The New York City Wireless Network (NYCWiN) was completed in 2009 at a total cost of $500 million. The secure high-speed broadband network is used by various city agencies to transmit mobile data. For example, NYCWiN allows responders to send and receive large files, including fingerprints, mug shots, city maps, automatic vehicle location and full-motion streaming video. The fully interoperable, IP-based network links the city’s first responder agencies, meaning New York City Fire Department and New York City Office of Emergency Management workers can utilize video recorded by the city’s Police Department.
The network is also used by dozens of other city agencies for an array of functions, such as reading water meters, timing traffic lights and monitoring street conditions during snowplowing.
NYCWiN is powered by a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System that uses radio towers built throughout the city that keep a user connected as he or she moves from tower to tower. Approximately 400 nodes are scattered across the city, many of them located on rooftops. The wireless network covers 300 square miles in the city’s five boroughs.
Northrop Grumman began building the system in 2006 during the initial contract award. The wireless network was piloted in Lower Manhattan beginning in January 2007. When it was finished in 2009, city officials said the network was historic for the size of its coverage area.
Under the terms of the five-year contract renewal, Northrop Grumman will continue to provide “operations and maintenance support, integration services and mobile application solutions to the network for enhanced and expanded public safety and public service applications for New York City agencies.”
"NYCWiN has proven to be a secure, resilient, high-performance network that has brought significant public service and public safety benefits to New York City agencies," said Tom Afferton, director of Northrop Grumman's New York City programs, in a press statement. "We look forward to continuing to provide innovative applications and a reliable network to help the city operate more efficiently and increase public safety for citizens and visitors."
