MetroNetIQ's First Book Hits the Presses

It's been an exciting effort to produce our first book! It's at the publishers now and with any luck will be available within the next couple of weeks on Amazon and through this website.

Here's the back cover language, which says a lot about why I wrote this book ...

With Municipal Wireless on the ropes recently, many wonder what's next. The one sure thing is digital transition - all communities must go through a transition to digital, replacing labor and paper-based processes with more efficient digital tools and processes. Because digital equipment runs on multiple types of wired and wireless commercial and private broadband networks, new alternatives are now made available for those communities ready to cast their lot with the 21st century. All it takes is a little planning, some nerve, a dash of leadership, some conversation, a little more planning, some funding, and of course, good luck. That may sound daunting, and it is, until one considers the alternative - economic stagnation and more of the same. The good news is that when it comes to public approaches to broadband, Municipal Wireless may be toast, but that phase is over, and it was just a beginning, not the end. With lessons learned over five years of experimentation, Community Broadband and Digital Transitions are teed up and ready to go to work - all that's missing is the orientation to help civic leaders recognize the opportunity at hand and realize that our society is at the dawn of a new era, where creativity and the harnessing of human resources offer hope to all of America's communities. The ABCs of Community Broadband provides the orientation. There's also the will to embrace the future. That challenge lies ahead for our local community leaders.

I wrote this book because most of what the layman/laywoman hears about this industry is through one of the many and sundry newspaper or magazine articles documenting how screwed up Municipal Wireless is. Casual readers have not had an opportunity to learn what we have. The fact is, it's a pretty good technology, for what it does.

Mostly what they've read has been the bad news, which is the other fact - the business model it was launched under did Wi Fi Mesh a tremendous disservice. It was never meant to do the things the industry tried to make it do, like solve the Digital Divide. Fugggedaboutit! But it all gets looped into the same article and the take away is "Wi Fi?" Municipal Wireless" "I heard that was a big, big mess!" and the next thought is "I don't want anything to do with it!"

This story needs to be told, and there are details that need to be soaked up before the casual reader - and this fits many of our business and government leaders at the local level, when it comes to broadband - really has an opportunity to understand what they are walking away from, and what they are accepting in terms of their future economic potential. It doesn't make sense to leave good tools sitting on the bench when they're ready to go to work.

Metropolitan Broadband, Community Broadband, Digital Transition - however you call it - there is tremendous potential in these technologies for those communities that are diligent and deliberate and focus on efficiency. We still waste so much money doing things the old way in our local governments, because "that's the way we've always done it."

And just think about where the internet will go when everyone gets on board - so let's start building infrastructure, for Pete's Sake!

Here's the Table of Contents - I'll keep you all posted as the book comes on-line, and I hope you all will go buy one or more copies. Baby needs a new pair of shoes!

Table of Contents

7 Introduction
16 A Applications: Wireless Broadband Goes to Work - describes public and private sector software applications that run on broadband networks
21 B Broadband in America - a short history of conventional broadband, wireless spectrum regulation and the potential of wireless broadband networks
31 C Communities and Communication - broadband infrastructure is an essential aspect of communities and communication; municipally-owned electric utilities offer a model to consider
38 D Deciding on Digital Transition - executive decision making in the face of environmental change to a digital platform
55 E The Economics (Cost) of Wi Fi Mesh - each cost component of a Wi Fi Mesh network project is detailed to provide a rough estimate for a 10-square mile (and 1-square mile) network
66 F Fiber, Tripping the Light Fantastic - Fiber to the Home (FTTH)
74 G Good Government: A Balancing Act - all local governments face a challenge in balancing a budget during an economic downturn - a new set of assumptions points to a digital transition!
77 H From Hot Spots to Hot Zones, and Beyond - the different forms and shapes of wireless broadband access
89 I 21st Century Infrastructure - like highways, roads, streets and bridges, broadband networks move data around to make 21st century economies hum
98 J The Joy of Planning - 17 principles for planning from an interpersonal, business, and technological perspective and sample plans for community broadband and regional collaboration
106 K Killer Apps, Tipping Points and Networks - software applications, computing hardware, and networks in symbiosis
113 L Loving the Local Perspective - local is where the action is
117 M March to Mobility - a short history of mobile broadcast and two-way communications - all will be mobile some day
122 N NEST, the Creative Class and Economic Development - tapping human potential is the key to any community's future
130 O Ownership Has Its Privileges - step by step demonstration of the benefits of a publicly-owned network project
136 P A Second Look at Public Private Partnerships - options for a city that is considering partnering with a private sector partner
140 Q Quick, Cheap, and Good (Enough) - back to the basics, getting on with progress means accepting solutions that are not perfect
148 R Risk, Reward, and Resources - the relationship between risk and reward and resources, providing the reader with a refresher course on important conceptual connections for decision-making
159 S Digital Public Safety - the business case for a police department should it decide to go through a digital transition
163 T Community Transformation via Digital Transition - change begins at home, and going digital is the first step to getting off the treadmill of the status quo
174 U Electric Utility Digital Transition - the business argument for a municipally owned electric utility to consider working with its host city government on an integrated digital transition project
185 V Digital Video and Voice - the two killer apps that will drive adoption of wireless broadband
190 W The World Wide Web, 2.0 and Beyond - the internet is not the web, and the web is changing before our very eyes
199 X The Coming ExaFlood - even 10 Mbs will soon not be enough: why we need to be building the network of tomorrow, not a network to meet current data needs
208 Y The Young and the Restless - Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, and Digital Adolescence
217 Z The Last Word, The Bottom Line - summary conclusions and a list of 75 Things to Remember
234 Glossary of Community Broadband Terms