Paul Butcher, Marketing Manager of Intel's State and Local Government group

Intel, already a strong presence in encouraging municipal broadband, took another step in that direction on August 18, 2005, with the announcement that Pronto Networks, a leading provider of carrier-class operations support systems (OSS) for managing large-scale Wi-Fi hot spot and hot zone networks, would now be a part of Intel’s Digital Communities initiative designed to help communities use a wireless infrastructure to expand and improve services for municipal governments, businesses and citizens. 

Broadband Wireless Access World spoke today with Paul Butcher, Marketing Manager of the State and Local Government group at Intel Americas, Inc., about Intel's Digital Communities initiative.

You can listen to that conversation with Paul Butcher at Intel's State and Local Government group in its entirety by clicking here.

Intel's Digital Communities initiative is designed to speed the deployment of powerful broadband wireless networks as a tool for municipal development and user access. It already involves these cities:

Cleveland, Ohio; Corpus Christi, Texas; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Taipei, Taiwan; Portland, Oregon; Mangaratiba, Brazil; Düsseldorf, Germany; Gyor, Hungary; Jerusalem, Israel; Principality of Monaco; Seoul, South Korea; Osaka, Japan; and Westminster, United Kingdom.

Cisco, Dell, IBM and SAP are joined in the Digital Communities program by Accela, Airpath Wireless, Alvarion, British Telecom, CapGemini, CDW Government, Inc (CDW-G), Check Point, Civitium, EarthLink, iMove, Panasonic Computer Solutions Company, Pronto Networks, Szintezis Rt., Telindus, Tropos and Vertex.

Intel is also working closely with Muniwireless.com, an online site devoted to municipal wireless broadband, detailing the return on investment that local governments can realize from technology deployment. In conjunction with the Intel Digital Communities initiative, Muniwireless created a solutions library with case studies that highlights how applications can help governments increase productivity, save money and improve services.

Additional information on Intel’s Digital Communities initiative and pilot communities is available at http://www.intel.com/go/digitalcommunities.