Cisco, nonprofit launch community network projects in northern Ohio

Computerworld - Network engineers are well versed in the access layer of a network that physically brings users together over wireless and wired connections.

Government and business leaders in northern Ohio are talking about adding a "service" layer on top of that access layer to connect disparate groups involved in health care, public safety and workforce retraining to spur economic development and lower government costs in the region.

OneCommunity, a nonprofit broadband service provider in Cleveland, announced Wednesday that it has joined with Cisco Systems to implement pilot programs to boost the region's quality of life using a network-based shared-services delivery platform. The project is part of Cisco's global Smart+Connected Communities initiative.

In a videoconference and webcast presentation organized by Cisco, OneCommunity CEO Scot Rourke said the Cisco partnership will allow an expansion of telemedicine programs between hospitals and patients, using a $13 million federal grant, and free public Internet access for job training centers in low-income areas. There will also be programs for refurbishing old computers and training in the use of WebEx conferencing to improve interactions between groups, he said.

OneCommunity, founded in 2003, offers low-cost integration services for data centers, VoIP, Ethernet, wireless and fiber optics, according to its Web site. It has also become a "social enterprise" that serves 1,500 schools, libraries and hospitals with wired and wireless communications in 22 counties, Rourke said.

Referring to the various groups, Rourke said, "We all get together and talk about challenges and share assets and share vision across the public and private sectors and focus on interoperability. We get stuff done. It's a 21st century way of getting things done.

"The access layer is done, but there's the human network, and now we're at the applications layer to accomplish great things [in] a service platform," he added.

Dave Lieberth, deputy mayor of Akron, Ohio, said one of the many projects in the pilot program will allow citizens to access police incident reports from a Web-based portal just by entering a name, address or date. If a victim or witness provides an e-mail address to police, an incident report can also be automatically sent.

Also, Akron will benefit from a community learning center reservation system in 17 schools to automate the management of groups that share spaces in the buildings, Lieberth said. The process is expected to improve efficiency and reduce paperwork.

Another project calls for public Wi-Fi over a Cisco mesh cloud for 30,000 households in low-income neighborhoods over the next two years. OneCommunity will head a digital literacy training program using the network for residents in those areas.

John Hunter, network engineering manager for Cuyahoga County, described how OneCommunity's service delivery platform and Cisco's IP Interoperability and Communications Systems (IPICS) will be used to interconnect disparate police, fire and emergency responders in the region. He said the technology will allow users to pick up a police report from a computer or mobile device, while communications personnel will be able to share information over various radio frequencies and the traditional public switched telephone network. "The technology allows us to be flexible and nimble," he said.

The county is already using the service delivery platform, Cisco official said, and municipalities in the county have started to pilot the shared service.

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed. His e-mail address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.

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