Greece Is Moving Towards New Technologies
Greece Is Moving Towards New Technologies
Last Updated (Monday, 01 June 2009 10:28) Written by Deb St. George Friday, 10 April 2009 00:00
Strix Systems announced that the municipality of Galatsi is using Strix's Access/One Outdoor Wireless System (OWS) to deploy the first wireless mesh network in Greece. Galatsi will provide fee-based broadband services to residents and businesses, free Internet access to students, and free Internet access and VoIP service for municipal employees. BGM Ltd., a wireless networking company based in Galatsi, has tested and deployed the Strix system, which covers an area of 4 sq. km. in the city center.
European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, Viviane Reding, voices her opinion about the situation in the digital technology sector both in Greece and throughout Europe.
"Only 50 percent of the EU's productivity profits emanated from new technologies, compared with 80 percent in the US." Reding said, "Europe must move faster in order to bridge the difference with the US while, regarding the further spread of broadband networks."
In July 2006, she said, penetration of broadband networks by Greeks was 2.7 percent, compared to an EU average of 15 percent, with the member states with the highest penetration reaching up to 30 percent.
She urged action on the part of the government for the growth of broadband networks in Greece, adding that the EU would help in that direction.
"Greece was moving in the right direction with respect to new technologies, but it needed to make leaps, however, in order not to miss the train of digital development, according to speakers at the Economist Conferences' Fourth E-Government Forum taking place at a central Athens hotel titled "Digital Greece: Setting technology in its right dimension".
