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The City of Moncton's advances in IT were recognized recently, at the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) Chairs' Dinner, as they were awarded one of two ITAC IT Hero Awards.

The Community IT Hero Award, which recognizes an individual, group or not-for-profit organization that can demonstrate the creative application of information technology in improving the lives of Canadians, went to the City of Moncton.

Dan Babineau, Director of Information Systems, who headed the team that developed and installed a free downtown WiFi network in Moncton, led the nomination.

Meanwhile, telecommunications company TELUS won the Corporate IT Hero Award, which recognizes a for-profit public or privately-owned business. TELUS donated development and technology services to support Upopolis, an online social network designed exclusively for hospitalized kids.

Winners were determined by a panel of judges who assessed the nominees and their projects for innovation and creativity, as well as initiative and leadership, positive and measurable impact on Canadians, and effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability.

"The judging panel was very impressed with the quality of the applications this year," said awards judge Christian Couturier, Director General of the National Research Council of Canada. "Each of the individuals and companies that were nominated should be applauded for the important work they're doing and the impact that their initiatives are having right across the country."

In 2007, the City of Moncton developed and installed a free downtown WiFi network. Up until then, an outdoor wireless mesh network had never been installed in Canada.

Unlike traditional WiFi networks where individual access points are hardwired to the internet, a mesh network wirelessly transmits data to a central internet hub, making each access point part of the network's data-transmission infrastructure that passes data from other access points across the network to the hub and back.

Moncton wanted to make its downtown more vibrant and believed wireless internet access could be a catalyst. Cost and scalability were concerns, both of which made a mesh network a better option.

No new cable had to be laid, which made the project more affordable, and it can be scaled up to support more users or provide a wider reach simply by adding more access points.

The leadership of Dan Babineau, Director of Information Systems for the City of Moncton, meant the whole network was successfully installed in only three days.

Today, the network is widely used, including by a surprising number of both tourist and business visitors to the New Brunswick city.

"It is with pleasure that I accept the ITAC IT Community Hero Award on behalf of the City of Moncton," said Babineau. "Thanks to the hard work of my team as well as our partners at Cisco and Hewlett-Packard, we were able to install a cost effective WiFi network that benefits Monctonians and its visitors.

"It's exciting to be part of a leading edge innovation and to see the benefits continue to unfold."