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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 03, 2006
Vast Wi-Fi Network Debuts in Australia
Philadelphia's Wi-Fi Takes Shape
EC Pushes for Digital Library
New Alliance Works for Document Standards
VAST WI-FI NETWORK DEBUTS IN AUSTRALIA
The Department of Education in Victoria, Australia, has deployed what
officials there said is likely the largest unified enterprise wireless
network in the world. The network consists of 10,000 access points in
1,700 locations covering 540,000 students, 42,000 teachers, and more
than 200,000 computers. According to Loris Meadows, head of ICT
security for the department, the project faced a number of significant
hurdles to becoming a reality. The department developed EduPass, a
custom security services and proxy appliance that allows the network to
function. Although the technology is based on open source software,
officials at the Department of Education are keeping a tight lid on the
changes they made, saying that security concerns are more important
than sharing the code. Even IT staff at individual locations are not
given access to the operating system.
ComputerWorld, 1 March 2006
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;734924574;fp;16;fpid;0
PHILADELPHIA'S WI-FI TAKES SHAPE
The city of Philadelphia is moving forward with its plan to have a
low-cost wireless network covering the entire 135 square miles of the
city. The city announced that it selected EarthLink to build and
maintain the network, which will not depend on taxpayer money.
EarthLink will pay the city an access fee for the 4,000 streetlight
poles where access points will be deployed and will also give about 5
percent of its revenue from the network to Wireless Philadelphia, a
nonprofit set up to oversee the project. EarthLink will charge less
than $20 per month for access to the network, and economically
disadvantaged residents will pay just $9.95 per month. In addition,
EarthLink will sell access to other ISPs, which can then sell access
for the same, sub-$20-per-month rate. The city will receive 3,000 free
or discounted accounts on the network, as well as 700 discounted T-1
accounts. The money Wireless Philadelphia receives from the deal will
be used for educational and social programs in the city. The city will
use about $2 million of the streetlight fees to fund programs that
address the digital divide for city residents.
CNET, 2 March 2006
http://news.com.com/2100-7351_3-6045261.html
EC PUSHES FOR DIGITAL LIBRARY
The European Commission (EC) is supporting a plan to create a European
Digital Library that may one day include as many as six million volumes
from libraries around Europe. The commission acknowledged that opinions
differ about intellectual property concerns for digitized works, noting
that a study it conducted showed wide disagreement between rights
holders and institutions such as libraries. Still, the EC said it will
work to settle those differences and begin working on the project,
which would involve collaboration among all of the national libraries
in the European Union and potentially other organizations such as
museums. The EC said that by 2008, two million books, photographs, and
other materials will be available through the European Digital Library
and that this total could rise to six million by 2010.
The Register, 3 March 2006
http://www.theregister.com/2006/03/03/european_digital_library_goes_live/
NEW ALLIANCE WORKS FOR DOCUMENT STANDARDS
The OpenDocument Format Alliance was launched this week to encourage
adoption of a format standard for documents used by government. The
concern is that by creating documents in proprietary formats,
governments risk being unable to access those documents if the format
becomes obsolete or the company that develops the format goes out of
business. The new alliance has 30 members, including corporations,
academic institutions, and professional and trade associations. The
group is pushing the OpenDocument Format, which would provide a
standard for text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
Currently, more than 90 percent of the market for such document formats
is controlled by Microsoft, though members of the new alliance said
their goal is not simply to overcome Microsoft's dominance. For its
part, Microsoft will release an alternative format, called OpenXML
Document Format, which is supported by a number of companies including
Apple, Intel, and Toshiba as well as the British Library.
New York Times, 3 March 2006 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/03/technology/03open.html
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