Cisco Reboots Gulf Coast Schools

Outstanding news for our unfortunate teachers and students.

On October 25, Chambers announced Cisco’s 21st Century School Education Initiative, or the 21S Initiative, a $40 million program that will help build state-of-the-art schools in areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The company and its top executives committed $20 million in cash. Cisco is contributing another $20 million in goods and services. The first $20 million will go to phase one, the Mississippi Education Initiative; the second half will be allocated to schools in other parts of the Gulf Coast region later.

Cisco’s initiative will work on multiple fronts. The company will give $500,000 to seven school districts that already have some digital education efforts, to use as they see fit. It also will completely equip three storm-damaged schools so students can take advantage of the Internet. For instance, the company will install wireless broadband, with Internet voice, video, and data capabilities. Cisco will help develop online curricula for several classes (some will be taught entirely online). And it will create networks to link together students, teachers, parents, and administrators. The first school that will be wired is the Rowan Elementary School in Hattiesburg, Miss.

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San Francisco about to request WiFi proposals

This will be well worth following!

San Francisco officials on Tuesday said they will issue a formal request for proposals for a citywide Wi-Fi network, forgoing the chance to enter into direct negotiations with any of the 26 companies that have expressed interest in building the wireless system.

San Francisco is bidding to become one of the leaders in affordable municipal Wi-Fi, with its proposed citywide deployment. Mayor Gavin Newsom made the initiative a priority in August, hoping to follow in the footsteps of Philadelphia, which is expected to create the first big-city municipal wireless system next year.

While most observers expected the city to issue a proposal request, city officials had held out the possibility that the city could enter into direct negotiations with any of the vendors, including Google and MetroFi, which both offered to construct a network for free.

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WiMax is getting closer!

This is going to change the way we do wireless.

WiMax wireless broadband technology is gaining momentum worldwide with the announcement by Intel that carriers across the globe are deploying, or will soon be rolling out, fixed WiMax networks using the company’s technology.

WiMax, or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, creates hotspots that stretch dozens of miles, reaching much farther than typical Wi-Fi networks, and allow users to surf the Web wirelessly at speeds faster than today’s connections via a DSL or cable modem.

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