IBM, Cisco & SeaKay Win Silicon Valley Wi-Fi Bid

Free Wi-Fi is coming to 2.4 million Silicon Valley residents by way of Silicon Valley Metro Connect, a consortium that counts IBM Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. as members. The consortium beat out several other bidders, including VeriLAN and MetroFI, for the task of unwiring 38 cities in California's San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda and Santa Cruz counties. The network will likely need anywhere from 40,000 to 50,000 of access points when finished, says Cohen. Cisco's Aironet 1500 mesh units provide 11b/g for access and use 5GHz 802.11a for backhaul. The project will cost between $75 to $250 million.