A fully operational public wireless network in downtown Ketchum could be reality as soon as mid-July.
Since last December, Ketchum resident Heidi Dhose has been volunteering on behalf of the city to bring wireless technology to town. She has 15 years of related professional experience in the industry.
"Bringing wireless and access to broadband in general enables entrepreneurs to reach the global market," Dhose said Tuesday afternoon. "In some ways we've been limited in being able to offer that in a cost-effective way."
Dhose said she will meet with Ketchum Mayor Randy Hall, City Administrator Ron LeBlanc and City Attorney Ben Worst later this week to iron out details of implementing wireless in a roughly 35-block area of the downtown, from Spruce to Second Avenue and from Second Street to Eighth Street.
At a City Council meeting in March, Dhose and representatives from San Diego-based NetLogix presented city officials with a plan to create a Technology Realization Lab in Ketchum.
What that means is NetLogix and other service providers would supply roughly $80,000 of the $100,000 needed to install wireless infrastructure throughout the downtown area. The city would be responsible for the remaining $20,000, as well as $60,000 per year in ongoing network management costs and $12,000 per year to pay for the bandwidth necessary to operate the network.
Wireless routers, similar to office routers but larger, would be painted green and mounted on top of light poles. Prior to installation, technological gurus from NetLogix and affiliated companies would study the downtown area and existing network channels to ensure that the networks would bump into each other as little as possible.
"This will be designed, to the best of abilities, to not conflict with other networks," Dhose said.
Wireless in Ketchum could mean much more than personal computing on street corners, Dhose said. The city could use the network to manage parking meters were they installed. The network could also be used to manage streetlights or home security systems.
"There are some really great technologies that can not only enable us to be a better managed city but a greener city," Dhose said. "The network's really just the plumbing."
She said such a network could also enable the city to broadcast its meetings using streaming video feeds, something that could help otherwise busy local homeowners, or absent second homeowners, to participate in local politics.
"It's an opportunity to allow our second homeowner community to be involved in a more full-time way," she said. "Everything won't happen overnight, but you're looking at our technology road map."
Dhose said NetLogix is interested in Ketchum because it is a city on the cusp of "a unique digital divide." Local citizens and visitors are generally wireless savvy, and the resort areas prominence and affluence are also key selling points.
"It's because we're a unique resort town," she said. "We are going to be able to build this kind of showcase network. People are interested."
Dhose has committed a tremendous amount of volunteer time and resources to the endeavor, and she said she hopes to see it bear fruit, and perhaps become a model for other towns in Idaho. In fact, if it moves forward she envisions an autumn technology summit.
"I'm doing it because I truly care," she said. "I think technology can enable us to live, work and play in the same place."
