PURPOSE

At the September 19, 2006 City Council meeting, Council Member Gordon requested that staff bring back information on providing city-wide wireless Internet access to it�s citizens.  Prior to extending significant staff effort, this item has been placed on the agenda as the first step, in what is referred to as the �two-step process�, for additional Council discussion and consideration.

BACKGROUND

Wireless Fidelity or Wi-Fi is an inexpensive, short range, line-of-sight, broadband wireless technology that uses the same unregulated radio frequencies as microwave ovens and cordless phones.  It is essentially a wireless local area network that can be deployed to serve a single business or citywide to an entire community. 

Wi-Fi�s appeal is that it can be deployed at a much lower cost than other broadband network technologies so that services, such as high-speed Internet access, can be offered at relatively low prices. 

A Wi-Fi network has four basic elements:

• Access Points (such as radio transmitters on poles)

• Wired or wireless connection to a base station

• Wired or wireless connection from base station to an Internet Service Provider (ISP)

• Wi-Fi capable client

The City has developed and deployed wireless technologies throughout the city as follows:

• Burbank�s Downtown Hot Zone which covers approximately a one square mile area from Angeleno Ave to Burbank Blvd and from First Street to Glenoaks.   This Hot Zone provides free Internet Access to patrons of the Downtown area.  This was implemented in May 2005.

• Public Libraries � Free Wi-Fi Internet access was implemented at all 3 public libraries in March 2005 and extends Internet capabilities to patrons who bring in their own laptop or PDA. 

• Peyton/Grismer Activity Center and Catalina Street in the Golden State Neighborhood area

• City Facilities � wireless technology was implemented between City facilities to enable the connection of remote locations to City networked facilities and to reduce ongoing recurring telecommunication costs, i.e., Fire Stations, Creative Arts Center, etc.  This is a less costly option but is only an interim connection option for more critical safety services.

• Many City conference rooms, lunchrooms, and the City Council Chambers have also been wirelessly enabled and provide free Internet Access.

These projects were meant to address specific needs in our community.

There are three different scenarios the City can consider for providing citywide wireless internet access.  Those approaches include the following:

1. Do nothing and wait for the wireless market to further mature and stabilize.  Many other cities currently have citywide Wi-Fi projects in progress but very few have actually implemented finished solutions.

2. Partner with a third party, such as EarthLink, to develop, deploy and operate a system for a monthly fee to users of the system.  The City could generate revenue from the leasing of City electric pole space/providing electricity for transmitter locations and could negotiate for a portion of the available bandwidth for our own internal use.

3. Building the network using City resources by providing the service as a free city service using general fund proceeds much like a park or city street.  The City would own the entire network and reap the many benefits of controlling the network, but the City would have to fund the entire project and accept all of the risks. 

4. By incorporating the service on top of the future Burbank Water and Power (BWP) communications and control infrastructure.

The first approach is self explanatory.  The City could take no action at this time and give other municipalities time to finish their Wi-Fi projects.  The City could then take the lessons learned from their collective experiences and move forward with our own project.

The second approach is the least costly to the City but requires the citizens to subscribe to the outside service provider and pay a monthly fee.  The City would lease pole space to the outside provider and generate a small profit, plus have the ability to use the provider�s network for our own purposes.  Glendale is currently considering this approach and has expressed a willingness to conduct a joint request for proposals. 

The third approach is the most costly to the City. It would provide the City with control of the service and offered at low or even no subscriber cost.  This approach would require on- going operating and maintenance as well as technical enhancements creating another program which will have to face prioritization for general fund financial and staff resources.

The fourth approach is the second least costly to the City as it has no impact on the General Fund.  It may be possible to fund the network through the utility, and made available to the public city-wide without monthly fees as a conjunctive use of meeting the operational communications needs already being planned for by our utility.

Over this last year, BWP has considered enhancements to its OC-3 155 megabit SONET system.  This SONET system is ten years old and is becoming congested.  The SONET system is required for time division multiplexed applications where timing is a critical part of the control loop, such as differential relays.  The modernization and replacement of the OC-3 SONET network could have several positive side effects for the City.  For example, not only does it solve the utility�s own need for redundant city-wide communications but other applications that use Ethernet could be routed over the secure redundant fiber network capable of 10 gigabit per second or greater.

It is expected that this 10 gigabit fiber system could be installed and operated with the excess capacity sold to those in media industry, thus sharing the costs of the system with these customers and also allowing the City to provide itself with a much more robust communications network Citywide.

This 10 gigabit fiber system would provide at each of the electrical substations a source of secure, reliable, digital networking capability that could provide support for SCADA; outage management; load control; meter reading and power usage.

Some utilities have already proposed to deploy Wi-Fi technology from their fiber network to provide broader applications.  This approach would use a mesh network topology that would provide a reliable redundant network that would feed a large number of Wi-Fi wireless stations.  The applications requiring the most security would be deployed over the mesh portion of the network and those applications that could use the WiFi system could be deployed over that system.  The Wi-Fi project could be incorporated into the projects currently underway at BWP. 

RECOMMENDATION

Staff recommends the Council discuss and provide direction to staff.

RED:JLW:FCF:tmw

/ALVORD MEMO (WiFi), 10.16.06

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