San Diego Gas & Electric has joined the growing ranks of utilities undertaking trials of broadband over power line (BPL) technology. According to the San Diego Union Tribune:
SDG&E said its test will be limited to about 10 company employees, who will use the technology to monitor electric-grid conditions and control equipment in the Kearny Mesa area, where SDG&E has its offices.
“This is a proof-of-concept test, so there’s no need to involve a large number of people,” said Ed Van Herik, an SDG&E spokesman. “It would be premature to speculate about the consumer market.”
He said BPL was one of the possible technologies the company is considering to link the advanced electric meters the company is proposing to install across its customer base. The BPL test project will be paid for by the utility’s shareholders and not its customers, Van Herik said.
The utility is working on the pilot project with ham radio operators, he said. Tests elsewhere of BPL have created interference on amateur radio bands.
The announcement by SDG&E follows other recent news on the BPL front, including Google’s investment in Current Communication, IBM’s BPL development partnership with CenterPoint Energy, a $520k loan by a Michigan state agency to fund BPL deployments in two small communities, and Motorola’s introduction of a BPL system that promises to minimize interference with ham radio operations.
Posted by Mitch Shapiro at 2:48 PM | Print | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Wireless Philadelphia has selected three consortiums led by AT&T, Hewlett-Packard and Earthlink as finalists to design, build and maintain Philadelphia’s planned citywide Wi-Fi network. The nonprofit organization plans to make a final selection, including a second “backup” bidder, on July 29. AP’s Deborah Yao reports that:
AT&T has partnered with Lucent and BelAir Networks while Hewlett-Packard’s group encompasses Aptilo Networks, Alvarion, Business Information Group and Tropos. Earthlink linked with Motorola Canopy and Tropos.
Wireless Philadelphia…gave preference to proposals offering a complete system instead of partial services, said Dianah Neff, the city’s chief information officer who is overseeing the effort…The nonprofit weighed the merits of 12 proposals - eight of which offered “turnkey” solutions…Neff said the group considered not only cost but coverage, performance and the technology’s “ability to scale.”
The cost to deploy, maintain and support the project is estimated between $15 million and $18 million, Neff said. It will be financed by bonds, foundation grants and low-interest bank loans. The initiative, which should go live by next summer, expects to see positive cash flow in its second year of operations.
According to the AP story, Ron Sege, president of Wi-Fi equipment vendor Tropos (part of HP’s consortium) pegs the monthly wholesale cost to operate and maintain the network at $8-$10 per subscriber, with retail ISPs expected to charge about double that rate.
Posted by Mitch Shapiro at 1:57 PM | Print | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Courtesy of Om Malik, the Global IP Policy Alliance has established a policy matrix and wiki to “share information about the Internet, IP communications and carriers worldwide.”
The policy matrix is cool — it lists the status of laws and regulations, and proposed laws and regulations, governing IP-based communications in countries around the world. Highlighted are descriptions of the governing agencies in the relevant country, links to the agencies, names of the major carriers in the country and the status of laws governing (primarily voice-related) IP-based communications.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 9:53 AM | Print | Comments (0) | TrackBack
CNN is ahead of the game in soliciting content from citizen journalists. Courtesy of Cory Bergman at Lost Remote, the news network has posted a page actively seeking video, photos and other content from witnesses to yesterday’s round of bombings in London.
“CNN.com is looking for stories from people who witnessed the July 21 incidents in London,” the network says on a site powered by public communications software provider Neighborhood America.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 8:55 AM | Print | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The clock ran out on a bill in the Texas legislature that would have allowed phone companies to gain state-wide cable franchises for their video services. The legislation stalled during mark-up of a conference version of the bill in a special session that ended Wednesday.
However, still grappling with school funding issues, the legislature is in the midst of yet another special session, during which proponents of the telecom bill hope to revive its chances. Governor Rick Perry called for the extended special session yesterday.
New telecom bills that mirror the former legislation were quickly introduced during the first day of this session. But, the thorny problem of school finance could derail this third attempt to pass telecom legislation in Texas.
According to a piece by Claudia Grisales in the Austin-American Statesman, Governor Perry has his sites solely focused on school funding.
“The governor has always said they need to get education done first, and I think that theory holds,” said Robert Black, a spokesman for Perry. “I think everyone wants education finished and the governor wants to see the education bills hit his desk before he sees these other pieces of major legislation.”Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 8:28 AM | Print | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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