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Department of Energy award to enable green energy research and pilot …
Nanowerk LLC We are excited to continue to build this partnership to further advance green technologies and to spur vital economic impact throughout the region and state." Integrated into CNSE in a partnership of two of New York's Centers of Excellence following a … |
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 Environmental Leader |
Consumer Interest in Green Products Expands Across Categories
3BL Media (press release) While personal care, grocery and household products are the industries with the greatest representation among the top ten brands list, consumers in the US indicate that they intend to spend more money on green technology, energy and automotive products … Demand Rising for High-Ticket Green Products Seventh Gen, Whole Foods Top Green Brands Ranking |
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Wow. That was...fast.
Not long after we posted this:
@SunFoundation
Sunlight Foundation Do you know this monkey tamer? http://bit.ly/ipd4nO Help us identify this mystery man. #opengov#opendata#afternoon
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Others started to spread the word...
@LuigiMontanez
Luigi Montanez Hey @thinkgeek: Who's this guy? http://bit.ly/ipd4nO
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And the word was heard:
@thinkgeek
thinkgeek @SunFoundation @elle_mccann @kerryrm @LuigiMontanez Am I allowed to answer that? Seems kinda like cheating. (He's flattered, btw.)
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Turns out, "Seth the Monkey Tamer" is actually named Seth. And, if @ThinkGeek is to be believed, this Seth fellow really does tame monkeys. Codemonkeys, that is. He's also "a really nice, calm guy" which is probably a great asset in the world of monkey taming.
Have you ever spotted Sunlight out in the wild? If so, let us know. Post links, or keep us in the loop on Twitter @sunfoundation.
P.S. Want to get your own Sunlight schwag? Check out our sweet loot on our donations page.
Xentrans, a consultancy for connectivity on mass transit and public safety vehicles, has announced the launch of an all-4G wireless communications system by the Santa Clara Transportation Authority (VTA) for light rail trains and buses in Silicon Valley, California. The deployment is the world’s first to exclusively use a 4G cellular network for delivering high-speed connectivity across a transit agency’s rail and road vehicles for free passenger Wi-Fi and onboard systems communication. VTA maintains a fleet of 100 light rail vehicles and 425 buses that serves the city of San Jose and surrounding communities, and employs approximately 2,100 employees. Combined ridership on the bus and light rail systems was almost 42 million people in 2010, with an average of 135,000 passengers each weekday.
By the end of fall 2011, VTA expects to have installed Wi-Fi in all trains and buses, using the 4G network as backhaul. This is a significant achievement for Northern California’s public transport system as many people who work in Silicon Valley and commute, or people who go to Silicon Valley for meetings, need Wi-Fi to check email, upload and download documents, view websites, etc.
“We are continually looking for ways to enhance our customers’ travel experience. For years, free Wi-Fi has been the most requested amenity to make public transit a more appealing option to non-riders, as well as with our loyal customer base,” said Gary Miskell, VTA Chief Information Officer. “The advent of higher capacity 4G networks in the San Francisco Bay Area means that we can deliver Wi-Fi hotspots on our fleet, and in working with Xentrans, VTA has implemented a next-generation communications solution that fully benefits from the technical advances made possible by 4G.” VTA plans to secure corporate sponsorship to underwrite the costs; the onboard Wi-Fi system is capable of delivering advertising, conducting passenger surveys and collecting usage statistics.
Vehicles are equipped with a ruggedized mobile cellular router delivering wireless Internet connectivity over the Clearwire 4G network with an average download speed of over 6 Mbps at 55 MPH. “The VTA roll-out of 4G for trains and buses is a real landmark in the mass transit industry,” said Jim Baker, founder and CEO at Xentrans. “As demand increases for content-rich, real-time data communication to vehicles, so cellular networks must support significantly higher speeds and lower latency; we’ve shown that 4G delivers on both. We’re delighted to have designed and project managed this ground-breaking initiative.”
“What better place to launch the world’s first all-4G wireless system for mass transit than Silicon Valley, the heart of the high tech industry,” said Graham Wilde, CEO at BWCS, a transportation strategy company, and producer of the Train Communications Systems conference in London that coincides with the Xentrans announcement. “With the proliferation of Wi-Fi enabled portable devices such as smartphones and tablets, free on-board Wi-Fi is rapidly becoming expected by rail and bus passengers, especially on commuter routes such as those operated by VTA. But the robust, end-to-end IP connectivity offered by 4G facilitates additional applications including CCTV, passenger information systems (PIS), digital signage and infotainment. With this pioneering deployment, Xentrans has demonstrated how 4G is shaping the way transit operators can plan their communication networks in the future.”
© 2011 MuniWireless. All Rights Reserved.
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Related posts:
- IBM launches plug and play Smart City solution
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- AT&T launches free WiFi in New York City parks
IBM today announced the IBM Intelligent Operations Center for Smarter Cities, a new solution designed to help cities of all sizes gain a holistic view of information across city departments and agencies. By infusing analytical insights into municipal operations through one central point of command, cities will be able to better anticipate problems, respond to crises, and manage resources.
The Intelligent Operations Center for Smarter Cities will allow cities to use information and analytics to make smarter and more timely decisions, helping local leaders manage a spectrum of events, both planned and unplanned, such as deploying water maintenance crews to repair pumps before they break, alerting fire crews to broken fire hydrants at an emergency scene, or anticipating traffic congestion and preparing redirection scenarios.
IDC Government Insights estimates the new Smarter Cities information technology market opportunity at $34 billion in 2011, increasing more than 18 percent per year to $57 billion by 2014.
“All cities are made up of a complex system of systems that are all inextricably linked. The Intelligent Operations Center for Smarter Cities recognizes the behavior of the city as a whole, thus providing more coordinated and timely decision-making based on deep insights into how each city system will react to a given situation,” said Anne Altman, general manager, Global Public Sector, IBM. “With more than 2,000 smarter cities engagements worldwide, we are now applying best practices and solutions that can be scaled to cities of all sizes around the globe.”
As the majority of the world’s population moves to metropolitan areas, key city systems such as water, power and transportation are being strained to the breaking point. For citizens, a smarter city can mean automatically finding the fastest way to get to work, electricity and drinking water that can be counted on, and safer streets, to start. And today’s increasingly empowered consumer expects their standards for quality of life are met to support the urban influx and resulting economic growth of cities.
Through a unified operations center, cities will be able to:
- Accurately gather, analyze and act on information about city systems and services, including public safety, transportation, water, buildings, social services and agencies.
- Analyze real-time information to better model and anticipate problems to minimize the impact of disruptions to citizens.
- Integrate real-time information from across multiple city systems to enable collaborative decision making for rapid response to events and incidents.
The Intelligent Operations Center combines patented analytics technologies, created by IBM Research in collaboration with cities around the world, as well as leading edge technologies acquired in recent acquisitions. It is also designed to run on IBM workload-optimized systems.
The Intelligent Operations Center for Smarter Cities can be extended to help support a wide range of integration projects across the city or within agencies and departments. City leaders can adopt service solutions from IBM or IBM Partners that integrate city management of services such as public safety, transportation, water, building and energy management with the Intelligent Operation Center. Examples of city-wide uses supported by the Intelligent Operations Center for Smarter Cities include the management of Public Safety, Transportation and Water.
Public Safety: IBM provides real-time analytical solutions that enable public safety professionals to reduce crime, protect first responders and improve citizen services while preserving government budget resources. Local, state, federal and non-government authorities can harness the intelligence derived from sensors, crime data bases, cameras and integrated communications to make smarter, more timely decisions. For example, IBM’s video analysis software working with the Intelligent Operations Center for Smarter Cities can instantly detect and respond to physical security threats. When coupled with video systems from partners such as Cisco Systems, the IBM solution can manage and coordinate video events.
Transportation: Traffic is a crucial element of the daily operations of any city. Each year American drivers waste an estimated 3.7 billion hours, the equivalent of 5 days each, sitting in traffic burning 2.3 billion gallons of fuel. Current transportation systems and infrastructures are strained and continue to become even more burdened due to the growing population and increased demands for mobility. IBM uses analytics technologies to provide travelers with real-time traffic information across multiple modes of traffic so that they can choose the best route for their commute. For example, the Intelligent Operations Center allows analysts to anticipate traffic disruptions and model ‘what if” scenarios providing options to minimize traffic congestion. Automated directives can trigger communication and collaboration across the city departments and out to citizen alerts.
Water: There are millions of miles of water pipes hidden beneath cities around the world, many of which are more than 100 years old. Today, up to up to 60 percent of water is lost due to leaky pipes, but with a thoughtful combination of planning and new technology, maintenance and repair of water infrastructure can take a quantum leap. IBM’s near-real-time analytics can track and report on infrastructure conditions from filtration equipment, water pumps and valves to collection pipes, water storage basins and laboratory equipment. The ability to monitor these systems in real-time means that potential problems such as a burst water main, a slow leak, a broken pump or a hazardous waste water overflow can be quickly identified and resolved – or even predicted and prevented. The Intelligent Operations Center for Smarter Cities can also tap into geospatial data to pinpoint the exact location of problem areas. Over time, increased awareness on water consumption can lead to changes in attitudes, behaviors, and habits that enhance sustainability.
The design of the Intelligent Operations Center for Smarter Cities makes it easy to build, reuse and add advanced capabilities that can provide the full breadth of citizen services to cities around the world. Smarter Cities solutions created from existing assets provide customers with software with hardened components that have already proven themselves in the real world. IBM is establishing a community of Business Partners committed to developing complementary solutions with expertise in areas such as architecture and water management, devices including video cameras and smart meters, and city services software. Among the Business Partners working with IBM are: AECOM, Badger Meter, Esri, Telvent, and VirtualAgililty.
For more information about IBM Smarter Cities, please visit www.ibm.com/smartercities.
© 2011 MuniWireless. All Rights Reserved.
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Related posts:
- AT&T launches free WiFi in New York City parks
- Smart Grid security: trillion dollar boom or bust?
- Houston moves city services to municipal wireless network based on WiMAX
The Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2010–2015 predicts that by 2015, majority of IP traffic will come from wireless devices, not wired ones, by 2015. Below are the findings and predictions from the Cisco report.
Traffic from wireless devices will exceed traffic from wired devices by 2015. In 2015, wired devices will account for 46 percent of IP traffic, while Wi-Fi and mobile devices will account for 54 percent of IP traffic. In 2010, wired devices accounted for the majority of IP traffic at 63 percent.
A growing amount of Internet traffic is originating with non-PC devices. In 2010, only 3 percent of Internet traffic originated with non-PC devices, but by 2015 the non-PC share of Internet traffic will grow to 15 percent. PC-originated traffic will grow at a CAGR of 33 percent, while TVs, tablets, smartphones, and machine-to-machine (M2M) modules will have growth rates of 101 percent, 216 percent, 144 percent, and 258 percent, respectively.
Busy-hour traffic is growing more rapidly than average traffic. Busy-hour traffic will increase fivefold by 2015, while average traffic will increase fourfold. During an average hour in 2015, the traffic will be equivalent to 200 million people streaming high-definition video continuously. During the busy hour in 2015, the traffic will be equivalent to 500 million people streaming high-definition video continuously.
Global IP traffic has increased eightfold over the past 5 years, and will increase fourfold over the next 5 years. Overall, IP traffic will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32 percent from 2010 to 2015.
In 2015, the gigabyte equivalent of all movies ever made will cross global IP networks every 5 minutes. Global IP networks will deliver 7.3 petabytes every 5 minutes in 2015.
Video-on-demand traffic will triple by 2015. The amount of VoD traffic in 2015 will be equivalent to 3 billion DVDs per month.
Globally, mobile data traffic will increase 26 times between 2010 and 2015. Mobile data traffic will grow at a CAGR of 92 percent between 2010 and 2015, reaching 6.3 exabytes per month by 2015.
Global mobile data traffic will grow three times faster than fixed IP traffic from 2010 to 2015. Global mobile data traffic was 1 percent of total IP traffic in 2010, and will be 8 percent of total IP traffic in 2015.
IP traffic is growing fastest in Latin America, followed closely by the Middle East and Africa. Traffic in Latin America will grow at a CAGR of 50 percent between 2010 and 2015.
Because people are using mobile devices more than their wired devices, we will see even more applications for smartphones and tablets for mobile payments, shopping, gaming, and other ways that these devices use location and context.
© 2011 MuniWireless. All Rights Reserved.
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Related posts:
- Increased smartphone and tablet use drives strong Q1 sales of WiFi equipment
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Ruckus Enjoys Strongest-Ever Quarter in EMEA; An Increase in Channel Partners, Expansion of Sales Force and Multiple Carrier Deals Lead to Record Bookings and Shipments for Wi-Fi Vendor
Ruckus Wireless, one of the fastest growing suppliers of wireless products, today announced increased demand of its Smart Wi-Fi products and technologies and said it experienced the strongest quarter-on-quarter (Q/Q) growth within the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region in the company’s history.
In the first quarter of this year, Ruckus, one of the industry’s fastest growing wireless suppliers, grew by 34 percent overall in EMEA, with an 86 percent increase in outdoor and 27 percent increase in indoor Wi-Fi product shipments. The company attributes its success in this region to the influx of wireless-only smart devices hitting corporate networks, the previous investment in expanding its sales force, attracting new channel partners, and closing several strategic carrier deals.
“Wi-Fi demand and adoption has never been greater,” said James Calderbank, director of enterprise sales, EMEA at Ruckus Wireless. “And it’s never been greater throughout the EMEA region.” Gartner estimates the European wireless LAN market will more than double from 2010 sales of €478 million to €980 million by 2014.
Driving Ruckus’ growth is the increased demand for mobility, the use of media-rich applications and the exploding number of users armed with new Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as tablets and smart phones.
Industry analysts estimate that in central and western Europe as well as the Middle East and Africa, the install base of smart phones (over all mobile handsets) will double between now and 2014. In addition, mobile data traffic within each of these European regions is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 105% over the next four years.
Notable Q1 customer wins in the EMEA region included:
Accor hotels (Czech Republic)
Chaucer Foods (France)
Hotel Golf Peralada (Spain)
Local government in Mragowo (North East of Poland)
Medical Faculty of Charles University in Prague (Czech republic)
Peermont Hotel (South Africa)
SHT Haustechnik AG (Austria)
St Josef-Stitf Sendenhorst Hospital (Germany)
Ville de Chatelaillon (France)
Wallingford (UK)
Wireless Suisse (Switzerland)
Leveraging the Channel to Scale
“One of the keys to our growth has been successfully scaling the channel,” said Calderbank. “As one of the only pure-play wireless companies with a Wi-Fi system purpose-built for the channel, we’ve been able to exploit the middle of the wireless LAN market which is almost exclusively serviced by solution partners.”
Year to date, Ruckus added over 250 solutions partners within EMEA, bringing the total number of VARs in the region to over 750. The company also signed eight new distributors in France, North Africa, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus and Israel, and has plans to continue the aggressive expansion of its partner base throughout EMEA and the rest if the world in 2011. “We’ve only really scratched the surface in this market with respect to our European channel network,” said Calderbank.
Much of the Q1 growth came from traditional verticals such as education, hospitality and healthcare as they work to address the influx of new Wi-Fi devices, more users wanting to connect wirelessly and the increased expectations for a more reliable wireless experience. Beyond the enterprise, carriers showed a strong and renewed interest in Wi-Fi as they look to build affordable capacity and coverage to augment their cellular networks, offer mobile data offload services and deliver faster and more reliable Wi-Fi access.
Calderbank noted that with the continued growth of internal and field sales along with signing more partners, the company is set to build on this success and gain a strong foothold in both the carrier and enterprise markets.
To help drive sales in this region, Ruckus has recently appointed eight industry executives to its European team. The expanded European team will not only help to boost Ruckus’ sales, but also enable the team to deliver a higher level of support to enterprises and service providers across EMEA, helping them build ubiquitous high-performance, reliable and easy-to-deploy wireless networks that specifically cater to their business needs.
© 2011 MuniWireless. All Rights Reserved.
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The past several years have seen a dramatic increase in the use of web 2.0 tools at all levels of government. Beyond simply using them as communication vehicles, many public managers have adopted these tools as a means to solicit and aggregate ideas from employees and external stakeholders on how to solve problems and enhance government services. However, the plethora of platforms and variety of functionalities available can make a manager’s choice of technology challenging.
This comparison of different platforms is aims to assist public managers early in the planning process of such an initiative by comparing the purposes and functionalities of different ideation tools. It is part of a series of resources based on our experience conducting online stakeholder consultations with government (see also the Online Dialogue Brainstorm Guide).
View the document below, or download the PDF.
Note: The information in this document is compiled from information publicly available on the vendors’ websites, supplemented by the National Academy of Public Administration’s fi¬rst-hand experience with several of the tools. The Academy and the Collaboration Project are technology-neutral: this document is not intended as an endorsement of any particular technology or vendor.
Ed. Note: As part of the Startup America: Reducing Barriers Roundtable series, National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling and U.S. Small Business Administrator Karen Mills will take your questions and suggestions about what processes and regulations we need to adjust to foster a more nurturing environment for entrepreneurship and innovation. Watch and participate today at 12:00pm EDT on whitehouse.gov/live.
I had the pleasure yesterday of sitting down with nearly 100 leading entrepreneurs, investors, underwriters, academics, and fund managers—including Chuck Newhall, the legendary co-Founder of one of the Nation’s most prestigious venture capital firms, New Enterprise Associates—at the Treasury Department’s Access to Capital Conference. The event was one of a number of creative forums the Administration has held to generate new, actionable ideas to ensure that small businesses have the resources to achieve high growth.
The event built on President Obama’s January launch of Startup America, an initiative to celebrate, inspire, and accelerate high-growth American entrepreneurship that includes a number of commitments to expand access to capital for entrepreneurs. Capital, invested by the private sector, is what helps entrepreneurs realize their dreams and turn ideas into startups, and it’s what turns small businesses into fast-growing companies that create jobs and fuel sustainable economic growth.
At yesterday’s conference, we took an important step forward in that mission with an open and honest dialogue about how best to cultivate investment and growth. And we made real progress.
Gas Prices – Feeling the Squeeze Connect March 31, 2011
$4 per Gallon Gas – Are We Ready? Planetizen – March 21, 2011
A Bargain on Electricity Through Power Smart Pricing Herald Review – March 18, 2011
Best Earth Day 2011 Events in Chicago Associated Content from Yahoo! – March 17, 2011
Energy Efficiency Revitalizes Job Market for Contractors Building for Sustainability – March 16, 2011
Energy Efficiency Revitalizes Job Market for Contractors Building for Sustainability – March 16, 2011
Tunnel Option Extends Life of Elevated Highway Despite Known Risk of EarthquakeCongress for the New Urbanism – March 16, 2011
The 32 Most and Least Sustainable March Madness Contenders The Atlantic – March 16, 2011
Chicago Identified for Transportation Innovation Sustainable Chicago – Spring 2011
CMAP Announces Technical Assistance Grantees Metropolitan Planning Council – March 15, 2011
Would You Rent Your Car Out While Not Driving It? Car Sharing ExplainedMintLife Blog – March 14, 2011
March Madness for Urbanists!Kaid Benfield’s Blog Switchboard NRDC – March 14, 2011
Yolo Among Top Transportation Regions in USInterglas Atex Blog – March 12, 2011
Three Simple Ways Chicagoans Can Avoid Rising Gas Prices Building for Sustainability – March 11, 2011
Walkable Urbanism Better Houston - March 2011
Cook County Employers Prodded to Offer Transit Benefit WGNTV.com – March 9, 2011
Executive Director Jeffrey Lubell Testifies Before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban AffairsNHC’s Open House Blog – March 9, 2011
Village Board to Consider Lake Michigan Water and Other Options Lake Zurich Patch – March 7, 2011
River Subways…Reckless oil companies… Is the Climate Change a Hoax?Sightline Daily – March 4, 2011
Top 15 Regions for Smart Transit Mother Earth News – March 3, 2011
Last Sunday, economist Dick Thaler wrote an article in the New York Times highlighting the many ways innovators are using government data to create platforms, applications, and other useful tools that touch the lives of our friends and neighbors. As we celebrate Sunshine Week, we thought we’d reflect on the intersection of our open government initiative and the President’s Strategy for American Innovation.
We are focused on three trends that are fostering government innovation:
- The Rise of a New Information Intermediary Industry: The release of government data has contributed to a new category of products and services designed to make information more relevant and useful to a variety of audiences. Reflecting the market potential, venture capitalists have backed firms like Socrata and Infochimps that repurpose open data sets for developers and others to quickly and easily put them to good use. Think of this industry as competing to provide the “last-mile” of information service to help consumers, companies, and stakeholders keenly interested in effective, efficient government.
- The Incorporation of Data in New Products and Services: An emerging trend aligned with the President’s strategy to “out-innovate” our economic competitors is the incorporation of open data into new products and services. We’ve previously written about Brightscope, which has now grown into a multi-million-dollar information business supporting over 30 employees. This past weekend, at the Startup America session at SXSW, noted early-stage investor Vinod Khosla shared the story of his participation in a $42 million investment in Weatherbill, an insurance company helping farmers to adapt to climate change, powered by real-time information freely available through the National Weather Service.
- The Extension of Government Platforms: Agencies are increasingly inviting third party developers to extend the value of government websites or to solve specific problems through platforms like Challenge.gov, which as of March 2011 showcased 75 prizes, including the SMART Apps for Health. The Commerce Department, in collaboration with the FCC, recently launched The National Broadband Map to shine light on coverage gaps, including developer tools to extend the value of the platform. An early adopter – the Department of Education – published a “mashup” incorporating school data so communities are empowered to ensure that their children are equipped for the jobs of the future.
These trends reflect great promise for open government as a catalyst for productivity growth. But they also point to a new phenomenon – the rise of citizen developers. At a recent “Transportation Camp” in New York City, concerned citizens met with government transportation leaders to discuss transportation issues at the Federal and local level. We learned an alarming statistic: almost 3 out of 4 parents improperly install their child safety seat. Others at the Camp were concerned too, so much so that one member of the audience created a mobile app that now allows parents to find the nearest inspection stationwhere professionals can install their child seatsecurely, improving access to an existing government website.
President Obama is committed to ensuring that the 21st century does not leave the Federal government behind. We’re using technology to save money, create a more participatory government, and to make a real different in the lives of all Americans, from informing your family about recalls to finding new and fun ways to get the whole family to eat healthy and stay active. Stay tuned for more.
Aneesh Chopra is the U.S. Chief Technology Officer
Chris Vein is the Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer for Government Innovation
