Communications News: Cities to Build and Operate Their Own Wireless IP Infrastructure
New Tropos Networks’ White Paper Highlights Control, Flexibility, and Cost Savings
Substantial Benefits Achievable for Cities to Own and Control Their Own Wireless Broadband Network According to the Newly Released Paper
Tropos® Networks, the market leader in wireless IP broadband mesh networks, today released an in-depth paper on “Build Versus Rent: Why Municipal and Industrial Organizations Should Own Their Outdoor Broadband Infrastructure.”
According to the new paper, the overriding factors of ownership versus rental are control, flexibility and cost savings, which together more than offset the additional planning and skill required to build, own and operate wireless broadband networks. The superior performance, higher capacity bandwidth of broadband wireless, coupled with lower cost and reduced complexity, plus the ability to support a broader range of applications, creates a compelling case for city ownership of these systems.
The paper authored by Tropos Networks’ Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Narasimha Chari, is based upon observations and discussions with many of Tropos’ 500 plus customers over the past 12-months. It lays out the substantial business and technical benefits that are associated with owning the latest generation of outdoor metro-scale wireless broadband networks that can be used to securely host city applications, improving the efficiencies of mobile city workers and in turn, benefiting the community.
Municipalities that want to take advantage of the significant benefits of a large-scale broadband infrastructure face the option of whether to build, own and operate their own infrastructure or “rent” services from incumbent cellular providers. There are two technological choices: the organization can own their own wireless network by utilizing unlicensed wireless frequencies at 2.4 GHz and/or 5 GHz, or they can rent connectivity for its mobile workers and applications from a cellular carrier for a monthly fee.
The paper focuses primarily on municipal operations and how a wireless infrastructure improves operational efficiencies for many city services. For example, mobile public safety workers have faster access to critical data anywhere around town and units can be intelligently dispatched in emergencies, reducing response time. Utilities can take advantage of centralized meter reading which improves billing accuracy and ability to quickly detect leaks with real-time access to meters. Forty percent or more of city workers are mobile – building inspectors, public works, and others. With the ability to access the same information as from their office and to file reports from anywhere around town, their effectiveness and level of service to the community improves.
“The ‘own’ versus ‘rent’ debate has a long history in computing and telecommunications,” said Chari. “Historically, as the cost and complexity of technology has declined, organizations have migrated almost exclusively to a model of owning versus renting their IT infrastructures. Examples of this are enterprise telephony and computing which both migrated to organizational ownership over time.”
To obtain a full copy of the paper visit http://www.tropos.com/tropos_downloads/BuildvsBuy/BuildvsBuy_inquiry.html and learn more about enterprises’ considerations in owning versus renting their wireless infrastructure.
About Tropos Networks, Inc.
Tropos® Networks is the market leader in wireless IP broadband mesh networks enabling cities and other organizations worldwide to own and control smart, affordable, IP infrastructures for deploying high-value applications that improve the efficiencies of its mobile workers while reducing operational costs. These applications include mobile public safety (for police, fire and EMS vehicles), video surveillance, utility automation and industrial deployments. The patented Tropos MetroMesh™ system delivers the ultimate reliability, scalability, and security at low cost that is required for business critical and life saving wireless applications and is installed in over 30 countries. Founded in 2001, Tropos Networks is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, please visit http://www.tropos.com, call 408-331-6800 or write to . Tropos is a registered trademark and MetroMesh is a trademark of Tropos Networks, Inc.