SkyPilot Networks announced the City of Aurora, the second largest city in Illinois, has selected SkyPilot and MetroFi to build out the first city-wide Wi-Fi network in the state of Illinois. The mixed-use network will provide free public Internet access within the City of Aurora, as well as new public works and public safety services that will deliver dramatic cost savings reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars annually over existing wireless services.

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"This is a landmark public/private partnership between the City of Aurora, SkyPilot Networks and MetroFi," said Aurora's Mayor Thomas Weisner. "Not only are we going to provide a free wireless Internet access service to all members of the Aurora community that costs the city and taxpayers absolutely nothing, we're going to dramatically improve the security, operational efficiency and productivity of our public works and public safety departments as well. We've been well aware of the successful municipal Wi-Fi deployments that SkyPilot and MetroFi have delivered for the cities of Cupertino, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale--all in the heart of Silicon Valley--which made their selection as providers of our soon-to-be-deployed municipal Wi-Fi network such an easy one."

The City of Aurora, spanning 42 square miles with a population of approximately 170,000, will be deploying a carrier-class mesh network for public safety and municipal wireless based on SkyPilot products. As a result of the significant coverage area provided by the SkyPilot network, Aurora's public works field personnel and first responders will have greatly expanded access to wireless network services to facilitate more responsive voice and data communications.