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Muniwireless.com (bio
below)
Speakers: (bio's
below)
- Ed
Taulbee, Director of Carrier
Markets, Tropos Networks (see
bio below)
- Brad
Peery, CEO Ubiquity Broadband
Communications
- Jodi
Sherman Jahic, Voyager Capital
WCA and MuniFi SIG As cities explore municipal WiFi networks the question
arises "how do cities pay for these systems?" Many advocates
say WiFi is free, but there is no free lunch. There is capital
investment and sustaining operating costs. These systems do cost
money and this money has to come from somewhere.
Should the city run it like a utility? Should it be a free utility or
should the residents pay for it. Should it be a city profit center? Could
it be run by private companies either advertising supported or subscription
supported? Could a city / private enterprise partnership work? These
are some of the topic that our panel of experts will discuss.
This meeting will be an opportunity for wireless companies, city government
representatives, community activists, investors and other interested
parties to exchange ideas on these and related topics.
Speakers will be the key players from Municipal Wireless. The specific
speakers will be announced in our next email reminder.
Agenda
for the meeting:
6:00PM
- 7:00PM networking
7:00PM - 8:00PM presentations
8:00PM - 8:30PM discussion
8:30PM - 9:00PM networking
Esme
Vos, Founder of Muniwireless.com.
Muniwireless.com,
the portal for news and information
about municipal wireless broadband
projects worldwide. Esme held her first
conference in San Francisco on September
attracted more than 300 city and county
officials, consultants, systems integrators,
ISPs and vendors. She also just released
the Munwireless 2005 State of the Market
Report, which provides marketing sizing
data and growth rates for the municipal
wireless industry, the first report
to do so. Together with Microcast (www.microcast.biz),
Esme will be organizing more events
in the US and producing more timely
reports for anyone who is interested
in the municipal wireless broadband
space. Esme is an intellectual property
lawyer who has served as Chief Legal
Officer of Spray Network (a pan-European
Internet portal) and Director of Legal
Affairs for Baan Business Systems.
Ed
Taulbee Director
of Carrier Markets, Tropos Networks. Ed
is a nineteen-year veteran in the telecommunications,
broadband, and wireless industries,
with a unique blend of industry, company,
and customer focus. His expertise
and leadership include consulting,
product marketing, strategic partnerships,
and P&L. He developed and honed
his ROI models with industry experts
and analysts, as well as many of Tropos'
municipal customers. He has conducted
numerous trainings with corporate executives,
entrepreneurs and municipal officials. Prior
to joining Tropos Networks, Ed was
a principal with Bridge Point Consulting
Group. He helped businesses to navigate
changing regulatory environments, develop
alternative service strategies, and
reduce annual telecommunications operating
costs by more than $1.5 million. During
his career, Ed has also worked for
Excite@Home, AT&T and IBM, leading
product marketing, partnership development,
finance, and engineering.
Brad Peery CEO - Ubiquity Broadband
Communications. Brad
Peery Capital Inc. (BPCI) is a California
registered investment advisory firm.
Founded in 1990. We provide financial
and strategic consulting services to
public entities such as municipalities,
and private and public companies in
the media and communications sectors.
We are involved in starting new businesses.
Our non-profit activities, include
the development of rural broadband
networks, the establishment of community
technology centers, distance learning,
telemedicine. With regard to starting
new businesses, Ubiquity Broadband
Communications (IBCOMM) has recently
been launched to deliver next generation
broadband services in the 11-Western
states in the U.S. These activities
are expected to result in joint ventures
being formed that will, expand the
operations of an existing broadband
wireless company, and develop strategic
partnerships with municipalities, real
estate developers, and electric utilities.
Jodi
Sherman Jahic, Principal
at Voyager Capital. With
nearly 10 years of experience
in the wireless industry, Jodi
leads Voyager's investments in
the wireless sector. Previously,
she was a senior associate at
Battery Ventures. In 1999 Jodi
was selected as a Kauffman Fellow
in venture capital by the Kauffman
Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.
Jodi has been on the founding
team of several successful startups
in North America and Eastern Europe,
all of which remain going concerns.
She also worked in the technology
industry group at Accenture, where
she led projects for clients such
as Motorola Semiconductor Products
Sector (now Freescale), Pacific
Bell, and Sun Microsystems. Jodi
graduated magna cum laude from
Pomona College in STS with a concentration
in physics and holds an MBA in
finance and marketing from Kellogg
.
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