NEW YORK (May 13, 2005) – The Intelligent Community Forum announced the names of the finalists for its annual Intelligent Community of the Year Awards. The awards will be presented at a luncheon ceremony on June 14 during the second day of the ICF’s annual conference in New York . The 2005 conference, “Building the Broadband Economy,” is produced in association with the Institute for Technology & Enterprise at Polytechnic University and the American Society for Public Administration. It takes place at the high-tech MetroTech campus of Polytechnic University , one mile from lower Manhattan . The 150 year-old school, home to the first campus-wide wireless network in New York City , has a history of achievement in areas such as radar, microwave technology and advanced telecommunications, and has produced three Nobel Prize winners.

The Intelligent Community Awards are presented in four categories to the Intelligent Community, Intelligent Community Visionary, Intelligent Community Technology and Intelligent Building of the Year.

As many 200 delegates from around the world will gather to meet and discuss ways that broadband communications is making a practical but profound impact on the infrastructure, economy, business and social growth in their regions. Delegates are expected to arrive from China , India , Canada , Brazil , Japan and Portugal and discuss best practices and case studies.

The Canadian Consul General of New York will host a reception honoring the Top Seven Intelligent Communities and the finalists of the three other awards on the evening of June 13 th in Manhattan.

Finalists
The Finalists for the Intelligent Community Awards for 2005 are:

Intelligent Building of the Year
Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP) – The Innovation Centre , Belfast , Northern Ireland . The Center is the Park’s first building, a 56,000 square-foot facility opened in 2003. It is considered one of Ireland ’s most secure wireless facilities and offers tenants scaleable ICT and real estate solutions, including the latest H-P and Cisco Systems Voice over IP (VOIP) and international broadband connectivity. ICF cited NISP’s robust telecommunications infrastructure and its role in supporting Northern Ireland ’s quest to cross the Digital Divide as key to its nomination.

Nankang Software Park , Taipei , Taiwan . The Park is a state-of-the-art area dedicated to the development of knowledge-based industries. Formed as a collaborative effort between government and the private sector, the Park focuses on software development, IC design and biotechnology. The Park employs nearly 13,000 people from 260 companies. ICF cited the Park’s scale and model of government enabling commerce in a prosperous region that continues to add to its progress as an intelligent community. Taipei was one of ICF’s Top Seven Intelligent Communities of the Year in 2004.

Ebene Cybertower , Mauritius . The 12-story building was cited by ICF for its development as a major component of an integrated intelligent community project called Ebene Cyber City , which is part of a plan by the government of Mauritius to develop information and communications technologies as a “fifth pillar” of the nation’s economy, as it moves into the Digital Age.

Intelligent Community Technology of the Year
InnerWireless System, InnerWireless , Richardson , Texas , United States . Cited as one of the few true broadband in-building wireless distribution systems that enable coverage for an entire building or facility’s wireless services on a unified platform, InnerWireless offers a protocol-neutral platform that is capable of distributing wireless services across a unified system. ICF cited the technology as one that would help introduce more wireless broadband capacity in communities and commercial buildings – thus enabling knowledge workers and improved communications in support of business growth and service.

Smart Identity Card System (SMARTICS), Hong Kong SAR Immigration Department, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The SMARTICS system was developed by the Immigration Department of Hong Kong (ImmD) to substantially streamline the production, workflow process and issuance of the approximately 8,000 cards required by the ImmD each day. In addition to simplifying work processes and providing a paperless environment in this critical area to one of the world’s busiest communities, the system enables people to clear immigration in much the same way as a credit card enables airline passengers to be ticketed. The card holder also has the option to include a digital certificate inside the chip which enables a variety of secure electronic transactions. ICF noted that because Hong Kong is an international financial center, and depends heavily on visitors and a steady stream of “knowledge workers” entering and leaving, the ability to have an effective ID system is vital to its economic development and security.

AN50e System, Redline Communications, Inc. , Markham , Ontario , Canada . AN50e is among the world’s first high-performance, low-cost multi-service solutions for carriers and service providers seeking to expand their broadband wireless networks and provide quality access to customers, especially in areas where terrestrial (wired) solutions are impossible or prohibitively expensive. The company’s patented enhancements to technologies enable long-range and robust non-line-of-sight solutions. ICF cited Redline’s technology as important to the expansion of broadband access and the creation or enhancement of a broadband infrastructure in communities where there are few, if any, options.

Intelligent Community Visionary of the Year
New Partnership for Africa ’s Development (NEPAD) for its E-Schools Africa Project. Initiated by the Organization of African Unity, five heads of state from Algeria , Egypt , Nigeria , Senegal and South Africa have collaborated since 2001 to pursue projects that enable African nations to pursue sustainable economic growth and integrate the continent into the global economy. ICF cited NEPAD’s E-Africa project, specifically its E-Schools Africa project, as worthy of its vision of linking telecommunications infrastructure to economic growth. The project aims to network 600,000 African schools to the Internet, mainly via satellite. Organizations including the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), as well as private sector companies such as Alcatel (France) and IP Planet ( Israel ) are partnering with the Commission to move this vision forward and to use the project to further its goals of expanding broadband access throughout the continent.

OneCleveland, Cleveland , Ohio , United States . Launched only 12 months ago,this grass-roots organization in one of America ’s struggling communities has developed into an organization that has attracted support and attention throughout the region, and is bringing the concept of the intelligent community to the shores of Lake Erie . ICF noted that OneCleveland was founded by entrepreneurs from the telecommunications sector who are championing this effort and have energized people and resources in both the public and private sectors. OneCleveland, according to ICF, has begun to transform the community so dramatically that the organization has already been nominated for several national awards, including one from John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems (USA), for its innovative use of technology. This cutting-edge regional network in a part of the American Midwest noted for its declining manufacturing base is underpinning the emergence of an intelligent community.

Gauteng Province , South Africa for the Innovation Hub. In 2002, the Premier of Gauteng’s Provincial government announced a project to create an infrastructure that would stimulate the knowledge-intensive sector of the province, and move the economy away from its historical resource-dependent focus. The Innovation Hub was launched as a catalyst for this effort. Considered a state-of-the-art science park, the Hub is designed specifically to create and to link an information technology infrastructure to an overall vision for a knowledge-based economy. The Hub officially opened in 2005 and is the first facility of its type in Africa to become a full member of the International Association of Science Parks. The 60 hectare development incorporates a convergent broadband infrastructure of VoIP, multi-media and “plug-and-play” capabilities not seen in a South African project. ICF cited the leadership of the province in bringing together multiple stakeholders and noted the role that the Innovation Hub will play in becoming a model for other regions in South Africa and the rest of the continent in support of more intelligent community developments.

Intelligent Community of the Year
On January 19, 2005 , at the annual Pacific Telecommunications Council conference in Honolulu , ICF announced its annual list of the Top Seven Intelligent Communities in the world. Each will send a delegation and representatives to the June conference, where they will be honored by the Canadian Consulate General at a reception for conference attendees on the evening of June 13. Earlier that day, the seven will be together for the first time for a roundtable panel discussion on their success strategies and programs.

In alphabetical order the Top Seven Intelligent Communities of 2005 are:

• Issy-les- Moulineaux , France
• Mitaka , Japan
• Pirai , Brazil
• Singapore
• Sunderland , England , United Kingdom
• Tianjin , China
• Toronto , Canada

The Power of Collaboration
"These finalists are not only leaders in their field, visionary in their outlook and innovative in their approach, but also express a natural tendency to be collaborative and understand the benefits of collaboration - such as benefits gained through sharing resources, expanding the range of opportunities, developing expanded audiences and increasing the overall visibility and importance of the role that an intelligent community plays in the daily lives of citizens and the creation of wealth and business opportunities,” said John G. Jung, chairman of the Intelligent Community Forum.

ICF noted that, while the Top Seven Intelligent Communities list is often viewed as a competitive ranking, that is not its intent. ICF has developed a list of five Intelligent Community Indicators that provide the first global framework for understanding how communities and regions can leverage broadband and digital technologies to succeed in an economy that becomes more global by the day. The Top Seven are chosen, not because they excel in all of these areas, but because each demonstrates excellence in at least one or more of these criteria.

Because of the number of submissions, the complexity in evaluating the “most intelligent” and the wide range of cultures and approaches communities take to make the transformation to the Digital Age the ICF establishes a theme each year that enables a focused review for selection. In 2005 the theme for the Top Seven and Intelligent Community of the Year is “collaboration.” Collaboration takes on many forms in the development of communities and their information-based economies. It includes the degree of public-private partnership, the structural relationships that are established among the multiple stakeholders, including the academic, government and real estate sectors as well as the degree of collaboration between the government and its constituents.

Intelligent Community Forum
The Intelligent Community Forum ( www.intelligentcommunity.org) is a special project of World Teleport Association ( www.worldteleport.org) that focuses on the uses of broad­band and information technology for economic devel­opment by communities large and small. ICF conducts research, creates conference content, publishes newsletters and presents annual Awards for Intelligent Com­munity developers. World Teleport Association is a nonprofit association of teleports, Intelligent Communities and their trading partners in 20 nations around the world.

InnerWireless
InnerWireless ® deploys its unified broadband wireless distribution platform in hospitals and large commercial buildings to support a full range of wireless services and applications. InnerWireless, which guarantees wireless coverage inside buildings ranging in size up to 10 million square feet, is properly engineered to accommodate wireless systems essential for:

• Interpersonal Communications including PCS/cellular, messaging/personal data, enterprise voice, and paging
• Clinical Operations including wireless infusion therapy/medical administration, enterprise/clinical data, WMTS and portable patient monitoring, and people and asset tracking
• Building Operations including building automation, security and first-responder communications, and push-to-talk radios

For more information about InnerWireless, see www.InnerWireless.com

For more information, contact:
Christina Teagarden
Trinity PR for InnerWireless
972-788-9456 x302
teagarden@trinity-pr.com

Louis Zacharilla
Intelligent Community Forum
212-825-0218 x12
lzacharilla@intelligentcommunity.org