CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI EXTENDS TROPOS WIRELESS BROADBAND NETWORK
TO IMPROVE TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT AND PUBLIC SAFETY DURING SPRING BREAK

Digitally Progressive City is Seeking Selection by Google for High Speed Fiber Network Project 

SUNNYVALE, CA -- March 30, 2010 - Tropos Networks, the leader in wireless IP broadband mesh networks deployed by cities and utilities, today announced the City of Corpus Christi’s innovative use of their network during Spring Break to manage traffic and increase public safety. The sudden influx of more than 150,000 people arriving at the popular Upper Padre Island Beach makes it challenging to manage traffic and public safety. To help solve the problem, the City extended their existing citywide Tropos broadband network to provide coverage across a five-mile beach area and added 3 additional IP video cameras. 

Results to date have been positive, improving the flow of vehicle and foot traffic as well as public safety.  Solis Energy solar panels power the Tropos routers as well as Axis and Sony PTZ video cameras in the beach area. Solis Energy, Axis and Sony are all Tropos Solution Partners.  The live video is monitored by the City’s IT department, police staff and park operations personnel. 

“We’re very pleased that we could easily extend our existing Tropos broadband network to improve public safety during Spring Break,” said John Sendejar, External Relations Manager for the City of Corpus Christi.  “We had very few problems thanks to the wireless network and video cameras that provided real-time visibility into problems before they got out of control. Because the Tropos network requires virtually no maintenance and is very reliable, we were able to quickly extend the network to get coverage where and when we needed it while continuing to use the network for many different applications.”

While the expansion of the broadband network and cameras was initially intended just for Spring Break, with the positive impact it has had, the City hopes to keep the system at the beach permanently which will be useful during the busy Summer season when many visitors visit the beach area.

Since the initial rollout out of the Tropos wireless broadband infrastructure in 2005, the City has utilized the network for a myriad of municipal services. Initially the network was used for automated meter reading (AMR) of 120,000 water and gas meters; the additional capacity has enabled the City to cost effectively add communications for its mobile city workers over the same network.  Mobile city workers using the network today includes building inspectors, code enforcement officers, fire inspectors, animal control officers, water and gas utility workers, and technical field staff.  High-speed access to the network has improved their efficiencies and reduced direct and indirect costs for the City.  “I’m going department by department to see where we can increase productivity by using the communications network. The more productive we are, the more efficient we are which allows us to better allocate resources and save money,” said Sendejar.

Corpus Christi was one of the first cities in America to have a citywide wireless broadband network and currently has one of the largest broadband mesh networks for public Internet access anywhere. Ranked the number one Digital City in 2006 and 2010, the City has over 25 Wi-Fi hot zones which provide free public Wi-Fi access (www.Connectcc.com). With over 20,000 user sessions per month, the City wants to take their vision a step further, and is hopeful that Google will test their ultra high-speed fiber network in Corpus Christi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4gqCmheG9M). “We have the best Wi-Fi network thanks to Tropos Networks, now we want the best fiber network,” said Sendejar.

“Corpus Christi continues to demonstrate its forward looking thinking in leveraging their wireless broadband to help improve efficiencies of a wide range of municipal applications and services that benefit the community,” said Tom Ayers, president and CEO, Tropos Networks.