The Dublin City Council, Ireland, supported by Virgin Media Business, is testing Wi-Fi 6 Access Points that are compliant with TIP OpenWiFi and with the technical requirements of the European Commission’s WiFi4EU initiative, the benchmark for public Wi-Fi deployments in Europe. The deployment includes a cloud-based controller from NetExperience and access points from Edgecore and HFCL.
WiFi4EU promotes free access to Wi-Fi connectivity for citizens in public spaces including parks, squares, public buildings, libraries, health centers and museums in municipalities throughout Europe. Municipalities receive a voucher that pays for the network including maintenance of the equipment to offer free and high-quality Wi-Fi connectivity for at least three years. Dublin City’s WiFi4EU Wi-Fi network will be a free Wi-Fi network and available throughout its historic city center.
“A smart city is built around collaboration and openness. We are delighted to be trialing Wi-Fi options that are built with an open source architecture that enables multi-vendor interoperability,” said Jamie Cudden. Smart City Program Manager, Dublin City Council.
“Virgin Media is recognized for providing ‘clever tech’ with ultrafast speeds and ultra-reliability. We’re industry leaders offering our customers the latest technology and it just made sense to trial Dublin City Council’s Wi-Fi network using TIP OpenWiFi standards as part of our innovation partnership with the council ,” said Noel O Reilly, Business Products and Solutions Manager, Virgin Media Business.