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March 17, 2006

Greg Meffert Receives First "VON Medal of Honor"

"If you cut 2 inches or 10 inches out of the string, it don't matter, the tin cans can't talk."

- Greg Meffert, Deputy Mayor and CIO, City of New Orleans, speaking at Spring VON yesterday (noting the single point of failure implicit in the linear structure of traditional telecommunications networks)

Yesterday, pulvermedia awarded the First "VON Medal of Honor" to Greg Meffert for taking decisive and immediate action to deploy IP-technology during a public crisis to ensure ongoing government communications between the City of New Orleans and the outside world.

For those of you who are not aware of Greg's valiant efforts during Katrina, he is the New Orleans official who figured out how to maintain communications with the outside world when telecom networks failed during Hurricane Katrina. (Greg has more recently been instrumental in rebuilding New Orleans communications infrastructure and in attempting to bring WiFi and other wireless technology to help transform communications with the City.)

Here's the story of Greg's efforts, as best I can recount:

Greg broke into an already looted Office Depot in New Orleans; removed the store's own, and only remaining, Cisco router (all the other equipment already having been looted); found a single live connection at a Hyatt hotel; downloaded a Vonage soft-client; and established communications with the outside world, including President Bush. (I guess this also makes Greg the only person officially acknowledging that he looted during Hurricane Katrina. Talk about the necessity defense to criminal offenses!)

What I find particularly poignant (from the perspective of someone ensconced in the VoIP debates) is that only three days before the FCC (at the request of the VON Coalition) had extended the E911 deadline for VoIP users to explicitly acknowledge to their VoIP service providers that they understand the E-911 limitations of their VoIP services. What would have happened if the FCC had not granted the time extension and the Vonage service of the City employee had been disconnected due to non-compliance with the FCC rule? I still hold out hope that the FCC and others in government will find a new appreciation for the enabling (albeit it differentiated) capabilities of IP technology and the resilient and open Internet and what is means when "voice really is just an application" and how useful VoIP can be when deployed during an emergency.

I was in fact quite heartened by Chairman Martin's recent statement at the last FCC Katrina Hearing: the Katrina hearing:

"I would also like to see a greater use of IP technologies that are
capable of changing and rerouting telecommunications traffic. In the
event of a systems failure within the traditional network, such IP
technologies would enable service to be restored more quickly and would
provide the flexibility to initiate service at new locations chosen by
consumers."

Amen!

Jim Kohlenberger and Greg Meffert
Greg Meffert


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(c) 2006 Jeff Pulver. All Rights Reserved.
(This blog posting is copyright protected by Jeff Pulver. Portions of this blog posting may be quoted or abstracted if attributed.)

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Posted by jeff on March 17, 2006 11:15 AM | Permalink

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Posted by: 升降机 at July 14, 2008 06:19 AM

No Sir, This fully explains everything in detail!

me and my wife were in a wreck in which my wife was killed and I suffered a broken neck, later in december when I called to talk more about this I was told they already have something in place!

yeah now I see they stole my programs, I will provide copies of the emails and cell phone records to prove I spoke with mrs Robino, and mr. Kurt, and I will see the "whole Gang in court"
Fwd: DISASTER HOUSING SOLUTIONS INFO...

Standard Header|Full Message View


ViewMonday, September 18, 2006 12:42:15 PM
=======================================================================================
To:mkurt@mayorofno.com; nrobino@mayorofno.com

=======================================================================================
1 PROJECT SUMMARY.doc (27KB); 2 This is a story of seven characters.doc (26KB); 3 THE PROBLEM STATEMENT.doc (108KB); 4 owner.doc (62KB); 3a FLOW CHART.xls (31KB); 3c ARRIVAL STATE.xls (19KB); 3d DEPARTURE STATE.xls (17KB); MEGACANE POWERPOINTrev1.ppt (354KB); 3b FLOW CHART REFINED VIEW.xls (26KB)

============================================================================================================

I am willing to lay my cards on the table, so we dont have to re- live katrina failures.

----- Forwarded Message ----
this is a program I designed and have copyrighted

TO: WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

my name is juan gaspard i GUARANTEE I CAN SOLVE EVERY CRIME FROM HERE ON!!

I GUARANTEE THAT I COULD PROVIDE YOU WITH ALL THE INFORMATION YOU COULD EVER WANT.

This is the program I have spoken to your office about previously, we are trying to locate federal grants to move forward with this as soon as possible for the good of the general public. Please assist us any way you can, most of the grant programs are for local, state, and federal agencies, or at least cooperative efforts between these agencies and private enterprise.

WE ARE WILLING TO SHARE THIS TECHNOLOGY WITH THE STATE OF LOUISIANA AT A MINIMAL COST. WE ARE EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS/ RESPONSE PROFESSIONALS.

Please we are asking your office to support our program as a feasible solution and assist us in attaining the proper funding, please remember this is for the greater good of the general public.

On another note this idea solves the current issues with the Stafford act of privacy, This allows the applicant to decide what level of privacy they in fact wish to attain.

as a side note, it will also allow mechanisms to be brought into play along the lines of safety concerning the general public. W could also provide the DOJ,FBI with forwarding addresses of "threats to the general public" such as murderers , rapists or other serious threats ( crimes to the person, of a felonious nature). of course if this causes any problems we can simply disclude this from our program.

A preparedness theses programs would tie in all pertinant agencies for emergency response and better yet preparedness by allowing interoperability between all agencies to coordinate response as well as preparedness.

in non emergency "normal" times it would tie in "FREE" wireless internet with state of the art technology to police the streets, and MUCH MUCH MORE.if this has sparked your interest than please contact me, let your name be written in the annals of fame with reconstruction.

thanking you in advance,

Juan R. Gaspard

=========================================================================================================
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail message is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. If you are the intended recipient but do not wish to receive communications through this medium, please so advise the sender immediately.

now go to LOGISTIX:http://www.logistixco.com/MetroWireless.html

and then under the tab "sectors" download the white paper, hell download them all and then I will let anyone look at mine and judge for yourself!! but I will take them to court!!

Posted by: juanfromnola at March 6, 2008 03:10 AM

No Sir, This fully explains everything in detail!

me and my wife were in a wreck in which my wife was killed and I suffered a broken neck, later in december when I called to talk more about this I was told they already have something in place!

yeah now I see they stole my programs, I will provide copies of the emails and cell phone records to prove I spoke with mrs Robino, and mr. Kurt, and I will see the "whole Gang in court"
Fwd: DISASTER HOUSING SOLUTIONS INFO...

Standard Header|Full Message View


ViewMonday, September 18, 2006 12:42:15 PM
=======================================================================================
To:mkurt@mayorofno.com; nrobino@mayorofno.com

=======================================================================================
1 PROJECT SUMMARY.doc (27KB); 2 This is a story of seven characters.doc (26KB); 3 THE PROBLEM STATEMENT.doc (108KB); 4 owner.doc (62KB); 3a FLOW CHART.xls (31KB); 3c ARRIVAL STATE.xls (19KB); 3d DEPARTURE STATE.xls (17KB); MEGACANE POWERPOINTrev1.ppt (354KB); 3b FLOW CHART REFINED VIEW.xls (26KB)

============================================================================================================

I am willing to lay my cards on the table, so we dont have to re- live katrina failures.

----- Forwarded Message ----
this is a program I designed and have copyrighted

TO: WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

my name is juan gaspard i GUARANTEE I CAN SOLVE EVERY CRIME FROM HERE ON!!

I GUARANTEE THAT I COULD PROVIDE YOU WITH ALL THE INFORMATION YOU COULD EVER WANT.

This is the program I have spoken to your office about previously, we are trying to locate federal grants to move forward with this as soon as possible for the good of the general public. Please assist us any way you can, most of the grant programs are for local, state, and federal agencies, or at least cooperative efforts between these agencies and private enterprise.

WE ARE WILLING TO SHARE THIS TECHNOLOGY WITH THE STATE OF LOUISIANA AT A MINIMAL COST. WE ARE EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS/ RESPONSE PROFESSIONALS.

Please we are asking your office to support our program as a feasible solution and assist us in attaining the proper funding, please remember this is for the greater good of the general public.

On another note this idea solves the current issues with the Stafford act of privacy, This allows the applicant to decide what level of privacy they in fact wish to attain.

as a side note, it will also allow mechanisms to be brought into play along the lines of safety concerning the general public. W could also provide the DOJ,FBI with forwarding addresses of "threats to the general public" such as murderers , rapists or other serious threats ( crimes to the person, of a felonious nature). of course if this causes any problems we can simply disclude this from our program.

A preparedness theses programs would tie in all pertinant agencies for emergency response and better yet preparedness by allowing interoperability between all agencies to coordinate response as well as preparedness.

in non emergency "normal" times it would tie in "FREE" wireless internet with state of the art technology to police the streets, and MUCH MUCH MORE.if this has sparked your interest than please contact me, let your name be written in the annals of fame with reconstruction.

thanking you in advance,

Juan R. Gaspard

=========================================================================================================
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail message is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. If you are the intended recipient but do not wish to receive communications through this medium, please so advise the sender immediately.

now go to LOGISTIX:http://www.logistixco.com/MetroWireless.html

and then under the tab "sectors" download the white paper, hell download them all and then I will let anyone look at mine and judge for yourself!! but I will take them to court!!

Posted by: juanfromnola at March 6, 2008 03:04 AM

You're exactly right Katrina. The DOJ grant was scuttled after bidding companies complained to the DOJ about Meffert trying to run the contract through his former company.

That fact the he is being awarded for any efforts to create a communication system in the city after the storm hit is the ultimate irony.

His corruption led to the deaths of hundreds of New Orleanians.

Posted by: Dambala at February 2, 2007 12:36 PM

Posted by: Nola at October 7, 2006 09:37 PM

ditto Mr. Holcomb, does anyone remember Verge wireless building a wifi network in NO 2 years prior, built cameras in the city (the very ones that used wifi) and brought Tropos to the city, 3 years prior to katrina? good lord, does anyone remember the efforts of MCI, Verge, US Wireless, and others during the storm. Greg likes to take credit for things , and I guess a CTO does that some times........but he and his band of (friends) consultants are far from the ones bringing new technology to the city..what they are good at is stealing other technology ideas from companies and attempting to profit from them on their own.

Interesting how all the bad press lately is finally coming out. We all agree about the technology and used wifi during the storm, some to lightup shelters, others for police, and a few for public. But Greg was far from being the driving factor behind all this...just speak to Intel and other companies in the mix....ask them at what point did they actually hear from Greg Mefferet....The bad part of this all is that it puts yet another black eye on a city that surely doesnt need it at this time. There are a lot of good CTO's and cities attempting to bring wifi and technology to the city, and Greg is a smart individual, the problem is he surrounded himself with people who are not very nice. I will leave it at that.

Posted by: wifiguy at September 23, 2006 03:24 PM

Jeez Katrina, you sound like that sorry person who was supposed to be awarded $1M of that grant work. Oh, and wait, didn't you write the grant application and pick yourself as a "sole source" vendor for the grant. Grant?

Posted by: Grant Holcomb at July 17, 2006 10:44 PM

Greg Meffert thwarted a Dept of Justice grant which would have enabled interoperability communication during Katrina. He is solely responsible for NOT having communication in the city for a week and we in New Orleans hold him responsible for the deaths of our people. If he is so brilliant, then why was he not prepared with back up systems? He KNEW the storm was coming potentially. He had to break into a store??? And you give him an award. He is a scam artist and just so you know, there is no such position as Deputy Mayor in the city of New Orleans. A totally fabricated title like his story of heriocs.

Posted by: Katrina at July 12, 2006 11:58 PM

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