits that Wi-Fi provides. The public sector is quickly recognizing that Wi-Fi enables pervasive data access and collaboration that ultimately spurs innovation, efficiency and productivity. HP intends to be a key player in this high-growth market.”
“There’s a lot involved in the deployment of broadband-wireless networks by local governments,” said Todd Myers, President and CEO, Airpath Wireless. “Airpath is pleased to support W2i’s effort to share best practices at the Digital Cities Convention.”
“We're delighted with the Wireless Internet Institute’s effort to bring together the full range of stakeholders to discuss the sustainable deployment of broadband wireless networks for municipalities,” said Bernard Herscovich, President and CEO, BelAir Networks. “Creating networks of this scale requires the cooperation of private sector and government agencies.”
About the Wireless Internet Institute (W2i) and the W2i Digital Cities Convention
The W2i Digital Cities Convention program is developed in cooperation with an expert Program Committee and gathers together a primary audience of local-government elected and agency officials as well as stakeholders in the emerging broadband-wireless ecosystem of regulators, technology vendors and service providers, system integrators, real-estate and rights-of-way owners, and funding organizations. The W2i Digital Cities Convention is held annually in each of three regions of the world. Following successful events in Philadelphia and Shanghai, earlier in 2005, planning is in final stages for Conventions in the San Francisco Bay Area, in October, and in Europe, in Bilbão, Spain, in November as part of W2i’s cooperation with its international-development institution partners. For more information on these programs or to partner with W2i, e-mail us at .
is an independent think tank bringing together stakeholders around the world to accelerate the adoption of wireless Internet in support of universal connectivity for economic, social and educational development. The W2i Digital Cities Convention is the newest in a series of thought-leadership conferences undertaken in partnership with the , the private sector, local authorities and regulators, and international development institutions. The Convention builds on W2i’s multi-year to foster the adoption of broadband wireless technologies under the leadership of local-government organizations around the world, in support of universal connectivity, the Millennium Development Goals, and the Declaration of Principles of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
Contact:
Daniel Aghion
Executive Director
Wireless Internet Institute
(617) 439-5400
