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Scotlands largest city becomes
wireless
Wi-Fi Glasgow: Scotlands largest city
becomes wireless (16/08/05)
Glasgow has become the first city in
Scotland to have a BT Wi-Fi enabled city centre, thanks to a joint initiative
between Glasgow Council and BT. The installation of six BT Openzone hotspots
will enable citizens to enjoy high-speed internet access via wireless enabled
laptops and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). The hotspots are in the central
pedestrianised area of the city.
BT Multimedia Solutions is providing
this connectivity within a radius of 50 to100 metres of key locations in the
city’s main shopping and business district. These include George Square,
Queen Street and Sauchiehall Street. The Council is also considering extending
wireless internet access to other areas of Glasgow.
This new technology
will also be used to improve the flow of communication within the council, by
eventually enabling Glasgow Council to connect with its street workers via
hand-held devices and a virtual private network (VPN). The Council is already
considering the use of this type of technology for Wi-Fi access in Libraries
and Art Galleries, internet-based CCTV cameras, bus shelters, and traffic
signals.
Bailie Alan Stewart, ICT Spokesperson for the Council, said:
“Glasgow is a vibrant city with a bustling retail environment, renowned
cultural offering and dynamic business centre. The Council is working with a
range of public and private sector agencies in the City to develop a
‘Wireless Glasgow Strategy’ and action plan. By creating a Wi-Fi zone
in the city centre, citizens and visitors to Glasgow can access the internet
with greater freedom. The scheme heralds an exciting new era for the City,
particularly the way in which the council communicates with its mobile workers.
Council employees will soon be able to send and receive information via
council-issued devices that link into the wireless network.”
Julian
Turner, head of Multimedia Solutions at BT, said: “The creation of a
wireless network in Glasgow will improve connectivity for businesses in the
selected area and serve to create a dynamic environment in which to shop and do
business. Thanks to the existing BT payphones infrastructure around Glasgow
city centre, BT was able to install hotspots in the best locations to ensure
maximum WiFi coverage.”
What is Wi-Fi?
Wi-Fi
technology allows users to surf the internet, check email and connect to their
corporate intranet using a high-speed wireless broadband connection. The
“broadband” element of Wi-Fi means that connection speeds are
typically up to ten times quicker than both traditional dial-up and existing
mobile access services.
“Wireless” means there’s no need
to fiddle around with cables or hunt for a free space to plug in your laptop.
Whether a business traveller needs to change a presentation at the last minute,
a holidaymaker wants to send an email from the airport or a remote worker wants
to use his PDA (or other Wi-Fi enabled device) to contact colleagues, users can
take advantage of Wi-Fi ‘hotspots’ at thousands of locations
worldwide.
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