Wireless carriers and service providers are increasingly using "small cells" to deal with the boom in network traffic brought on by smartphones and other network devices.
Mobile operators are using small cells to increase capacity, offload traffic from the main network during peak times, and extend coverage to places that wouldn’t be covered otherwise. Because this technology is short range, hundreds or thousands of devices are needed over a wide area.
Sacramento says several companies have approached the city about gaining access to city-owned infrastructure, each intending to build their own small cell network. It could become chaotic and crowded.
"The buildout of small cell networks requires installation of multiple devices in close proximity to each other, so if we had each service provider doing that we would end up with these small devices all over the place, and would be difficult to manage and could be visually unappealing," Sacramento CIO Maria MacGunigal told Techwire.
Instead, the city’s IT department is interested in seeing if a vendor would want to build and manage a "carrier neutral" small cell network in which multiple service providers would use the same devices and infrastructure. In turn, Sacramento would be a user on the network. MacGunigal said a small cell network would support the city’s mobile workforce and could be used by public safety and city departments.
The small cell network could utilize city-owned infrastructure. The city of Sacramento maintains 450 signalized intersections connected to fiber, 150 miles of conduit, more than 120 miles of outside plant fiber, 37,000 street lights, and several radio towers. The city also is in the process of vacating a data center that could become a co-location site for a wireless carrier to interface with small cells.
Sacramento has put out an RFI seeking input on the small cell network. (Responses are due Aug 22.) As part of that document, the city also wants information on the feasibility of a citywide Wi-Fi network.
"I know there have been two – probably more — attempts going down that path going down that path of a citywide wireless network, but for a variety of reasons [it didn’t happen]. I think the last one the company wasn’t financially viable and it failed," said MacGunigal, who became CIO a year ago after working for more than a decade with the city.
In 2007 the city chose Sacramento Metro Connect LLC to deploy a citywide Wi-Fi network. Sacramento canceled the contract a year later when the vendor didn’t move forward with the project, which was estimated to cost $15 million.
MacGunigal said this new attempt at a citywide Wi-Fi network is only in the exploratory stage. Cost estimates have not been determined.
