Trip to Arizona is revealing

On Monday morning, Hal, Bill, and I had a rousing discussion in Agility's offices on the current state of the wireless ISP and infrastructure industry. Because of their focus on the private sector, they look at the municipal wireless industry realistically, aware of the hurdles the industry has yet to overcome. One challenge is the long sales cycle. Another, made apparent by MobilePro's withdrawal last week from Sacramento, concerns the desire by city governments to cut the best deal possible, shifting as much risk as they can to the private sector partner. As we saw last week, there is a limit to the risk a private sector firm can manage, and cities are testing those limits in these public private partnerships. We agreed that the most potential in wireless may well be in targeted smaller scale deployments, where the right management team can make good headway with focus on distinct market needs and execution of well-thought-out plans. Highlighting the need for advanced marketing, Bill provided a memorable quote: "if you don't presell, you're gonna fail."

And after this visit, my hat's off to Ryan and his team in Tempe, considering what they were able to pull off. With all the buzz in the press about the potential of pending wireless mesh in cities such as Philadelphia, San Francisco, Portland, Houston, and Chicago, we would all do well to heed the lessons learned in a network like Tempe.

First, it's not the case that Tempe is a lay-down hand just because it's located in the flat-land desert. To the contrary, I found a heavily treed environment in residential neighborhoods with limited line of sight: an urban setting not unlike many other cities. The Tempe network uses Strix Wi Fi Mesh nodes, which have four radios each, including 802.11a radios for backhaul. Ryan stressed the need for a well-designed backhaul system that integrates with a well-designed local network - note that the word "design" comes up often in talking with Ryan. His network uses just 8 take-out points to support the approximately 800 nodes, covering the 40-some-odd square miles of the network, which is a key element on why this network should prove to be cost-effective over time.

Second, the deal that MobilePro, the network's corporate sponsor, made with the city provides for free bandwidth in exchange for mounting assets (rooftops and poles) and power - the city works with the utility to secure mounting rights and power on behalf of the project. This is a win-win that should work for both the city and the network operator.

Finally, it's vital that the deployment team know what they're doing. As the industry grows, it will be increasingly important that the type of knowledge that Ryan's team has developed be applied to future deployments. The larger the deployment, the more complicated its interactivity and the greater the potential for the environment to impact its performance. I would stress the value of pilots so that the parties can work through issues on a small scale in advance of a larger, more complex deployment.

These two visits showed me the value of starting small and staying focused. It appears that the equipment will work as vendors have claimed, but that appropriate network design is vital for that to happen. To make money on the network, costs must be controlled tightly, and it helps to have a creative approach (e.g., limited backhaul points) that minimizes costs. Network like these must be well-planned and deliberately deployed. Getting an experienced and skilled team focused on the task at hand will be a vital component to success as these networks progress.

I am encouraged after seeing first-hand how these two successful companies work prudently and methodically to support two different perspectives on wireless broadband, from the micro to the metro. Wireless is coming to your town...are you ready?