In brief: Philly picks EarthLink for Wi-Fi net

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• The city of Philadelphia has selected EarthLink to deploy a citywide wireless broadband network, the largest municipal Wi-Fi network in the U.S., the company announced last week. The Wi-Fi deployment in the country's fifth-largest city is expected to be finished by the fourth quarter of 2006, EarthLink says. The ISP will deploy a mesh Wi-Fi network covering 135 square miles. Under the terms of the EarthLink proposal, no city or taxpayer dollars will be used to fund the project. EarthLink will finance, build and manage the wireless network, and share revenue with the city's Wireless Philadelphia initiative. Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed. Philadelphia's plan to build a citywide Wi-Fi network has met criticism from Verizon, which offers DSL and wireless broadband service to the area. EarthLink and the city have reached agreement on the major terms of the contract and are working to complete the agreement within 60 days. Earthlink will first build a 15-square-mile Wi-Fi network to test the equipment and service.
• Citing the growth of broadband, triple play, Ethernet and storage-area network services and the resultant strain on metropolitan networks, Meriton Networks last week announced the acquisition of Mahi Networks, a maker of reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers. ROADMs were the missing piece in Meriton's arsenal of metropolitan optical systems. The company makes optical switches, multiplexers, and network management and planning systems for metropolitan access, edge and core applications. Meriton's systems integrate optical ADM functionality with wavelength switching. Meriton was recently selected, along with partner Fujitsu, as a supplier for BT's $19 billion 21st Century Network project. Meriton just landed a third round of funding for $54 million, more funds than the company accumulated - $46 million - in the first two rounds combined.

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