An early adopter

Corpus Christi, Texas, launched a municipal wireless broadband network pilot program in 2005. By 2006, the city sold its excess bandwidth to EarthLink, but the venture failed, and in 2008, the city bought it back, says Michael Armstrong, CIO of the city’s municipal information systems department.

The network originally was developed to support automated meter reading and is still being used in that capacity today, with an estimated 140,000 water and gas meters read daily, Armstrong says. “The original thought was driven by a case where one city meter reader had been bitten by a pit bull,” he says. “A solution was to use a technology that was available for automatic meter reading, using Wi-Fi as the transport medium.”

Multiple city departments now use the wireless broadband network, including utilities, public works and public safety. For example, public safety has access to a network of 40 video cameras, and the network is strong enough to transmit video from the cameras into the city’s emergency operations center. Officers can review the video for crime evidence, and emergency management officials can watch the cameras installed near the beach and Gulf of Mexico to monitor incoming hurricanes. The wireless network also can be used for less dramatic, everyday administrative tasks. Specifically, 18 departments use a single work-management system to complete forms remotely.

The network costs $400,000 to support and maintain, Armstrong says. Because it is an Ethernet network, desktop and mobile workers run the same applications. For example, remote employees use a Net Motion VPN client to tap into the home server, and any data downloaded or transferred are carried over Wi-Fi.

Using 30 hotspots, the city shares its excess capacity with the public, giving residents free Internet access. There are about 50,000 public user sessions per month, but Armstrong envisions a future network that can transmit more video and offer additional public access.