Atlantech Online Hosts Silver Spring Wi-Fi Hot Spot

Montgomery County and Atlantech Online Collaborate on Free Wireless Internet Access Available in New Downtown Silver Spring

Known as a hotspot for entertainment, dining and shopping, the redeveloped Downtown Silver Spring now is also a hotspot for free public wireless Internet access via the new Silver Spring Wireless Fidelity (SS Wi-Fi) network.

Thanks to a collaboration between Montgomery County and Atlantech Online, Inc. (AOI), outdoor street-level Internet access is now available in Downtown Silver Spring. The SS Wi-Fi service area is roughly bounded by Colesville Road, Fenton Street, Wayne Avenue and Ramsey Avenue to the west. For an SS Wi-Fi service area map and more information visit www.SilverSringWiFi.com.

This means that anyone with a laptop computer equipped with a Wi-Fi adapter can have free access to the Internet 24 hours a day, seven days a week from the new Downtown area.Silver Spring-based Atlantech Online is providing access to the Internet as well as the Silver Spring Wi-Fi web site. Montgomery County is providing the wireless infrastructure carrying the user's Internet traffic to Atlantech Online. This makes Silver Spring the first urban location in the county to provide free outdoor wireless Internet access.

County Executive Douglas M. Duncan said that "Silver Spring was chosen as our first public outdoor hotspot because of its emergence as the county's technological and entertainment center."

"This is a project whose time has come," said Duncan, "and I'm especially proud of our association with Atlantech Online that allows us to provide a service that saves the taxpayer dollars. The public-private collaboration also avoids possible conflict with other carriers, a major issue that has arisen in other areas throughout the country."

"Atlantech Online is very pleased to collaborate with Montgomery County to provide a community Wi-Fi Hot Spot. With this service, any visitor using a wireless-equipped laptop in downtown Silver Spring can easily access the Internet for free," said Ed Fineran, president of Atlantech Online, Inc. "We feel honored to be able to give back to our community. This is a great way for Atlantech to celebrate its 10th anniversary of providing Internet services to businesses and government."

"Ubiquitous internet access is fast becoming a 'requirement' in our digital economy," said Alisoun Moore, director of the County's Department of Technical Services. "This unique collaboration with the private sector offers residents easy wireless Internet in Montgomery County without excessive cost or business conflict."

There are no approval requirements, encryption settings, user names or passwords required and no guarantee of performance privacy or reliability.

When users access www.SilverSpringWiFi.com, they will see the Silver Spring Wi-Fi Welcome Page which summarizes the services available and offers hot links to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), the Internet User Policy and Lack-of-Privacy Disclaimer statements. There are also links to the County and Atlantech Online home pages.

Signs displaying the new SS Wi-Fi logo will be posted throughout the Downtown area and the Silver Spring Regional Services Center will market the hotspot.

Additional information about Silver Spring Wi-Fi is available on both the Montgomery County web site at, www.montgomerycountymd.gov and the Atlantech Online home page at www.atlantech.net.