Dublin City Council, Ireland, alongside Virgin Media Business, is installing Wi-Fi 6 Access Points that are compliant with TIP OpenWifi as a trial of open, disaggregated solutions for potential use in the city’s public Wi-Fi network
TIP OpenWiFi is compliant with the technical requirements of the European Commission’s WiFi4EU initiative, the benchmark for public Wi-Fi deployments in Europe, said the company.
“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.
Wifi4EU is a project that promotes free access to WiFi connectivity for citizens in public spaces including parks, squares, public buildings, libraries, health centers and museums in municipalities throughout Europe.
The municipalities will 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.
“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.
Dublin City Council will be using TIP OpenWiFi- compliant products and software including a cloud-based controller from NetExperience and access points from Edgecore and HFCL.
TIP OpenWiFi is an open source-based Wi-Fi architecture that enables multi-vendor, interoperable Wi-Fi networks. This will enable both companies to mix and match additional access points and controllers.