There's a sizeable marketing opportunity opening up for technology vendors, VARS and Systems Integrators that want to open new markets, or expand their market share within local and state governments. Over $3 billion will be spent developing municipal wireless networks over the next four years. Do you want a piece of that pie?

If you start by looking at the big picture of government spending on mobile data, governments are adopting this technology at a rate faster than any other small and medium enterprise (SME) sector. 46% of government managers report adopting mobile data services versus 43% for media companies and 42% each for telecom and utility sectors.

It's interesting to note that government's adoption WiFi for indoor use greatly outpaces other entities: 45% for data applications (the average for SMEs is 29%) and 31% for voice apps (18% average for SMEs). When it comes to mobile applications, governments are ahead of the adoption curve with almost 30% while the average of all SMEs is 22%.

There are over 300 cities and counties of all sizes and in all regions of the US that have networks built, in the development stage or proposed. 79 cities and counties have networks built or being built for city and general public access. 36 cities have networks built or near completion for public safety and municipal use only. 149 local and regional governments have announced RFIs (request for information), RFPs or contract awards to build networks.

City governments (except the legislative side) operate similarly to commercial entities. They generate revenue (taxes and fees) to manage employees who produce and deliver a product (services) to customers who are the residents, business owners, tourists and other visitors. The "profit" to cities and counties is their ability to deliver the most effective services to the greatest numbers of customers as quickly and efficiently as possible. Government application areas include:

• Public Safety
• Inspections
• Code Enforcement (i.e. Health, Building, Safety)
• Traffic Control
• Meter Reading
• Social Services
• Parks & Recreation

Craig Settles is the author of various research such as Government Workforce Automation in a Municipal Wireless World and can be reached at: Craig@MobileIN.com.