FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                  January 26, 2007

Release No. M-11-07

CITY TEAMS UP WITH HOSEF

 TO OFFER WIRELESS INTERNET ACCESS IN EWA

              Mayor Mufi Hannemann announced today that the City and County of Honolulu, through a partnership with the Hawaii Open Source Educational Foundation (HOSEF), has set up a free WiFi hot spot and computer lab at Ewa Beach District Park.

              HOSEF is a group of volunteers and information professionals dedicated to free and open source software. In addition to the wireless local area network, HOSEF maintains eight refurbished computers and established a computer lab at Ewa District Park where it teaches young adults cutting-edge GNU/Linux software.

            Scott Belford, HOSEF’s executive director, said, “Mayor Mufi Hannemann and his administration have long been working to seed our communities with innovative technologies that perpetuate hope within our youth.  Now our youth are learning on computers as much as playing pool and ping pong.”

            The free wireless network was installed with the assistance of local entrepreneur and innovator Jim Thompson and support from the City’s Department of Information Technology.

            Mayor Hannemann said, “In my campaign for mayor in 2004, I called for wireless communities throughout Oahu.  I am pleased that through this public-private partnership with HOSEF we will be helping the youth of Ewa to access the Internet. 

            “Our City Department of Information Technology, under the leadership of Director Gordon Bruce, looks forward to working with Scott and his team of students on future projects of this type,” Hannemann said.

DIT Director Bruce said, “Not only is HOSEF providing the WiFi point, but it is providing and maintaining the computers. Those computers were just more E-waste. Instead of them creating disposal problems or ending up in the landfill, these computers have a new life.

“This is just another example of innovative programs that we are working on at the City and County of Honolulu,” Bruce said.

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Contact:

            Gordon Bruce, Director, Department of Information Technology, 768-7601