Startup VAR Wins Long Island WiFi Deal

Beating Earthlink, among others, Tampa, Fla.-based e-Path Communications will lead a team in creating and managing a wireless broadband communications network in Long Island. Residents, businesses, municipal governments and visitors will have access to different levels of connectivity to the Internet, with vertical applications providing custom functionality at an additional cost.

Unlike standard city-wide hotspots that take a "build it and they will come" philosophy, e-Path maintains ownership of the network, providing a commission on the revenue to the government counties of Suffolk and Nassau, who act as the anchor tenants on the network.

"Counties understand that they need to buy the service," says David Hurwitz, president of business marketing at e-Path. "This is different than other cities, where they try to renegotiate the contract, taking a lot for free and not giving any back we're going to negotiate a contract that has commitments on both ends."

e-Pro teamed with Cisco Systems for the networking equipment, and KeySpan Communications for backhaul capacity on the natural gas distributor's high speed fiber optic networks, engineering, operational and network management, and support in wireless links for utility applications. Before any contract specifics are confirmed, e-Pro will do a pilot project with the counties to test the technology with its signal and the terrain.

Should the project indeed move forward after pilot testing is complete, public and private sector consumers will have more than wireless broadband available. The general low-speed service will be free and readily available throughout the counties, with the option to upgrade to a faster basic premium service for a cost, and bundle additional products. Citizens might purchase Internet phone and IP cellular or even a broadband, Web-based home security system. Sensors placed throughout the home -- whether on the liquor cabinet, the gun closet, or doors and windows -- trigger a text message or a call to the police department when activated. Businesses and government agencies can purchase such customized services as automatic meter reading, asset tracking, environmental quality monitoring, telemedicine and remote patient care for hospitals, and IP video applications for first responders.

"There are a number of others struggling in this business because they focus on selling residential Internet access at low cost, with no real revenue opportunity or value add," Hurwitz says. For e-Pro, broadband WiFi is just a means to get the customer to its next-generation switching technology and the associated array of products and services. "The mission is to give mobility to customers anytime, anywhere through access to fully managed integrated suites of products, rich with applications, that rely on wireless broadband at the core."