New Orleans' Wi-Fi network now a lifeline

NEW ORLEANS' WI-FI NETWORK NOW A LIFELINE
[SOURCE: ComputerWorld, AUTHOR: Tim Greene]
When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the only communication system that hadn't broken down was the wireless mesh network deployed in the downtown area to support surveillance cameras credited with reducing the city's prestorm violent-crime rate.
Today it still performs police duties, but as the lone public communications system left in the city, it also carries VoIP traffic that is the lifeline for many city businesses, said the city's CIO, Greg Meffert. The storm wiped out wireline phone service and cellular networks, and those that it didn't destroy outright couldn't be kept up because the city couldn't get fuel to the backup generators needed to keep the networks running, Meffert told an audience at a session during Spring VON 2006 this week. "We still have a third to a half of the city blocked out for telecom and power," Meffert said. Now the wireless mesh system supports a radio network for computer equipment in police cars as well as a free municipal Wi-Fi service. The city never tested the network for its current use, but it had no other choice, the CIO said.
http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,109662,00...