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City officials in Tempe, Ariz. hosted a “Cutting the Wires” ceremony on Monday, marking the initial availability of Tempes citywide wireless access network.
The WAZTempe (Wireless Access Zone Tempe) network, covering 40 square miles, provides Wi-Fi access to all local residents and businesses.
It also offers municipal services for Arizona State University personnel, as well as other city workers including police, fire and emergency, according to city officials.
Tempe officials selected NeoReach Wireless, a subsidiary of broadband provider MobilePro Corp. of Bethesda, Md., to deploy and manage the WAZTempe network.
The city then chose Strix Systems Inc., a player in the wireless mesh market, to provide the networks underlying technology, according to a representative.
“While many cities have announced their plans to deploy wireless mesh networks, our citywide deployment in Tempe is the first and largest of its kind to demonstrate not only the ability to provide data services to users, but advanced voice and video applications as well,” Nan Chen, vice president of marketing at Strix, said in a statement.
“The WAZTempe network offers a variety of add-on services, such as virtual private networks, voice over IP, video and data combination that users can access through fixed or mobile networks,” Chen added.
The network allows for nomadic roaming throughout Tempe and supports a wide range of wireless devices, including handheld, SIP-enabled products, such as Wi-Fi mobile phones and desktop, laptop and handheld computers.