The Sunnyvale Sun

News

Cutting edge connections coming to downtown soon

By JASON GOLDMAN-HALL

It would stand to reason that Sunnyvale--home to Yahoo!, the "Heart of Silicon Valley" and a city known globally for its efficient management styles and innovative practices--would be up on the most recent Internet advancements.

In neighboring Cupertino and San Jose, anyone visiting city hall and other city facilities can log onto the Internet using a free wireless network and watch council meetings or other city events on their computers. In Sunnyvale, the closest wireless connection to the city hall campus is four blocks away in the center of the downtown area, and council meetings can be seen only on Sunnyvale public access television or on tapes at the Sunnyvale Public Library.

But three study issues at the July 25 council meeting--and three unanimous approvals--have put the city three steps closer to providing services many people expect.

"Given that Sunnyvale call itself the Heart of Silicon Valley, it's kind of embarrassing that we don't already have wireless service," said Vice Mayor Otto Lee.

In the first study issue, the city decided the current number of computers with Internet access at the library is sufficient to meet demand, but council and staff both agreed that improvements could still be made.

"We have enough, but there is always room for more," said administrative librarian Susan Denniston.

Currently, 35 of the library's 72 public-use computers have Internet access.

But while Internet access on desktop computers was in high demand a decade ago, many people today carry laptops or other personal computers with them and need wireless access.

The council also approved a plan to bring free wireless Internet access to visitors and staff members in the vicinity of city hall and the library. Sunnyvale as a whole has only had widely available wireless Internet access since Dec. 5, 2005, when MetroFi launched service.

MetroFi's network has expanded throughout Sunnyvale, including the downtown area, but has yet to come to the civic campus.

The council unanimously chose to work with MetroFi to bring that service to city hall and the library. The service is free and supported by advertisements that run on-screen for users. It is also available for subscribers--advertisement-free--for $19.95 a month.

And while it would have cost the city more than $80,000 annually to run its own wireless service, working with MetroFi won't cost the city anything.

The one problem, brought up by city staff, is that unlike most light poles in Sunnyvale--where the MetroFi transmitters would be mounted--that run on solar power collected during the day, the lights around city hall are all connected to a central power source. These "banked" lights would need to be converted to independent power sources if transmitters were to be placed on top to facilitate a network.

Also, visitors using the city's proposed wireless service could soon be able to watch council meetings from their computers or view archived meetings, thanks to a plan to webcast all council meetings and some other city meeting and events.

Currently, only Sunnyvale residents with Comcast cable can watch live meetings, and old meetings are only available at the library. But in order to meet the needs of residents who don't have the television station or can't make it to the library, the city is looking into putting its meetings on the Internet, as San Jose, Cupertino and many other South Bay cities already do.

"I think its something we desperately need," said Councilman Dean Chu.

The council decided to look at outsourcing the job to a company that would set up the hardware, broadcast the meetings and provide limited-time archiving of old meetings.

City staff estimated it could cost $26,000 to start the webcasting and $18,000 annually for the service. That cost includes a year of archived meetings, and the city would have to pay more to purchase additional storage for older meetings.

The city is also looking at working with Comcast to provide meetings in their "Video on Demand" selection for viewers to access at any time.