City In Kansas Getting WiMAX Service

The city of Lenexa, Kansas said Monday it is set to deploy city-wide pre-standard WiMAX service and that it expects the service to significantly increase employee productivity.

The network isn't for use by citizens but, rather, is aimed at connecting city buildings and helping track municipal vehicles, among other tasks. The network will use equipment from Alvarion. The first phase of the project, which will cover about ten square miles, is expected to be completed later this month, the city said. Eventually, the project will cover 30 square miles.

While WiMAX isn't yet mobile, the city said it would deploy the end-user modules in some city-owned vehicles.

"We expect that this combined fixed and mobile, point-to-multi-point network should yield the city tremendous cost savings while increasing the productivity of city workers to the equivalent of 2 hours a day by having broadband data speeds while out in the field," Michael Lawrence, Lenexa's CTO, said in a statement.

Lenexa is in the Kansas City metropolitan area.