"We started on this project to get Waikiki WiFi, not knowing the challenges of putting a technology like that in a beautiful, open space like the park and the beaches here," said Mark Wong, the city and county of Honolulu's chief information officer and IT director. "WiFi is something that is pretty easy to do if you have a lot of buildings to attach to, but as you can see, there's not that much of that around here. The city could not have done this by itself. It was really a result of public-private partnerships, particularly with Time Warner Cable."
The city's focus for Waikiki WiFi was not only to provide WiFi service to its visitors and citizens, but also to act as a public safety measure, particularly as it relates to ocean safety. Lifeguards will now be able to collect data and upload it to their server in real time. Citizens can access hazardous beach conditions on the Hawaii Beach Safety web site.
