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CITY OF SPOKANE CHOOSES VIVATO TO UNLEASH THE LARGEST MUNICIPAL
WIRELESS NETWORK IN THE U.S.
Downtown Spokane “Hot Zone” Will Improve City Services
and Serve Businesses, Citizens, Visitors and Students
San Francisco, Calif. – March 23, 2004 – Vivato™,
an extended reach wireless systems infrastructure company, today
announced that the City of Spokane has selected Vivato’s 2.4
GHz Wi-Fi Outdoor Switch and Wi-Fi Bridge Router to create the nation’s
largest city-wide wireless network to support city services and
boost local economic development with public access Wi-Fi.
Spokane, the largest city in eastern Washington state, with a population
of 196,000, has undertaken a downtown renaissance that includes
extending its “connectivity quotient.” In collaboration,
the city, Vivato, Itronix, a developer of wireless, rugged mobile
computing systems, the Downtown Spokane Partnership, a private,
non-profit downtown membership organization, Purcell Systems, a
provider of modular, outdoor enclosures, and broadband provider
OneEighty Networks will collaborate to provide wireless service
to the 100-block downtown area. The downtown “Hot Zone”
will improve city services by facilitating intelligent policing,
quicker fire and rescue response, and will support e-government
initiatives and a more productive mobile workforce. The project
also will allow the public to use the wireless network, making Spokane’s
downtown more attractive for citizens, high-tech businesses and
visitors.
“Vivato’s cutting-edge wireless technology offers unmatched
coverage, enabling the city of Spokane to cost effectively build
a wireless infrastructure that will have far-reaching implications
for the economic well-being of our community,” said Robin Toth,
economic development project manager for the city of Spokane.
Following the downtown wireless project, the city will phase in
expansion of wireless connectivity to the area around the Spokane
Veterans Memorial Arena, the South Hill medical complexes, the University
District and the Spokane International Airport.
Vivato’s 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi Outdoor Switch is designed to extend
the reach of Wi-Fi through its unique PacketSteering™ technology
that directs Wi-Fi capacity to active 802.11b clients through an
electronically-controlled, phased array antenna, enabling unprecedented
coverage. This unique architecture allows Vivato’s switches
to transmit high-gain wireless beams over a distance of 2.5 miles
outdoors with direct line of sight, and shorter distances without
direct line of sight.
“Vivato’s unique ability to provide extended wireless
coverage is a perfect match for cities and towns like Spokane that
are committed to building intelligent communities,” said Kevin
Ryan, vice president of marketing and business development at Vivato.
“We are particularly excited about supporting such a project
as it clearly signals a change in how all cities look at their communications
infrastructure.”
About Vivato
Vivato is a wireless systems infrastructure company with technology
that is based upon an innovative signal processing and antenna design.
Vivato’s unique system architecture enables cost-effective,
large-scale indoor and outdoor wireless deployments at hotels, airports,
seaports, warehouses, universities, and in cities and towns. Vivato
is headquartered in San Francisco, with a research and development
center in Spokane, Wash. For more information, please visit www.vivato.net
or call 415.495.1111.
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