Mayor Will Wynn pressed the big white button that activated downtown Austin's free wireless Internet network Friday morning. The permanent network is a first-of-its-kind gift to the city for hosting the World Congress on Information Technology.
The mayor kicked off the weeklong conference with the CEO of the WCIT, Glyn Meek, at Jo's coffee shop.
"Academically, it benefits our citizens to help our wireless industry company grow and continues to promote Austin as a technology hub. Business travelers are going to have a pretty easy time now," Wynn said.
The network will be used as an infield laboratory, providing opportunities for researchers and companies to test wireless applications, software and other products, the mayor said.
"Of course, a big [beneficiary] of this will be our citizens," he said. "Folks here daily, who come here to Jo's, have a coffee out on the sidewalk and not only have access to the Internet, but because of that, have access to the municipal city of Austin online government."
The mayor's announcement marked the first phase of the network installation. With computer networking equipment manufacturer Cisco Systems Inc., the city will expand the wireless service to some parts of South and East Austin later this week.
"We're very excited about getting into elementary schools in East Austin," Wynn said. The network covers Austin from Town Lake to Seventh Street, between Interstate Highway 35 and Lamar Boulevard, and later will also expand to include Zilker Park.
The network will be maintained and managed by the city and Austin Energy with help from Cisco's team.
Cisco donated $700,000 worth of wireless-networking equipment so the network would be available to the technology leaders and delegates from 81 countries attending WCIT this week.
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