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Wi-Max Deployed in Katrina Disaster Area
Spy Handler writes "In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina's destruction of telecom infrastructure in New Orleans, officials are turning to wireless broadband for use by government workers. Intel, a key backer of WiMax, and Cisco are donating wireless equipment to aid disaster workers. This could be a good opportunity to replace an antiquated system of copper wires with brand-new technology." From the article: "Shakouri and other industry experts contend that the devastation of Hurricane Katrina offers a chance to build the sort of modern network that phone and cable companies have promised for years. Such a network -- whether wireless or fiber-optic -- could deliver movies or medical records at speeds hundreds of times faster than current Internet connections. Telecom executives and analysts, though, aren't so sure it's the right time or place."
They aren't 'donating' per se -- yes, they're giving it away at no cost, but it's VERY good publicity for them.
Just think how good it sounds to have two tech companies donating tech to relief efforts. NOw, if only FEMA would get with the times and realize that not everyone uses windows/IE...
Show this to your friends and family that don't know what a real hacker is
It may not be exactly "the right time and place", but as long as it isn't diverting skills and resources away from more critical, lifesaving activities, surely it can't hurt to have such things available?
$10/month: 120GB bw, SSH, CVS, Rails and 10 years' experience!
*Waits for FEMA to reject this assistance for some BS reason as well.*
Its a good thing there arent solar flares disrupting communications at the moment. Oh wait there are.
My sympathy goes out to the victims.
>>"Telecom executives and analysts, though, aren't so sure it's the right time or place."
Why is it because of the poverty level and they won't have enough clientele? Or because they will lose all the equipment once the next hurricane hits (man vs nature - my bet is on nature but that's another discussion)
Personally, I've heard New Orleans is a big convention city and wouldn't that be a good reason to "hook them up" with this technology.
If the technology is as a good as they are touting, it will draw more people to the area for meetings/conventions would it not?
"The company considered installing wireless broadband in rebuilding, Smith said, but it found that it could recover most of its fiber network. The technologies will be used eventually. "I'm a big fan of WiMax," he said."
These products operate in the unlicensed 2.4GHz ISM band, or the licensed 2.3 GHz WCS, 2.5/2.6 GHz ITFS/MMDS, and 3.4/3.5 GHz WLL bands. Guess who owns the licensed spectrum - that's right, Bell South....big fan indeed.
Its times like this that the big firms should be congradulated. I dont see microsoft doing things like this *whistles*
OK, so Bill Gates isn't actually Microsoft, per se - but he's personally holding a lot of the stock and cash that has resulted from their growth. I'm sure it pains you to know that he's donated, personally, a fortune to relief and charities. Just one donation (the largest in history) was $5 Billion towards malaria relieft and innoculation of children. The Gates foundation has already donated $1.5 million towards hurricane relief this week (mostly through the red cross).
As for Microsoft itself, you might want to at least spend a couple of moments reading before you assume they're doing nothing. They have already lined up $9 Million in cash and donations in IT systems to help the local governments impacted by the storm. They're matching their employees' donations - and those people have collectively put up over a million as well. They've deployed three satellite communications busses in Baton Rouge and Mississippi, and are working directly with Intel and Cisco on support of Red Cross operations.
There are two predictable things, here. One - that since MS routinely does these things, they are doing it now, too - whether or not the press mentions it. And two - that it would of course never get a posting on slashdot, just on principle.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Someone I speak to occasionally works in the communications industry, and after Katrina happened he started to chase up his superiors to see what can be done to deploy wireless communications in the disaster area - he made numerous calls to government officials to be told time after time that he was speaking to the *wrong* person - all the while the government were complaining "if only we had communications" - needless to say he's not been in a very good mood lately...
Better late than never I suppose, but this could have been so much more useful had it been set up earlier...
Here's the "first post" on it right here in slashdot. Of course many simply flamed.
"Now would be a fantastic opportunity to install a citywide Wi-Fi network. If the ILEC was ever going to do it and get good press for it, now is the time. Could Intel use another test bed for Wi-Max?"
Have you hugged your penguin today?
Very much so , A hurricane could literally rip up the existing infrastructure causing immeasurable damage over a wide area .(think tens of thousands of broken lines and switch boxes) ,plus it would be a hell of a lot cheaper .(think the man-hours , the cost of the street and cable repairs etc. Vs. the cost of a few servers and a few antennas )
Even if it destroys every Wi-Max antenna in the area it would only take a matter of hours to replace them
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
I guess.
Yes, I suppose when a major U.S. city is destroyed, that is an excellent time to follow Africa's paradoxically late "lead" and just pass over copper and even fiber in some cases.
We get this sort of simplistic attitude exhibited whenever people mention sending any sort of gadget developed after WWII to impoverished nations, it shouldn't apply there and it shouldn't apply to the southern US - technology that does not appear to be instantly lifesaving does help people live better lives and does save lives.
Look, officials have been complaining since day 1 that a big part of the problem is communications:
The military has been aware of this issue for *decades*, that's why they invented the Internet, which allows all kinds of information to be exchanged using a standard set of protocols. That is the key to allowing different parties, that don't usually communicate, to rapidly and dynamically set up new data exchange pathways during an emergency.Now can I rant for a minute? Every time slashdot reports a communications network is to be set up in a poor country or emergency, somebody complains that communications are superflous in such circumstances. That's insane! Ask yourself - why are cops, soldiers, and emergency responders such heavy users of communications technology? Don't they have better things to do than sit around chatting?
Well it is a good situation to update the infrastructure (although being one of the poorer areas of the US, I'd doubt they'd go too far due to a lack of major corporate backing). On that note, why would they avoid good old copper or other great technologies? The potential of copper (10-gigabit is the latest 'consumer' technology) is faster, more reliable, and more secure than any WiFi they can throw at it.
C'mon- WiFi is fun and all to save you running wires to your basement, or giving you e-mail while you check your coffee, but lets be realistic. It's a security issue. It's a reliability issue (interference, signal issues in certain areas, 'jamming'). And the spectrum only has so much room in it. Just run a few wires and call it a day.
-M
when you see the word 'Linux', drink!
When a tropical cyclone (like a hurricane but spins clockwise) hit and distroyed Darwin, NT on Christmas day 1974, all of the copper was ripped up, but the microwave telephone link remained operational. I'm not sure if this is really the same thing, since those microwave stations are a hell of a lot bigger than anything to do with wimax, but wireless does tend to survive huge natural disasters fairly well.
When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
Expensive WiMax equipment was stolen from the near lawless city of New Orleans.