23 April 2007
City of London goes wireless: Launch of Europe's most advanced
WiFi network
Today, Europe’s most advanced outdoor WiFi network will be
switched on across the entire City of London – the famous Square
Mile. More than 350,000 people who work in and visit the area now
have wireless broadband access throughout the City. The network,
built and operated by The Cloud, will have free access for the
first month, provided in association with Nokia, enabling anyone
with a WiFi-enabled device* to get online in the City for broadband
internet access on the move.
Twelve months of development and testing has enabled The Cloud
and the City of London Corporation to deploy Europe’s densest, most
comprehensive city-wide WiFi mobility network. The Cloud will
continue to tune the network over the coming weeks as new users,
applications and devices begin to use the service.
The network currently comprises 127 nodes and will evolve to
offer 95% coverage across areas owned by the City of London
Corporation. Reinforcing the Square Mile’s status as a
world-leading financial and business centre, the City-wide WiFi
network has been designed and built onto existing street furniture
including lamp posts and street signs.
The network allows anyone with WiFi-enabled devices including
laptops, PDAs, media players and smart phones such as the new
generation of Nokia devices to take their broadband with them.
Michael Snyder, Chairman of the City of London’s Policy
Committee, said: "The City of London is the world's leading
financial and business centre and has always benefited from a world
class communications infrastructure. It is therefore important that
we provide the latest technology that will benefit those working in
or visiting the City. The Square Mile is a fast-moving, dynamic
environment and we are responding to the increasing time pressures
faced by City workers by providing the technology for them to stay
up to date, wherever they are in the City."
Niall Murphy, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer of The
Cloud, commented: “Metro WiFi networks are changing the face of
towns and cities around the world for both public access and public
sector applications. The City of London network is a global
benchmark for cities and metro WiFi, and an exciting addition to
The Cloud’s network across the UK and our other city networks in
Europe. Working with Nokia demonstrates the value these kinds of
networks deliver for exciting and useful ‘internet everywhere’
access on the move.”
* Free access during launch month will only be available on
devices with browser capability.
Ends
City of London:
The City of London provides local government services for the
Square Mile, the financial and commercial heart of Britain, and is
committed to maintaining and enhancing the status of the business
City as the world's leading international financial and business
centre through its policies and services. Its responsibilities also
extend far beyond the City boundaries and include management of the
Barbican Centre, Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey, 10,000
acres of open space including Hampstead Heath and Epping Forest,
three wholesale food markets, as well as acting as the London Port
Health Authority.
The Cloud:
The Cloud offers sophisticated national wireless LAN coverage
across hotspots and city networks throughout the UK, Nordics,
Germany and The Netherlands. The Cloud's infrastructure is a
multi-service provider platform, which allows providers such as
ISPs, mobile operators, gaming, VOIP and broadband companies to
offer a fully branded wireless LAN experience to their customers.
With The Cloud, site owners maximise their revenue potential by
supporting all major service providers at their location and
customers enjoy choice of provider and the best possible user
experience. Launched in mid 2003, The Cloud actively partners with
Vonage, O2, BT, Vodafone, Skype, iPass, Telenor, Nintendo and
Intel, among others, to facilitate the growth of open platform
wireless broadband services across Europe.
The Cloud’s investors, include 3i, Accel and the Scandinavian
VC, Provider Venture Partners. The Cloud was recently nominated as
a Technology Pioneer at The World Economic Forum and as a Red
Herring Top 100 Company. www.thecloud.net
Press enquires to Michelle Poole at the City of London:
Tel 020 7332 3450
Email