Silicon Valley's Huge Wireless Network Stalling!!!

The ambitious plan to blanket 1,500 square miles of California's Silicon Valley with a wireless network may be on the edge of stalling, still unable to raise funds for even two one-square mile test sites, according to a recent column in the San Jose Mercury News.

The two test sites would need $500,000 , which so far the region, which covers most of the peninsula south of San Francisco and is one of the wealthiest regions in the United States, has begun unwilling to cough up, according to Mercury News columnist Vindu Goel.

In one sense, Goel's interviews show little has changed since the glacial pace of the project was reported five months ago, except for one critical thing: the reasons for the delay. The contract for the high-profile project, spawned by a nonprofit called Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network was awarded last year to Silicon Valley Metro Connect, a cooperative venture that has Cisco as equipment supplier, IBM as systems integrator, Azulstar Networks as the network owner and operator, and nonprofit SeaKay to address digital inclusion issues on behalf of the poor and other undeserved groups.

This project is a mutually reinforcing hesitation. Investors want proof the network can deliver , which is why the two test sites - covering one square mile in Palo Alto and San Carlos respectively - are essential. But unconvinced of the value of such a vast network, investors are not willing to fund the test. "Project backers also need to explain how the valley will benefit from a network that costs $125,000 to $150,000 per square mile to build," Goel writes.

Goel concludes his column with a complaint, asking, "Why won't any of our civic-minded investors step up for a project that could help Silicon Valley keep its cutting edge?" But his own column is the answer: They clearly do not believe this megamesh is necessary to that cutting edge.