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From	pinna <pinna@autistici.org>
Date	Mon, 26 Apr 2004 14:14:23 +0200
Subject	[hackmeeting] niente war driving al Vaticano ?

Wireless: The expanding vision of Vatican's Holy See 
http://www.iht.com/articles/516899.html


The wireless Internet has arrived at the gates - literally - of one of
Europe's oldest institutions. For the past month, Swiss Guard officers
at the entry and exit points of Vatican City have added the latest in
telecommunications technology to their centuries-old arsenal of halberds
and swords.
.
The pope's official corps of 100-odd bodyguards has been equipped with a
small number of Wi-Fi-enabled laptops and personal digital assistants
courtesy of Motorola as part of an open-ended trial sponsored by the
company.
.
The high-speed wireless network supports real-time video streaming from
closed-circuit television monitors near the Vatican's gates and allows
for instant remote access to a database of registered automobile license
plates.
.
"This gives the Swiss Guard an opportunity to enhance their security
system," said Margaret Rice-Jones, a Motorola vice president. "It is
also an interesting and complete case study for other enterprises to
look at" as an example of how Wi-Fi can be used in public services, she
said.
.
While the Vatican is not known to be a particular hotbed of crime,
violent incidents are not unknown there. In 1999, a Swiss Guard
commander and his wife were shot and killed by a disgruntled junior
guard who then took his own life.
.
The Holy See, a sovereign state comprising less than one square
kilometer, or roughly a third of a square mile, and a population of just
under 1,000, is not your ordinary "enterprise." But the Motorola trial
comes as an increasing number of governments and businesses are
beginning to find practical uses for Wi-Fi technology.
.
In Sweden, for example, the national health service is poised to roll
out an integrated mobile data network that connects the country's
ambulances with hospitals and other emergency services providers. In
China, a company called Top Global has begun experimenting with wireless
"hot spots" on some bus and railway lines.
.
Because it is for police use, the system in place in the Vatican is a
closed network, equipped with state-of-the-art security software to
prevent unauthorized access. So visitors to the city-state should not
expect to be able to use their Wi-Fi enabled laptops to send an e-mail
home from St. Peter's Square, Rice-Jones said.
.
While Motorola has not formally discussed a public Wi-Fi network with
Vatican officials, she said, such a project "is always an option that
the Vatican could choose to take."
.
Since becoming available three years ago, Wi-Fi has spread so widely
that today most new laptops and many hand-held devices come with the
technology built in. Mobile phone companies as well as start-up
businesses are in heated competition to provide hot spots in public
spaces, convention centers and hotels. Europe has seen a sharp increase
in Wi-Fi adoption in recent years and last year represented 15 percent
of global Wi-Fi equipment shipments for personal use, up from 9 percent
in 2002, according to In-Stat/$ MDR, a market tracking company.
.
The Vatican has generally been quick to embrace technology as a means of
reaching out to the world's one billion Roman Catholics. Its Web site,
www.vatican.va, has been online since 1997, and its radio station, Radio
Vaticana, offers streaming audio broadcasts over the Internet in 35
languages.
.
"We find that the Vatican is very familiar with methods of communication
in the digital age," said Ciaran Carey of Acotel, a Rome-based company
that designed a system for transmitting the pontiff's prayers and
teachings as text messages to mobile phones.
.
The text service, available in Italy, Ireland, Britain, Malta and the
United States, allows subscribers to receive Pope John Paul II's Thought
of the Day as an SMS, or short message service.
.
Carey said Acotel initially approached the Vatican in 2002 about
providing a system for transmitting the pope's daily message to church
followers over mobile phones. "But it turned out that they were actually
thinking of it at the same time," he said.
.
"It was a meeting of the minds."
.
International Herald Tribune 


-- 
http://autistici.org/pinna
21 luglio 2001: carlo giuliani viene ucciso da un carabiniere.
5 maggio 2003: il caso viene archiviato.
1943-2003: questa storia e' gia' successa. 350 volte:
  http://www.fondazionecipriani.it/carlo.htm
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