County Of San Mateo – Brochure 2021

County of San Mateo: bridging the digital divide Project partners

County of San Mateo: bridging the digital divide Interface Magazine talks to Jon Walton, CIO of the County of San Mateo to see how he is helping to bridge the digital divide

Written by

Andrew Woods

Produced by

Craig Daniels

C ou nty Of Sa n Mateo

3

S

ocial equity, and the provision of basic human needs, have centered on many things

over the centuries. Food, water, shelter, employment, mobility and healthcare have all been held up as intrinsic to an acceptable life in a modern society.

The conversation today, when it comes to equity has pivoted slightly however, although some of those issues still pervade even the most affluent countries.

When COVID-19 hit the western world at the start of 2020, it was digital equity that came to the fore, as being the essential liberatore for employees needing to work from home, while also providing those remote learning tools for children and students. The track and trace systems used to fight Coronavirus were also dependent on access to digital. Life as we knew it had largely migrated to the fibres that connect our homes to the outside world and those without the liberating nourishment of digital were in danger of being left behind.

Situated between San Francisco and

amplified by COVID-19. Jon Walton is

San Jose is the Californian county of

County Chief Information Officer and

San Mateo. As of the 2010 census, the

it’s his job to keep his beloved county

population of the County of San Mateo

connected during and beyond the current

was 718,451 and although it lies only 48

pandemic. “You know, where we’re at

miles from Silicon Valley itself, the county,

with public WiFi and internet access here

and indeed the US as a whole, has been

in the US is similar to where we proba-

battling a digital divide that was cruelly

bly were a hundred years ago or more

C ou nty Of Sa n Mateo

construction, signage and alignment, and all the things that made the modern transportation system what it is today.

That was definitely a journey that we, as a society, had to go through, and think about how to make it efficient for people to operate.” But it’s the delivery of the information superhighway, rather than the physical roads, that occupies Walton’s time as he actively helps to bridge that gap between the haves and have-nots of the digital age.

Walton’s 25 years working in tech have with public roads,” he explains. “There

covered the entire birth of the digital

was a time when there wasn’t a really

age. “We went from very slow speeds

standardized approach to road construc-

and mobility to very fast LTE and even

tion. Who even owned the roads? Was

5G now. Everybody has a tablet and a

it the interstate system from the federal

smartphone, probably six or eight devices

government, the state highways, or the

at home if they’re like me. Everything’s

local municipalities? So, it took time to

connected – even your refrigerator’s

think through the standardization of road

connected, right? And what we did 5

RUCKUS Converged wired and wireless enterprise networks RUCKUS® networks simplify life for IT, while enabling them to deliver exceptional user experiences. With RUCKUS products and solutions, any organization—regardless of size or sophistication—can easily deploy, manage and expand a converged IT/OT network, while addressing unique business outcomes. With the help of machine learning and AI, IT can troubleshoot faster and proactively create, measure and meet SLAs that address the evolving needs of their users.

FIND OUT MORE

C ou nty Of Sa n Mateo

anticipate as we continued to shift all

It was around 2010 that Walton and his

these government services online, is

team started to discuss ways of creat-

that we were inadvertently creating this

ing better connectivity for those that

digital divide, or issues around digital

were digitally impoverished. “When we

equity. Because what it started to do,

looked at the three legs of the stool that

slowly over time, was create a situation

create digital inequity problems, one was

where you had to have an unlimited data

equipment, which... I won’t say it has been

plan, or a really nice iPad, or a super-

solved, but certainly the cost of equip-

fast computer on broadband to have

ment from 25 years ago has come down

instant access to all of this information,

a lot in price. I mean, here in the US, at

and do distance learning, and telehealth

least, they practically give you a smart-

appointments, and run a business from

phone if you sign up for a cell phone plan,

home, and do all these really nice things

right? So, it’s not as hard to get equipment

that we would like to see everyone

anymore.”

doing in the 21st century.”

The second concern of the digital divide

7

is the ability and knowledge needed to be able to use the technological tools that open up how the internet works, although technology has become so intuitive now, it didn’t represent a major concern for Walton. “So, we’ve really started to focus on the third leg of the challenge, which is more around connectivity, where there seems to be a big sticking point still. People either live in areas with poor connectivity because there are parts of our County that are very rural and don’t even have cell coverage, or this connectivity issue could be prohibitively expensive data plans here in the US. For example, I pay almost $400 a month for my family’s cell phone plan, for four of us. So, obviously, those types of prices, if you’re working in an industry that doesn’t make a lot of money, can be significant. It can be a choice between paying your rent or having a cell phone plan.”

The focus on the digital divide over the last 10 years in San Mateo has been trained on the creation of free public WiFi in public spaces, such as community centers or homework centers and libraries, or downtown areas where people can connect to the public WiFi. In 2014, the County set out to connect the community with free and safe public WiFi based on four goals: to connect underserved communities, support C ou nty Of Sa n Mateo

“ We have over 100,000 students who were at a school or on a campus one day, who were trying to do distance learning online from home, the next” — Jo n Walto n C I O of th e C o unty of San M ate o

9

Build Communication for a Better & Safer Tomorrow www.GalaxyWiFi.com

C ou nty Of Sa n Mateo

educational opportunities for students, to

told everyone to shelter at home. So, the

spur economic development and provide

whole theory that everybody would come

greater access to County services.

to these public places and kind of congre-

“Places where you can have a good expe-

gate together to use the public Internet

rience and not worry about having to pay

went by the wayside. And we had to start

for a data plan,” Walton enthuses. “And

rethinking how we were going to push

that was working very well. We had over

that service out into the neighborhoods,

a hundred sites set up, and over a million

or into the rural areas where people can

user hours per month.”

get better connectivity while sheltering

COVID-19 has affected virtually every

at home. It became critical for educa-

aspect of human life, and when it hit

tion. We have over 100,000 students who

the US, Walton and his team saw the

were at a school or on a campus one day,

size of their challenges explode. “What

and were trying to do distance learning

we didn’t anticipate of course, was the

online from home, the next. The same

pandemic. And when that happened, we

thing with telehealth. We had over 30

11

clinics scattered all over the County, plus

primarily on wireless, and we put it on

a large hospital. Almost overnight, we had

street poles in neighborhoods and things

to shut down all the clinics (not for the

like that. The coverage is similar to cell

critical care), and move the basic day-to-

phone coverage in the sense that the

day appointments online. We had to really

cells... the strength of the signal, varies

rethink how we were going to do that.”

based on how far you are from the site

The County of San Mateo is conscious

and the type of construction your house

of not wanting to compete with the tele-

is, just like your cell phone works some-

communications giants in its endeavors

times better inside or outside the house.

to connect homes to the digital realm.

And that’s what we focused on for the

“We’re not trying to do wired services to

last year.” In fact, partnerships with telcos

people’s homes like Comcast or AT&T

were really key to the roll-out of the

or Verizon,” Walton explains. “We under-

County’s work bridging the digital divide.

stand that that’s their role. We focus

“In government, we tend to at least

“ So, we’ve really started to focus on the third leg of the challenge, which is more around connectivity, where there seemed to be a big sticking point still, where people live in areas with poor connectivity because there are parts of our County that are very rural, and don’t even have cell coverage” — J o n Wal to n C IO of t he C ounty of San Mateo

C ou nty Of Sa n Mateo

focus on the basic necessities of what

project, if you will. So, it was critical that

we need to do to provide services inter-

we picked the right partners to help us.

nally for the government workers to be

Some of the technologies we had to use

able to do their jobs,” Walton reveals.

were from AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and

“And because of that, a lot of times in IT,

T-Mobile. There were times when we

we don’t directly work with the public on

couldn’t put a fixed solution in place, so

public-facing projects. This public inter-

we had to go to them and brainstorm

net project was one of the first times we

about how to get a mobile solution out

had the opportunity to think about how

in the field, or in the hands of the individ-

the work we did would directly impact

ual users. And so those telecommunica-

the public. However, we’re not necessar-

tions companies were a combination of

ily staffed or in possession of the exper-

point solutions for some of our users, or

tise in how to build these systems; this is

for our people that needed healthcare

almost like a telecommunications-grade

or students who required educational

13

CATCH THE WAVE!

CONGRATULATIONS TO JON WALTON AND THE COUNTY OF SAN MATEO FOR THEIR VISION AND CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMMUNITY!

SmartWAVE Technologies would like to congratulate SMC and Jon Walton for their dedication and vision to overcome the Digital Divide challenges within the community. At SmartWAVE , we have appreciated the opportunity to work with SMC since 2014 in carrying out this mission. Through our proven methodology for designing and deploying community WiFi networks, we were able to take this vision and turn it into reality, accelerating success and serving the community. Despite Covid related challenges, we are thankful for the County’s trust and confidence in SmartWAVE, allowing us to deploy over 200 radios in 2 weeks.

FIND OUT MORE C ou nty Of Sa n Mateo

services. Plus, they do all the back haul

like mini shoe boxes that we could hang

for us to the internet. So even if we do

from streetlights and put on the sides

some of what we call the middle mile or

of the building,” he says. “They’re very

last mile of activity, all of the traffic ulti-

unobtrusive. They blend in very well and

mately connects to one of their commer-

have very good reliability; you don’t have

cial networks to get out to the internet.

to worry about them going down. They

Their ability to deliver quality internet

connect everyone really well and create

services in a very secure way to the

a kind of a commercial grade service out

public was important. We’re not an ISP or

in the field, which is needed to create that

a service provider in government per se,

quality connection for the students and

so that was an important partnership.”

the families.”

There were two types of technol-

Aruba Technologies provided similar

ogy the County primarily focused on

technology, primarily for use in build-

with regards to connectivity in the field.

ings to connect staff and the equipment.

One product was from CommScope/

Walton and his team worked with Aruba

RUCKUS. “We used a lot of their equip-

to reconfigure that. “So, anywhere there

ment to do connectivity in the field. They

is a public building, and we have over 200

create these access points that look

facilities in the County where we have

15

WHAT MAKES HPE (ARUBA) A

MAGIC QUADRANT LEADER OUR ABILITY TO EXECUTE AND COMPLETENESS OF VISION

Aruba: A Leader in the 2020 Gartner Magic Quadrant for WLAN/LAN

Learn how C ou nty Of Sa n Mateo

connectivity for the staff, we are now

came in and helped us collect all the

able to reconfigure that equipment and

data from the libraries, the cities, and the

create connections not just for the staff,

schools to see where people had good

but the public. If you’re nearby, or close to

connections, or where they felt like they

a public building, you could go there and

were challenged and had dead spots, or

have access to the internet. The flexibility

areas of need. We created an end-user,

and configurability of that technology was

data-driven interactive heat-map, and

useful as well because that really enabled

that allowed us to focus our energies

us to quickly expand the type of access

around where we were going to deploy

while almost doubling it overnight.”

new technology and reach the greatest

There are almost 600 square miles in

percentage of people in the limited time

the County that Walton and his team are

we had available. Kaizen also developed a

trying to cover, making it virtually impos-

community portal, using the AWS Cloud,

sible to cover every square foot. To that

so residents could easily find our Public

end, the County hired Kaizen Technology

WiFi, and even avoid sites that were out

Partners, who had already undertaken

of commission; a really functional solution

a lot of data analysis and mapping. “We

that will serve us well beyond this crisis”

have great staff internally, but it’s a func-

There were numerous partners involved

tion of time and staff available,” Walton

in the project, such as SmartWave, who

explains. “Kaizen has good consultants

did a lot of the field work for the County.

that matched up well with our team. They

“They had the bucket trucks, if you will,

“ So, anywhere there is a public building, and we have over 200 facilities in the County where we have connectivity for the staff, we are now able to reconfigure that equipment and create connections not just for the staff, but the public” — J o n Wal to n C IO of t he C o unty of San Mateo

17

DELIVERING ENTERPRISE CLOUD SOLUTIONS AND STRATEGIES SO OUR CLIENTS CAN SUCCEED Kaizen Technology Partners is a leading cloud consulting firm.

Founded with the vision of unleashing the potential of the cloud, our diverse customer base, global presence, and extensive network of partners and advisors have enabled us to become thought leaders in business transformation.

HOW KAIZEN AND SAN MATEO COUNTY DELIVERED WIFI TO THE UNDERSERVED IN A CRISIS In 2020 SLED leaders were blindsided. In an instant community Internet access evolved from amenity to lifeline. The stakes could not have been higher or results more important. Kaizen enabled county leaders with proven solutions to overcome the challenges. Using our proprietary business intelligence platform for analysis and solution planning, to assistance with grants, procurement, and professional services. Our experience ensured success.

LC ou EA RN HOW nty Of Sa n Mateo

the people with hard hats, and trucks that

called the CARES Act money ($6.3 million

could go out in the field on the weekends

in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic

and in the evenings. They worked over a

Security Act funding) and it had a very

lot of the holidays to get the equipment

limited timeframe on when it could be

installed.” Meanwhile, IT Management

used,” Walton explains. “So, speed and

Corporation undertook a lot of the design

working around the clock on 24/7 oper-

and back-room engineering of how the

ations was the name of the game to get

system would work. “So, they were really

things done quickly. And they did a good

important to us too.”

job in getting it done for us. Our staff

The work with major partners such

stayed engaged throughout the whole

as Kaizen Technologies was integral to

thing. We didn’t have the people power to

the expansion of the Digital Inclusion

put on it 24/7.”

Initiative as time represented a massive

Another constant challenge to Walton

challenge to the team. “We were using

is simply being able to utilize technology

financing from the federal government

that keeps up with his county’s needs.

19

“One of the things in our rural areas is

the locals. The County partnered with

that there are just very few options. And

all the 23 school districts in the County

so, one of the types of technology we’re

and every library as part of the Digital

looking at is satellite technology, to see if

Inclusion Initiative. “We have 16 cities,

the Starlink satellite system that just got

so the last year has been a great expe-

deployed, with these low orbit satellites,

rience, where we just all came together

can provide high quality internet access

and really focused on that. And now we’re

to people in really rural areas, where

two months into 2021, and we’re really

getting a wired connection or something

thinking, ... when the pandemic’s over or

like that just isn’t practical.”

it starts to ease, do we think we’re going

So far, the work undertaken in San Mateo has been very well received by

C ou nty Of Sa n Mateo

to go back to life as it was, or whatever normal looked like before the pandemic?

Or are we at a point of inflection where it’s

of positive feedback from people who

something of a new normal? Maybe we’re

live out in the rural areas, or more dense

going to settle somewhere in the middle

housing apartments and things like that,

of expectations around how much people

who felt we were looking out for them. We

can do online and what the role of govern-

understood what their challenges were

ment is in providing those services.”

and tried to make things better for them.

“A lot of times during pandemics and

They’ve been very appreciative, and that

things like this, because we’re in our own

means a lot to my staff and my team to

homes and dealing with our own stresses

hear that we’re making a positive differ-

and struggles, we sometimes overlook

ence in people’s lives.”

the impact to the greater community or neighborhoods. I know we’ve had a ton

21