Townnet putting together technology.Photos by Mary Deneen
By Matthew Hansen
It is nearly impossible to cross Piazza Matteoti without some sort of human interaction, whether it be a greeting from a friend or a near-death experience from a zipping motorino. Throughout the day and well into the night, the piazza is an extremely social place, except perhaps during pausa. So how is a place like Piazza Matteotti likely to change in response to the introduction of WiFi? Well, many locals are still oblivious to this development even though it is the newest piece of technology to hit the town. WiFi is quickly spreading into the bustling streets of the piazza and is no longer just for local Internet use.
Marco Valeri is the tallest resident of Cagli. Half Swedish and half Italian, Valeri has been a local since the age of 17 and has spent time studying in the United States, so he has seen the difference between American cafés and those in Italy. When asked whether or not the American way of camping out at a Starbucks all day with one coffee will eventually be seen at Piazza Matteotti, he maintains that it is not in Italian culture to go out in public and avoid human interaction with people. He points out that five years ago Facebook was new to him and to most other Italians, but as time has passed, they have all used the networking website just as much as in America. Valeri considered the idea of wireless catching on in Italy, “A lot of people are buying more and more laptops,” he says, “so it might take time, but maybe wireless will catch on.”
Townet, an Italian wireless Internet producer much like Belkin in the United States, is providing a public domain for Piazza Matteotti. The main difference between Belkin and Townet is that Belkin has a fairly standard headquarters, cubicles, and all; Townet has an office that looks like someone botched C3PO’s autopsy. Granted Townet is an up and coming company that has not yet settled into Cagli.
Alessandro Verzelli is a Townet employee.
Alessandro Verzelli, a Townet employee, does not think WiFi will catch on in the piazza. Despite the fact that his company profits from WiFi use, Verzelli says that Italian culture will remain the same. He notes that in Italy you go to the piazza to socialize and talk with your friends. Solitude is not a goal.
But if Italians won’t use it, who will? Daniele D’Alba, the CEO of Townet, says that public WiFi domains in small Italian towns, like Cagli, usually provide service for either tourists or students. D’Alba explained through his rectangle glasses that for tourists, the connection directs them to general information about the town. For students, the connection grants them access to their university’s website. But in order to be able to connect with the Internet, you will need a username and password. That covers students and tourists, but what about locals?
According to Valeri, most Italians do their web browsing on desktops in the privacy of their own homes. In that case, why even have public wireless? Aside from the tourists and students who use the WiFi connection, many businesses are taking full advantage of big public domains. Without expensive fiber optic cables, businesses are able to cut costs on phone bills with the help of Townet. Instead of Skype, Townet makes a network using what D’Alba calls the “point-to-point solution.” To avoid the tedious use of fiber optic cables, Townet has developed its own device that can relay signals over five kilometers away. Putting this technology to use, connecting various companies from different parts of a region, is a very simple process.
Townnet Data Chip.
Like a giant spider web of radio signals, Townet’s transmitters relay information from one connector to the other, moving from point to point through a direct line of sight. This is how D’Alba was able to solve the problem of connecting a mountainous town like Cagli to the Internet. Simply place the crucial connectors on the top of a mountain and overall connectivity is even better. No need to dig up the earth and bury a cable several miles long.
Italy has been trying to make the transition to wireless for quite some time. Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu helped enact a law concerning wireless Internet in 2005 after the London bombings. The law makes operators of public WiFi connections and Internet cafes responsible for keeping records of all their clients’ identities and logs of all their online activity for possible police inspection. This law seems as though it would make implementing WiFi even more difficult for Italians, but Townet was able to turn the problem on its head. Verzelli notes that Townet’s product documents the activity seamlessly.
As of 2005 Rome has had public WiFi in the Villa Borghese, Rome’s equivalent of Central Park. It was the first free WiFi to be introduced to Rome, so the trend is slowly catching. It has taken four years, but WiFi has finally reached the remote città di Cagli.
Whether it be guiding a confused tourist around mysterious cobblestone streets or connecting one fast-talking businessman to another, wireless Internet is unlikely to stop spreading until its availability spans the earth. For now, it is conquering the small towns of Italy. Despite this, the social climate of Italy should remain the same and not be altered by this growing trend.
Web production by Sarah Hofman
