EarthSink

The ship is going down fast at EarthLink headquarters in Atlanta. At least the part that controls the Municipal WiFi division. Drop the lifeboats because its almost underwater and that could include the Houston WiFi deal.

As I first ranted last week, the buildout has been past due and calls and emails to EarthLink have not been returned. I now know why.

I had been trying to contact Don Berryman, Executive VP and the President of the Muni Wireless division. Oops, he gone.

I spent time with Mr. Berryman on several occasions this year. First when the City signed the agreement with EarthLink in February (podcast link not working) and then when I moderated a community roundtable on the subject in May. Mr. Berryman was one of three panelists who was touting the virtues of a citywide WiFi network.

He was very upbeat about the project - as he should have been - but he never tipped his hat to pointed questions like when the buildout would begin or exactly how much the project would cost them to build the network. Maybe he didn't know.

From what I hear from my contacts close to the project (or what's left of it) is that Mayor White will make a statement about the City's realtionship with EarthLink and the project tomorrow. I still believe he will announce that the City will continue its push to build a network and that it will do so itself, beginning with the current downtown WiFi system that allows parking meters to communicate to central servers.