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Derry, Ireland's Historic Walled City Now Live With Wi-Fi Coverage

First city-wide Wi-Fi network in N. Ireland provides multimedia information and Internet service to visitors and the local community.

The historic walled city and commercial centre of Derry, Ireland -- the first city-wide Wi-Fi network in Northern, Ireland and one of the first such services in the British Isles -- is now live with Wi-Fi wireless coverage, providing digital tour guides and free Internet access services using the Tropos Networks MetroMesh Wi-Fi system. Additional applications are underway including public works services for mobile field workers and automated public utilities as well as business and commercial applications.With this Walled City network in the heart of Derry, the economic development section of the Derry City Council has completed phase one of the "Walled City to Wireless City" initiative which was created to cater to business travelers, tourists, local residents, businesses and students at the universities. Today, the city's Wi-Fi network offers free Internet access to users in restaurants, cafes, and the Central Library. The Wireless City Digital Tour is a state of the art multimedia guide that provides a location-aware interactive experience for visitors. They simply pick up a handheld Wi-Fi-enabled device at the Tourist Information Centre on Foyle Street and enjoy an audio/visual guided tour around the historic Walled City. As this is a digital tour, users can start and finish when they like and spend as much time as they want at any given site along the way.

The "Walled City to Wireless City" initiative was financed by Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment through the "Building Sustainable Prosperity Program." In addition, the Economic Development Section of the Derry City Council, is embarking on the next phase of the initiative to connect and expand the network throughout the entire City for public agencies such as mobile field workers and utility applications as well as business and commercial applications.

"With this citywide Wi-Fi network, we are showing the same Derry innovation and entrepreneurial spirit that built the Historic Walls of Derry in the 17th century which was, like today's announcement, quite an achievement for its time. We will continue to be at the leading edge of using technology as an essential part of enhancing our city experience and use it as a competitive advantage to benefit the whole community, creating greater economic and commercial opportunities," said Mark Lusby, economic development manager for Derry.

"The City of Derry realized that the only practical way to provide public broadband services was through Wi-Fi and mesh networking technology," said David Easton, managing director of Evolution Systems, the network integrator for the City. "We chose Tropos Networks' system because their MetroMesh system provides the best performance and coverage with affordable initial capital and ownership costs and is easy to expand for additional coverage and services."

Tropos MetroMesh routers have been mounted discreetly on buildings throughout the Walled City with backhaul connections to British Telecom broadband lines. The multimedia content is stored on a local server located in one of the Council premises which is accessed by PDAs or other mobile devices over the mesh network.

"It's a testimony to the value of our solution that we are instrumental in communicating the history of the City of Derry, Ireland to visitors -- truly an innovative application that enhances the city experience. In addition, the network creates new conveniences and business opportunities for its residents, businesses and students with citywide Internet access," said Bo Nilsson, the managing director of Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Tropos. "We are pleased to enable one of the first cities in the British Isles to have city-wide Wi-Fi."

Derry, also known as Londonderry, is the second largest urban centre in Northern Ireland and the fourth largest on the island of Ireland. Derry is the largest centre of urban population outside Belfast. The Derry City Council area has a population of approximately 105,066 -- 85,000 of which live in the urban area. Derry has been one of the fastest growing urban settlements in Northern Ireland for over 25 years.

Derry is the only city in Ireland which has preserved its City Walls intact. Dating back to the 1600s, the City Walls are the largest monument in state guardianship in Northern Ireland. For more information, visit www.derrycity.gov.uk/economicdevelopment.