Normal, IL - May 1, 2007 - Burwood Group, the leading technology infrastructure consulting firm in Central Illinois, has announced today that it will provide free wireless hot spots in Uptown Normal and Downtown Bloomington. The service will be provided for no charge to users until June 1, 2008.

Wireless service will be provided to the Uptown Normal area first in conjunction with the company's April relocation to the new Bank of Illinois building. The wireless signal will broadcast from this building and will cover most of the Uptown Normal area starting in May. The company is purposely broadcasting its signal away from Illinois State University to prevent any issues with interference in the dorms and other educational facilities. The company will then provide a wireless bridge to the Illinois House building in Downtown Bloomington from the Bank building. From there, a signal will be broadcast to the Bloomington Square area and beyond. Additionally, Burwood Group is looking at other small towns in the area to include in this project.

Burwood Group is a Cisco Systems Gold Partner and is required under the terms of a partnership agreement to purchase equipment as demonstration gear. "Burwood was required to purchase $20,000 worth of outdoor wireless equipment. Most of our clients would rather come see this equipment in action instead of taking the time to install it themselves. We thought that we could provide the Internet service to both communities as an additional benefit of this test bed," says Jeff Hartweg, Managing Director for the Heartland Region of Burwood Group. The wireless solution is also being paired with security technology from Cisco Systems.

Burwood Group, recently named Cisco's Advanced Security Partner of the Year for the Central Area, will be showcasing the technology to a growing number of town governments, educational institutions and corporations that are looking to expand their reach using secure wireless technologies for purposes of public and employee safety. "With recent events such as those at Virginia Tech and minor disturbances outside bars late at night here in town, we're seeing much more interest in using advanced technologies to provide a mechanism for securing our streets, campuses and corporate parking lots," says Hartweg. "Cisco and other companies are now providing specialized security systems that can utilize wireless technologies and those wireless technologies are enabling squad cars to receive high bandwidth images. We're going to be demonstrating how these technologies and the wireless hot-spot can provide benefits to the community."