Florence
24-03-2005, 10:06
I have started to watch for more information on this after first hearing about it months ago and thought it was never going to go any further but now it looks like its moving another step towards testing.
The area they are going to test this out is not known but it does have some ideas and it could just work.
The latest company to tout use of street lampposts as a potential solution for any remaining broadband coverage problems is the aptly named Last Mile Communications:
On Tuesday, Last Mile announced that it will work with consultancy firm QinetiQ to commercialise its plans. Trials are scheduled for later this year at an undisclosed location, and Last Mile says it is confident that its service can be rolled out on a large scale.
While Last Mile's service will turn lampposts into wireless access points that will provide access to the Internet, the company is thinking beyond just providing connectivity. It is planning to install flash memory inside the lampposts, and store information about local pubs, coffee shops and retail outlets.
According to Barry Shrier, Last Mile's sales and marketing director, people who run an application called the MagicBook on a mobile device will be able to connect to their nearest enabled lamppost and access the information stored on it.
No it's not an early April Fools day joke, in fact lampposts have been touted as a solution at least once before. Some police services also use them to keep wirelessly connected to CCTV cameras.
more can be read on ZDNet (http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/wireless/0,39020348,39192562,00.htm)
The area they are going to test this out is not known but it does have some ideas and it could just work.
The latest company to tout use of street lampposts as a potential solution for any remaining broadband coverage problems is the aptly named Last Mile Communications:
On Tuesday, Last Mile announced that it will work with consultancy firm QinetiQ to commercialise its plans. Trials are scheduled for later this year at an undisclosed location, and Last Mile says it is confident that its service can be rolled out on a large scale.
While Last Mile's service will turn lampposts into wireless access points that will provide access to the Internet, the company is thinking beyond just providing connectivity. It is planning to install flash memory inside the lampposts, and store information about local pubs, coffee shops and retail outlets.
According to Barry Shrier, Last Mile's sales and marketing director, people who run an application called the MagicBook on a mobile device will be able to connect to their nearest enabled lamppost and access the information stored on it.
No it's not an early April Fools day joke, in fact lampposts have been touted as a solution at least once before. Some police services also use them to keep wirelessly connected to CCTV cameras.
more can be read on ZDNet (http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/wireless/0,39020348,39192562,00.htm)