V. The Network

The heart of Frank's broadband stimulus proposal and ultimately, his Digital Philadelphia vision, lies in plans for a city-wide mesh network that connects city assets and ultimately bridges the Internet to unserved and under-served communities by proxy.

The philosophy of building the network is predicated on a common sense notion of linking already built-out elements like the city's IT infrastructure, the public safety network and fiber backbone and wireless high sites completed for the former administration's Wireless Philadelphia initiative. With a wide, collaborated network, the city could then push net access to potential partners like schools and recreation centers, nonprofits and businesses, hospitals and universities, and could utilize the network's reach for its own municipal purposes. The city is even in discussions with Network Acquisition, the group of investors that bought out equipment from the failed Wireless Philadelphia initiative, to purchase some of its infrastructure.

A spokesman for Network Acquisition failed to return repeated calls for comment from Technically Philly.

Sustainability is vital. As part of the NOFA guidelines, the network must pay for itself. Though he believes that the use of the network will be underwritten by municipal-operation use, Frank seems unsure when he says that full details of a sustainable business model "will develop over time."

One thing is absolute about Frank's vision for the business: Gone are the days when a municipal network could provide headline-making free access, like Wireless Philadelphia once tried. Creating a government-owned Internet utility that offers service to residents for free is not in the City of Philadelphia's future, he says.

"Fifty percent of our households have an average income of less than $35,000. It's a very difficult thing to create a sustainable infrastructure with an economic model that's lighting up half of a whole city," he says. "Are you suggesting today that we should be deciding between spending millions of operating dollars on that versus the issues we've had in the city right now?

"It is a very, very tough time for us in the city. The financial crisis is real."

Then, equally important is getting other organizations on board, "stakeholder" groups that offer support, and ultimately, revenue. Frank has been in discussion with dozens of these stakeholder organizations. He invited members of the business, education and nonprofit communities along with members of the city and state to a June 23 meeting at the Community College of Philadelphia to discuss Digital Philadelphia.

The roster was lengthy, but still was only representative of a small cross-section of the discussions taking place.

The business community was represented by Ben Franklin Technology Partners, Boathouse Communications (members of which have a stake in Network Acquisition), Xerox, Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation and others. Nonprofits attended, like Philadelphia Fight, which is a leading HIV/AIDS advocacy organization, Philadelphia Student Union, Team Children and Philadelphia Public Notebook, all of which have a stake in getting technology in the hands of children. Digital Impact Group, the new incarnation of the Wireless Philadelphia nonprofit, also participated in the conversation.

Larger public organizations showed support, like Temple University, the School District of Philadelphia, the Free Library and the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The city's Health Department, Department of Public Safety and Department of Recreation were also in attendance.

The plan for a mesh network and the drive for stakeholder support is crucial to the opportunity to net stimulus grants, and the DOT's tactics are not unlike some postured by other cities, like Oakland and Boston, for their own applications, Settles, the California consultant, says.

"[A number of cities] are looking at city infrastructure in places that they can tap into, coupled with plan for a mesh network. Philly has a huge university population, a high number of hospitals, a research community and the government is also a huge institution," he says.

"If [the city] markets effectively to those institutional organizations, than they have a good shot for the future."

Frank realizes that the opportunity for broadband stimulus money is by no means an end-all solution to his technological plans. Instead, he calls it a "forcing function" that has framed the conversation around Philadelphia's technology future.

"It's a wonderful thing that we have an opportunity to get this money, but from a national perspective it's a drop in the bucket. I don't believe that any of this broadband stimulus money is sufficient to drive a long-term strategy for this city, but it forced us to come up with a strategy. This is the first step to start the conversation," Frank says.

"You need to have an advocate to keep pushing this. This is my job now. This is my love and my passion. Maybe I'm on a fool's errand, but I don't think so."