Regional capacity building by joint implementation of local wireless solutions (Technical Solutions)
Target of the first pilot project is to build regional capacity by joint implementation of local wireless solutions. In cause of economical and/or topographic reasons wireless solutions are a powerful alternative in many areas.
Achievements
The target of the overall project and the creation of conditions for ongoing measures resulting from the project 1 were only possible if practical experiences with the use of wireless broadband connections are available in the participating regions. Therefore the project aimed at the introduction of reference applications in the partner regions. These reference applications were planned to provide the persons, responsible for IT of the project partners, with the possibility
- to gather practical experiences with WIFI technologies,
- to qualify further in practical implementation,
- to estimate realistically the potential and limits of the medium and
- to recognise wireless solution as an alternative in comparison to expensive cable solutions and to integrate these in the future plans for the improvement of broadband access.
It is cost-effective and at the same time of tremendous potential for the improvement of broadband connection in rural areas. Due to the increasing demand for these solutions the further development of these technologies underlies strong dynamics. Concepts such as WIMAX technology were on the market shortly. At the same time the availability of broadband capacities offered the installation of new services, which improved effectively the competitive position of regions provided with such capacities. This means that the demand for capacity building of the stakeholders in all regions - also necessary on different levels of development in the regions - was required. Regions which did not have any or only little experiences with wireless solution were able to benefit from the experiences of the pioneer regions through the joint and complimentary work in this project. On the other hand these partners had the possibility to test new applications resulting from the technical progress in this project and to integrate them into their systems.
One of the particularities of the technologies used in the project was the possibility of using it modularly in the context of available infrastructure. A special focal point of the project was the control of these interfaces, e.g. the change over to glass fibre network. A further focus was the checkout of new technical applications at complicate conditions such as the WIMAX technology e.g. profile of site in Torsby or across the open sea in Åboland as well as the integration of these technologies in existing networks. Furthermore the technical aspects regarding the connection of enterprises such as data security, operating safety and billing system in this project as well as the use of services via broadband such as voice over IP telephony and video conferencing were researched.
Objectives
The main objectives of the first pilot project were:
- Testing of selected technological concepts in some regions and transfer of experiences to other regions
- Strengthening of competence of the local specialists in charge of ICT in the participating regions
- Joint implementation of technical solutions in cooperation of different project partners
- Exchange of experiences between the participating partners
- Reduction of costs through tests of new techniques of broadband facilities carried out by the division of labour
Documents and interesting cases for this activity are availabe in the download section.