2004 C.I.P.A. Winners
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Wi-Fi Network Transforms Fredericton into a Hotzone for Mobile Business and LifestyleFredericton, New Brunswick has integrated traditional and wireless technologies to create Fred-eZone, a free, community-wide Wi-Fi network providing residents, visitors and businesses with mobile broadband access from virtually anywhere within the city. The network enables Fredericton to better differentiate itself from other cities and towns, increasing its ability to attract and retain ‘knowledge industries’ looking for a location that offers an innovative, productive and exciting environment.
Like most towns and cities, the City of Fredericton places great emphasis on its economic development initiatives to attract investment in the community and to attract and retain businesses that can stimulate the local economy through employment and the sale of goods and services. With a population of just over 80,000, Fredericton, the capital of Canada’s eastern province of New Brunswick, boasts a business base of nearly 4,000 businesses and is home to municipal government, the seat of provincial government and numerous federal government offices. The City’s population is younger than both the provincial and national averages; and the presence of two universities gives birth to a young, skilled workforce, especially in information technology, engineering, and research and development. The municipal government, an ISO 9001:2000 organization that employs 650 people in approximately 20 locations, administers an annual budget of $62 million to deliver 150 different services. Fredericton believes that making affordable, effective tools and technology available to the community is a critical component of its economic development strategy. To help the City and its businesses differentiate themselves and make themselves more competitive – and thus more attractive to the global community – Fredericton embarked on a mission in 2000 to provide broadband connectivity to the municipal government, businesses and universities. Because broadband service was priced too high and not readily available in all parts of the community however, the city formed its own telecommunications company, e-Novations ComNet, Inc., a not-for-profit municipally owned corporation licensed as a CRTC non-dominant carrier. In a co-op model supported by local business and university partners, e-Novations built a 22km fibre-optic community network interconnecting all partners with each other and with the Internet. Using this fibre ring as a backbone, e-Novations then proceeded to extend the reach of the broadband network to the rest of the community through the use of Motorola Canopy long-distance wireless technology deployed through access points hosted on seven towers distributed throughout the city. "In addition to enabling operational efficiencies across the municipal organization, we saw the opportunity to deliver 21st century ‘Intelligent Infrastructure’ to the community as an important pillar of Fredericton’s economic development strategy," explains Don Fitzgerald, Executive Director of Team Fredericton, the city’s Economic Development Department Great Start … But Don’t Stop There! By delivering high-speed (minimum 100 Mbps) and low-cost connectivity, the new network brought many benefits to the municipal government and to local businesses and institutions. The City, for example, was able to increase municipal productivity by interconnecting various information technology assets in 20 or so municipal facilities to create a Municipal Area Network (MAN). And, using excess capacity on the network, e-Novations is now able to act as a wholesale ISP in providing access and bandwidth which local ISPs can in turn offer to the community. "We set out a few years ago to do what we could to have Fredericton recognized as a ‘smart city’; and the e-Novations network provides a solid foundation for accomplishing that," says Maurice Gallant, Manger, Information & Communications Technology Division, City of Fredericton and President, e-Novations ComNet, Inc. In spite of the many benefits however, some key opportunities to further position Fredericton as a leading host for successfully attracting and retaining today’s advanced businesses remained untapped. For example, an economic development analysis showed that more than 70% of the ‘knowledge industries’ in New Brunswick (e.g. IT, engineering, R&D) are located in Fredericton. Why not give those knowledge workers something that would differentiate Fredericton – something that was very useful to them that would make them glad they’re part of that city. Birth of a Great Idea "To really create a climate of innovation and productivity and to generate some excitement about Fredericton, we came up with the idea of implementing a Wi-Fi network throughout the city using wireless technology that would enable knowledge workers to stay connected to the Internet and to their offices at any time, from anywhere in the city," explains Gallant. "And we’d give it to them for free!" he exclaims. After some deliberation, Fredericton City Council fully endorsed the Wi-Fi network idea, commenting that they felt the city had an obligation to provide this Intelligent Infrastructure to their staff, citizens and the business community in just the same way they deliver streets, sidewalks, parks, public facilities and other forms of municipal infrastructure. Using primarily Cisco and Motorola wireless equipment, and with the help of several local companies, including 3D Datacom and Eastern Wireless, e-Novations built out a state-of-the-art wireless network with access points that will cover the entire community when fully deployed, including municipal buildings, hotels and conference facilities, public meeting places, the airport and the Fredericton business corridor. The access points exchange wireless signals both ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’ – downstream to Fred-eZone users, and upstream to the seven towers, which in turn are connected to the fibre network backbone. Using Wi-Fi-equipped personal computers, laptops or PDAs, users can connect to the public Internet or, in the case of a user whose organization is part of the network co-op, connect directly to internal computing resources and business applications via a secure VPN connection over the network. Thus, Fredericton’s city-wide ‘hotspot’ – called Fred-eZone – was born. Fredericton Leads Way With Wireless Technology Fredericton, NB (November 18, 2003) - The City of Fredericton announced this morning that it has launched Fred-eZone, a free wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network that will allow anyone with a Wi-Fi enabled laptop or personal data assistant (PDA) to access their e-mail, calendar or the internet in many of the municipality’s public areas. With more than 100 wireless access points already operational, knowledge workers, municipal employees, local business people, regular citizens and visiting business travelers alike are all enjoying the freedom and flexibility of being able to stay connected, easily and for free! "For us, Wi-Fi was the practical answer because the existing fibre and wireless broadband network gave us a fully operational platform upon which to build such a capability – and a significant time-to-market advantage," says Mike Richard, VP Operations, e-Novations ComNet, Inc. Fred e-Zone ... Innovative and Practical Through e-Novations, Fredericton has become a recognized leader in the deployment of Wi-Fi solutions, raising the community’s profile and making it easier for organizations to compete nationally and internationally. "Colleagues in other cities and provinces see Fredericton as an innovator and leader, and now look to us to help them catch up," adds Richard on the added credibility that Fred-eZone has brought to Fredericton as a ‘smart community’. In addition to enhancing the quality of life for residents and visitors, the Fred-eZone network is enabling local businesses, institutions and the municipal government to achieve a variety of operational efficiencies. For example, climate in all the city’s buildings can now be remotely monitored and controlled by the responsible manager from virtually anywhere in town using his laptop computer instead of having to drive to each facility. Among the many other benefits of Fred-eZone and Wi-Fi:
Adding further to Richard’s comments, Team Fredericton’s Don Fitzgerald concludes by saying, "The most significant result of the Fred-eZone initiative is that the business community now has a sense of confidence that the municipal government is doing what it can to foster their success by ensuring they have the types of tools they need to compete globally." A 2004 CIPA Winner! For its exceptional application of Information Technology to solve real-world business problems and bring greater benefit to all its stakeholders, the City of Fredericton was awarded a 2004 Canadian Information Productivity Award of Excellence for Innovation.
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