Wireless

Chicago hasn't given up on WiFi

Oct 15, 2007 6:59am

Chicago hasn't given up on WiFi after all. After suspending plans for a muni-WiFi network in August, the city is now approaching WiFi from a different perspective: to provide wireless services for public safety and other city services. The city is now working with Firetide and Genetec to build a public-safety WiFi network for video surveillance applications around the city. The city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications plans to connect the network to a fiber optic backbone to transmit real-time video to a central office. The city is looking to expand the surveillance system to add analytics that provide license plate recognition, trending projections and intelligent search capabilities to the existing infrastructure. Certainly experts have been calling for cities to take another look at their business plans. The free muni-WiFi business model isn't sustainable.

For more about Chicago's plans:
- read this article from MuniWireless