Tosa's Wireless Network Gains Fame With Motorola Case Study

Wauwatosa residents can sleep a little easier each night knowing that a piece of infrastructure – which cannot be seen, touched nor heard – is keeping the city safe and secure.

It's not the latest super hero who can leap tall buildings.

It is the city's wireless broadband system, which has gained rock star status within the public technology infrastructure sector for its strength and power, becoming the subject of a Motorola case study.

"The significance of the project is the vast increase in bandwidth and speed and things that we would not be able to do otherwise," said Thomas Otzelberger, manager of information technology for the city.

The network allows for information from more than 40 cameras and video monitoring systems, along with voice systems and information systems, to be captured and archived simultaneously.

"It's kind of amazing that the city dove right in and took on the technology full force," said Jason Pedersen, an official with Baycom, a Motorola partner that was instrumental in the project.

The impetus for the project, partly paid for with an $80,000 homeland security grant, was to strengthen the city's security network for its Water Utility department.

"A lot of this stuff was for the water utility sites so nobody would tamper with our water supplies," Otzelberger said.

But there were other technology needs that Otzelberger wanted to address within the Police and Fire departments and at City Hall.

"The first thing I wanted to do was get everyone on the same page. We didn't want to have three or four different video systems ... because ultimately my department has to support all of this stuff," Otzelberger said.

So, the project blossomed from serving just the Water Utility to the covering the entire city. Now, in addition to handling surveillance and police dispatch, the system allows for data and voice connections throughout the city, linking its systems applications and employees.

The system saves the city money by decreasing expenses associated with transmitting and archiving critical data, according to Otzelberger and Pedersen. The system replaces T1 lines, ultimately saving the city at least $60,000 a year, starting in 2014.

"That's where the value is for Wauwatosa citizens. That's real money. That's tax dollars," Otzelberger said. "This is what government is about, providing more bang for the buck and taking a long, hard look in how to get stuff done and still save taxpayer money."