Catherine Williams - Mass High Tech

Windmill Park, which overlooks a cove in the town of Orleans, is "wi-fi ready." Last week, the municipal Cape Cod service registered its 1,000th user since building its public wireless system this summer. A second regional project is under way to widen the pipeline for data delivery to the entire Cape.

In the race to bring wireless coverage to Massachusetts' municipalities, Cape Cod is approaching its checkered-flag lap. These two initiatives were quick to launch and, against the backdrop of the city of Boston's much-publicized efforts, have made significant progress to bring wi-fi to park benches and beach sands.

The Orleans project, known as Unwired Village, received a $136,000 grant last year from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative to create a municipal wireless-delivery formula that could be duplicated across the state.

"Most people don't think of the Cape as a vanguard of technology, but there is a lot going on here. It's an interesting twist," said Arthur Diamond, a spokesperson for the Unwired Village project.

The project is a partnership between the Cape Cod Technology Council, the Orleans Chamber of Commerce and Cape Cod Community College. Project leaders plan to make the program self-sustaining through a growing number of business sponsorships.

Wi-fi and data infrastructure are essential to cultivating regional economic development, according to Teresa Martin, executive director of the Cape Cod Technology Council.

"Connectivity makes the statement that the region is serious about supporting the innovation economy," said Martin.

A second project, launched at the end of June, is at work to increase the wireless pipeline for data transport to the Cape and parts of southeastern Massachusetts.

"You can build all the faucets you want in the house, but if there isn't a water main in the street, no one is going to get any water," said Dan Gallagher, the executive director of information technology at Cape Cod Community College.

That project, known as Open Cape, began as a collaboration among Cape Cod Community College, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Now the Mass Technology Leadership Council and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative sponsor it. The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative is a quasi-state agency, which administers the John Adams Innovation Institute.

This story appeared in Mass High Tech
http://masshightech.bizjournals.com/masshightech/stories/2006/09/25/story2.html