Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Open Park Project Launches Free Wi-Fi Service On Capitol Hill: Coverage of National Mall Planned]

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 11:28:16 -0400

Open Park Project Launches Free Wi-Fi Service On Capitol Hill: Coverage 
of National Mall Planned

Washington D.C.  The Open Park Project, a Washington D.C. non-profit, 
launched the  first public outdoor wireless Internet hotspot in the 
nation’s capital today. The free  service provides coverage in front of 
the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress and the  Capitol Visitors' 
Center site.  The Capitol Hill hotspot is the initial step in Open 
Park’s  plan to provide free public wireless Internet service across 
the National Mall.     Open Park is using the popular Wi-Fi technology 
employed in home networks and coffee  shops. The group’s free hotspot 
“will give the public outside the Capitol the same quick  Internet 
access for research, email and news that their representatives enjoy 
inside their  offices,” said Open Park's co-founder, Greg Staple, a 
Washington communications  lawyer. “It’s a hotspot for democracy,” said 
Staple.    The group also announced today that it had received a 
significant donation of WiFi  equipment and services from Tropos 
Networks, Inc. of San Mateo, California, a leading  supplier of systems 
used to build metro-scale Wi-Fi networks. The donation will enable  
Open Park to establish a mesh of free hotspots on the Mall, beginning 
this Summer. By  2005, the group’s goal is to create a public Wi-Fi 
zone from the Washington Monument  to Capitol Hill that will also serve 
as a national test bed for new wireless applications.     “Washington 
policymakers deserve a first hand look at how quickly innovation can  
develop in unlicensed spectrum bands such as those used by Wi-Fi,” said 
Kevin  Werbach, a technology analyst and co-founder. “From Wi-Fi phones 
to radio location  tags to portable guides for park rangers, the 
possibilities are extraordinary,” he added.    "We welcome the support 
of other high tech companies and individuals in implementing  this 
vision," said Leo Cloutier, a telecommunications consultant who serves 
as the  project's chief technical adviser and network architect. "We 
believe that Washington  deserves a state-of-the-art Wi-Fi net on the 
Mall. Open Park is focused on marshaling the  resources necessary to 
provide this 21 st Century community service.”    To learn more about 
Open Park’s activities, visit www.openpark.net.

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