Nortel has deployed a municipal wireless mesh solution in Kentucky’s 22 state parks, providing free Wi-Fi, VoIP and E911 emergency service in all park cabins and guest rooms, as well as remote point of sale in cafeterias, gift shops and golf courses.

The state will manage all 22 networks from a central location: Kentucky’s capital city of Frankfort.

Kentucky has also deployed Nortel’s fixed WiMAX broadband wireless solution to increase broadband network capacity for government-owned buildings, beginning with the historic Hoge House in Frankfort.

The Hoge House requires increased broadband capacity for high-resolution mapping of geological surveys, and alternatives such as T1 lines, microwave and fiber extension were either inadequate or too expensive.

“The WiMAX solution gives us at least twice the capacity of the alternatives at a fraction of the cost,” said Brad Watkins, director of Kentucky’s Commonwealth Office of Technology (COT). “It will pay for itself in only five months. And we can expand this solution to 11 other government-owned buildings in Frankfort at minimal additional cost.”

Nortel has also struck agreements with California’s KermanTel to provide wireless mesh and IPTV solutions, and Front Range Internet Inc. (FRII), to deploy wireless mesh for the operator’s municipal wireless applications in northern Colorado.