Essam El-Beik
Essam El-Beik | |
Name | Essam El-Beik |
Company | Illinois Century Network |
Company Position | Consultant |
City, State | Orange County CA |
Country | United States |
Sectors |
Case Studies | ||
This chapter section will feature several real-world case studies provided by the Public Wi-Fi SuperCluster Leadership team. Cities have achieved economic development, digital inclusion, emergency communications, rural connectivity, tourist attractions, and much more. | ||
Case Study Summary Findings & Discussion | ||
During the development of this Blueprint, the authorship team conducted a series of case study
interviews of local government agencies in the United States and Canada known to have deployed IoT networks. The team spoke with the cities of San Diego; San Leandro, CA; Calgary, AB Canada; and the County of San Mateo, CA. Below is a summary of the key findings from these case studies. | ||
Considerations for Deploying Municipal IoT | ||
Perhaps the most fundamental decision government agencies will make regarding IoT networks
is how the IoT network will be built and what the business model and ownership structure will be. The current consensus is that there will likely be two primary paths for IoT network deployments, with a third, less ubiquitous option serving as a “catch-all” classification for anything that does not squarely fit within the first two. | ||
Funding Models | ||
Three primary business models clearly emerge for today’s Public Wi-Fi projects. | ||
History of Public WiFi | ||
The dreams and aspirations of a municipal Wi-Fi system aren’t new: provide free, high-speed internet to your community, close the digital divide, shrink the homework gap, and give consumers a free, public option for internet service. It’s not hard to see why the concept has remained so popular over the years. | ||
Impacts to Municipal Governments of IoT Networks | ||
The Municipal IoT will probably have numerous impacts to state and local government agencies and their operations. In a sense, this is the heart of this Blueprint paper, and the essential reason for its existence. IoT networks have the potential to improve greatly the way we deliver services, reduce operating costs, improve the economy and commerce, promote better environmental stewardship, and provide opportunities for digital equity and access – leading to developments in tourism, breakthroughs in transportation and transit, and so much more. While this list of potential use cases is by no means exhaustive, it provides an introduction for government leaders as to what they should start looking for when it comes to the potential impacts of IoT networks. | ||
Introduction to Public WI-FI Use Cases | ||
Public Wi-Fi has a large number of use cases. This section seeks to provide guidance and information related to the most prominent types and will provide a general overview of the most frequently cited use cases for implementing Public Wi-Fi. | ||
Legal Issues | ||
Municipalities should be prepared to investigate legal issues that could impact their Public Wi-Fi project.
This document is not intended as a substitute for legal advice. Issues from our perspective will be classified below in terms of 1) the Regulatory Landscape and 2) Organizational Responsibilities. | ||
Marketing & Outreach | ||
Municipalities tend to have standard channels of communicating news and project information to their constituents. Most often this includes public announcements, meetings, and eventually a press release. | ||
Practical Guide: Deploying an IoT Network | ||
Today’s IoT market is already crowded; there is a confusing multitude of IoT connectivity options.
However, there are some important ways to distinguish them. | ||
Practical Guide: IoT Cybersecurity & Privacy | ||
With the advent of IoT devices and their rapid and wide adoption in Smart Cities, municipalities face an urgent necessity to ensure the IoT-related ecosystems are trustworthy by design. New regulations will no doubt be enacted by the federal and local regulatory bodies in due time, but municipalities face an urgent need for practical guidance for built-in security and privacy protection. | ||
Procurement | ||
The following sections provide a blueprint for the procurement process for Public Wi-Fi networks. | ||
Project Management | ||
While Public Wi-Fi deployments differ in purpose, reason, and size from agency to agency, the need for solid project management is consistent across the board. The collective ideas in this section provide a modular project management approach by breaking groups of task areas into milestone clusters. | ||
Technology Strategy | ||
A variety of technology decisions need to be made to effectively deliver good Public-Wi-Fi service, while supporting the current and future applications that cities and towns are seeking to deliver. | ||
The Current State of Municipal IoT Deployments | ||
The authors of this Blueprint conducted an online survey of municipal government officials in January 2019 with the goal of finding out information regarding the current state of the municipal IoT deployments. (The survey was conducted online and received 37 responses from verified government officials with a breakdown as follows: 73% City/Town; 13.5% Special District; 10.8% County; 2.7% State) | ||
Wireless Blueprint | ||
The purpose of this blueprint is to provide readers with a practical “how-to” guide for deploying a Public Wi-Fi system within their jurisdiction or agency. | ||