Keith Shirley

There is an article today on SiliconRepublic titled  Carlow’s MANpower leads innovation. I was reading it early this morning so it took me a second to realise that MAN was Metropolitan Area Network. Basically it’s an article about the wireless network that is available around the centre of Carlow Town.

The article comments that this is three years ahead of Dublin’s plans. Well done Carlow. I did worry that this initiative was in danger of being forgotten about. There seems to have been very little fanfare about something which, as far as I’m concerned, is quite a big deal. I did see one or two small articles about it and I know that the Revenue did a presentation during Enterprise week but I still felt something was missing. I wonder how many businesses around town are aware that it’s there? I’m glad to read in the article that the Council are pushing on numerous levels to promote the project. I’d also like to see something like a sponsored student project for innovative ideas in a town where a full wireless coverage is available.

I had the opportunity to try and use the wireless network for the first time a few weeks ago. I say try because I couldn’t get in. I don’t think it  was directly the providers’ fault (there are multiple companies involved). During the payment stage my VISA card is flagged for a second level of authentication – the site for this second stage was not accessible. I’m presuming this was because it was not white-listed by the providers proxy rather than not really being accessible. As luck would have it I met Fergal Kearny from Aptus (one of the companies involved – the others I am aware of are Brisknet and e|Net) at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting a few days later. He listened to my complaints and promised to sort me out with some test tokens  – which he promptly did. I hope to try it again soon and be able to let you know if I was successful. I’ll also give the Visa another try.

Conal Henry, chief executive officer of e-net, made a comment for the article that he thinks there should be some element of free access for passing trade etc. I agree. In fact I would say that there should be a push for the petrol stations, cafes and restaurants on the main routes through town to provide some free short term access and encourage people to stop off for a break in Carlow.

Once again – Well done to all those involved in getting this running. It’s a brave step and I hope it works out.