Westminster to take Wi-Fi to the max

By Alun Williams

Posted on 25 Apr 2003 at 17:28

Westminster council has revealed plans to build an 802.11b-based wireless network across Central London.

The Westminster 4-G project, which begins next week, starts with the Soho area of central London and will be built up gradually.

At first concentrating on providing cheaper alternatives for council services, the network could ultimately provide data and voice services to the public. Street environment
inspectors, parking attendants, noise management teams and council officers will be among those the first to benefit from wireless connections back to their offices.

'The potential for the system is enormous', enthused Ian Wilder, a councilor for the West End ward in Westminster and the lead member of the Westminster 4-G project. A self-declared 'unreconstructed techie', he sees the possibilities for wireless networking as enormous.

Wilder quotes the example of noise management, which is now an EU-imposed requirement on local councils. He points out how much more efficiently monitoring could be achieved if carried out remotely by 802.11-enabled devices, as opposed to individual officers wandering the streets carrying their own equipment for relatively short periods of time.

Indeed, Wilder envisages that the presence of such devices could be a condition, in future, for the granting of licences to bars and clubs in the West End.

Other examples quoted to us include the cheaper provision of CCTV, and even the possibility of dynamically adjusting charging rates car parks at different times of the day. Westminster, he points out, is uniquely placed to maximise the possible benefits of wireless networking - covering the 'government district' as well as 'Theatreland'.

'As our enhanced Council services are rolled out,' states Wilder, 'wirefree access will be extended to laptop and PDA users. If the pilot in Soho proves as popular as I expect it to, I will push for the scheme to be rolled out in other parts of Westminster. Soho is one of the world's most concentrated media centres and we expect Westminster 4-G and our local businesses and schools to benefit from starting deployment in London's creative heartland.'