Historic Occoquan Going Wi-Fi; Making History Once Again.

OCCOQUAN, Va. -- Free public Wi-Fi Internet access will soon be available to tourists, visitors, merchants and residents in the historic Town of Occoquan, Virginia located in Prince William County. The Town of Occoquan is welcoming a new public state-of-the-art Wi-Fi network built by World Airwaves and SkyPilot.

Since they took office July 1, Mayor Porta and the Town Council have been moving quickly to attract new visitors and improve the conditions for merchants and businesses to this charming riverside town located across the river from Fairfax County. Town Council member Barry Dean has been a strong advocate of promoting growth by way of innovation while preserving the charm that brought him to the community.

Said Mayor Porta, "The convenience of public wireless broadband access is yet one more reason for people to visit Occoquan. And once they experience our blend of shops, restaurants, local history, and other services, I am confident they will want to return again and again."

Staying connected while taking a break at a coffee or bakery shop, strolling through a gallery of antiques and collectibles, shopping for flowers, fashions, jewelry, or Virginia wines is more enticing when the convenience of free Internet is made available for work related or personal communications.

In early June of this year Bryanna Altman, CEO of The Computer Doctor based in Prince William teamed up with IBM Global Wireless to hold a Private Public Consortium on wireless broadband access. Mayor-elect Porta attended the Consortium held at the Government Center to learn more about it and easily recognized free Internet access as a way to enhance the public image of Occoquan, broadening its appeal to the likes of Old Town Alexandria or Fairfax but on a smaller and more personal scale. Said Mayor Porta, "It is only a matter of time before wireless Internet access is an expectation, so I think it particularly valuable that we are one of the first in Prince William and northern Virginia to offer it."

Bringing free Wi-Fi access to Occoquan and its visitors wouldn't have been possible without the Mayor and the Town Council working with the overall economic benefit of the community in mind. "I really want to thank the Town Council for spending the time to review this, in particular Councilman Barry Dean, who was the original catalyst, Councilman Ken Brunsvold who has been an avid supporter of the concept from the beginning, and Councilman Leo Smith, who consistently kept the interests of merchants at the forefront," said Mayor Porta.

"We're building a state-of-the-art Mesh Wi-Fi network for the town using a WiMAX-like network infrastructure with the ability to connect to the standard 802.11 b/g installed in most notebook, tablet and laptop PCs, PDAs, Pocket PCs and Smart Phones," said Altman.

Occoquan will join more than 65 cities throughout the country in implementing public broadband wireless access. Uniquely, Wi-Fi will be available to visitors arriving by boat or while out on the Occoquan shoreline. Visitors will have the ability to log-on to the Internet, check email or plug in their VoIP phone to their laptop and place a call anywhere in the world.

Said Mayor Porta, "Our goal is to have Wi-Fi available in the business district ideally at this year's Fall Arts and Crafts Festival on September 23rd and 24th. Each year we draw thousands of visitors to the spring and fall festivals, about 300 guest merchants in addition to the 125 or so local shops, visitors come from all over Virginia, Maryland and DC and our guest merchants come from all over the country."

Prince William Board of County Supervisor Corey Stewart also representing Occoquan couldn't be more pleased having his District be the first in the county to embrace emerging wireless technologies. "Growing existing businesses and drawing new business to the county is a priority," said Stewart. "This will draw more visitors to the area stimulating growth not only for local businesses but for the county as well."

Supervisor Corey Stewart attended the Private Public Consortium Altman held in June and followed up with wireless experts from IBM to learn more about how wireless broadband access can help reduce traffic congestion. He was told that public wireless broadband access to the Internet can allow employees to remotely connect to their network and access email and use office programs no differently than if they were at work. IBM's workforce is 70% mobile.

Altman, whose business specializes in providing PC and network support services to businesses said, "In the last couple of years we've seen a shift away from business building internal networks that can be costly and expensive to maintain. Instead, software manufacturers are offering hosting services that allow companies to access programs easily over the Internet. The programs can refresh every 15 seconds offering real time information to everyone who is logged accessing it anytime and from anywhere. With small business providing 60% of the jobs in Prince William we are hopeful to improve the quality of life for people who live and work here."

Stewart told Regional Chamber of Commerce members at a Meet the Board of County Supervisors breakfast earlier this summer that all businesses should welcome wireless broadband Internet to the community. Altman also serves as the Chairman of the Technology and Manufacturing Business Council for the Regional Chamber, the third largest Chamber in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Altman sees the future of wireless technology as a significant tool to revolutionize how businesses can communicate with mobile workers. Altman said, "Exchanging data with field workers during the course of the business day will improve efficiency, customer service and increase profits."

Thanks to Mark Bayliss CEO of World Airwaves, Occoquan will be connecting wirelessly to the New Internet IPv6. World Airwaves is clearly focused on developing next generation innovative wireless solutions. Its innovative next generation native IPv6 multicast architecture with its advanced wireless security allows public municipalities to quickly and easily deliver city-wide multi-megabit connectivity for IP-based voice, video and data applications. World Airwaves is headquartered in Winchester, Virginia.

The IPv6 is an added bonus for the town. All federal agencies and the Department of Defense are required to be on it by 2008. The Internet as we know it today is IP version 4 and is 30 year old technology. Bayliss described it as, "30 years ago we didn't have caller ID so people got away with making crank calls. The New Internet will identify users just like caller ID did for telephone service. Spammers, phishing and other criminal or annoying activity will be going away just like crank phone calls did after caller ID became available."

"World Airwaves is also excited in having the opportunity to bring the town of Occoquan, Virginia into the technology leader in Northern Virginia. And this will be done without effecting the heritage and beauty of this an early American town."

The merchants in Occoquan couldn't be happier about the decision. Owner of Quinn's Goldsmith, Terry Quinn owns his four story building directly across from the riverfront. "We're so thrilled to have this unique opportunity to showcase the artisan culture that has emerged over the years," said Quinn. Located just minutes off the heavily traveled I-95 corridor, Terry Quinn is a local designer featuring one- of-a-kind pieces for customers with discriminating tastes. Quinn will be traveling to Antwerp in October in search of the World's finest diamonds and gemstones to feature in his designs.

The historic Town of Occoquan will make its way into the history books once again, but this time for its innovation. Occoquan will be the first historic town and the 2nd municipality in the Nation to join the new IPv6 Internet, leading the way to building the Untethered Nation.