New Orleans is not known as a hotbed of technological innovation however there are a few bright spots that bear watching.

A new city wide wireless internet initiative is underway. As of November 29, 2005 the CBD has 512 kbps wireless service provided by access points located on the street lights. This is a piggy back project expanding the capability of the surveillance cameras the city installed to deter crime. It is my understanding that when the state of emergency caused by Katrina is lifted this service will be throttled back to 128 kbps to comply with telecom laws.

On 12/21/2006 Earthlink announced the Featherlink internet service in neighboorhoods across New Orleans. A mesh network of thousands of wireless routers has been installed on light poles so anyone in the service areas can attach via wireless adapter to the internet. The service is free up to 300 kbps and is offered at speeds up to 1 meg for a $22 per month subscription fee. The signal is weak enough that most homeowners will need to install a special modem to receive the services inside their homes. Featherlink provides the 2.4 GHz radio spectrum for the public and 3.9 GHz for municipal services like security cameras and mobile communications.

The Information Technology Center is a cluster of office buildings located on UNO lakefront campus serving companies engaged in a variety of federal IT projects. Two federal payroll and benefits projects have dominated the scene. NSIPS is the Navy's payroll system and DHMRS is a Dept of Defense initiative to consolidate all DOD Human Resource systems. Both depend on Oracle's PeopleSoft software.

NASA's Michoud facility is the assembly facility for the Space Shuttle main fuel tank. With 2,000 employees on site Lockheed Martin runs a hi-tech operation here. When New Orleans East flooded, local levees and employee diligence protected this site from damage.

The City of New Orleans website is an excellent resource for information and transaction processing.