IPWireless Provides Gillette, Wyoming with Citywide, LTE-Based End-to-End Mobile Broadband Wireless Network for Public Safety and Public Administration

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--IPWireless, a leading provider of 3GPP technology for new applications and markets, today announced that the city of Gillette, Wyoming is deploying a citywide high-speed, wireless network for Police, Utilities, Public Works and Engineering Departments utilizing IPWireless 3GPP-based end-to-end, mobile broadband solutions. The multi-agency wireless network provides police utilities and other municipal departments with a single integrated network that enhances public safety and improves citywide data communications, while lowering overall communication costs.

“The benefits of deploying a wireless network to enhance public safety and improve municipal productivity are self-evident”

Gillette’s Police Department and Utilities departments have been trialing a pilot network of two sites since November 2009. Based on the successful results of the pilot, the city is expanding the wireless network to six sites covering more than 40 square miles and will support over a half dozen municipal agencies including police, public works, utilities, planning, and engineering. Gillette is deploying the network in conjunction with VC3, an IT consultancy provider focused on both commercial and public sector clients. The end-to-end network includes IPWireless 3GPP-based network infrastructure, chipsets, and end user device, and uses the same technology that is being used in the New York City Wireless Network (NYCWiN). IPWireless 3GPP mobile broadband solutions provide unmatched and uncompromising multi-megabit mobile broadband performance coupled with state-of-the art Quality of Service mechanisms, real-time service prioritization, and pre-emption, and are software upgradeable to LTE when the city is ready to transition.

Gillette’s city workers are equipped with mobile computers to take advantage of the network, including access to centralized databases, e-mail, mapping, building plans and images. As such, workers have access to important information without having to go back to their offices or use outdated radio dispatch. For example, the city’s utilities department can now use SCADA devices to wirelessly monitor water pumping stations, water wells and tanks, wastewater lift stations and treatment plant, and electrical substations, compressor banks and revenue metering for improved city planning and maintenance.

“This network is an incredible resource for all our city departments. Most importantly, it improves operating efficiencies by allowing our technology to be utilized in the field,” said Pamela L. Boger, Administrative Services Director. “Performance results from the IPWireless solution during the past 4 months have exceeded our expectations and we anticipate that the new network will pay for itself through savings from vehicle maintenance, improved productivity gains, and fuel costs alone.”

“We are confident that the IPWireless solution was the best technology choice for our needs,” added Tracy Gover, Information Technology Manager from Gillette. “Their solution has been proven in multiple cities, provides the spectrum flexibility we require, works in spectrum as narrow as 5.5 MHz, and protects our investment into the future by allowing us to easily upgrade to LTE when the time is right.”

“The benefits of deploying a wireless network to enhance public safety and improve municipal productivity are self-evident,” said Dr. Bill Jones, chief executive officer of IPWireless. “Within the next few years, we expect every city in the United States, whether they are a large metropolis like New York City or a small city like Gillette, to deploy a mobile broadband network to make their communities safer and enhance the quality of life for their citizens. IPWireless deep understanding of the unique requirements necessary for these municipal networks, combined with our exclusive focus on 3GPP technologies, allows us to efficiently and rapidly meet the needs of these cities.”

About IPWireless

IPWireless broadens the horizons of 3GPP, the world’s preeminent mobile standard, to support a range of compelling new applications and untapped global spectrum bands. With its complete end-to-end 3GPP solutions, including chipsets, devices, and complete network solutions, the Company enables mobile operators and other new wireless entrants from the government, consumer electronics, and other sectors, to deliver a new generation of wireless services.

The company’s proven high-performance mobile broadband solutions have been deployed by a set of marquee customers around the globe in both the commercial and government markets including T-Mobile, New York City’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT), and some of the first 700MHz deployments in the United States. IPWireless’ award winning mobile broadcast solutions have been tested by some of the largest mobile operators in the world, and allow device, chipset and network vendors to accelerate their offerings for Integrated Mobile Broadcast (IMB), the GSMA endorsed mobile broadcast standard.

IPWireless is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and operates a technology development center in Chippenham, UK. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.ipwireless.com