CITY OF HOUSTON RECOGNIZED AS ONE OF THE 2001 TOP 25 CITIES FOR BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
PUBLIC TECHNOLOGY, INC. - June 11, 2002 - Making technology available to every citizen, no matter what the socio-economic situation, has been a long-held dream of Houston Mayor Lee Brown. With SimHouston, Houston has made that dream a reality.
Claiming to be the first city in America to bridge the digital divide, Houston has served up SimHouston, giving every Houstonian an e-mail address and productivity software as well as up to 25 megabytes of storage space for the documents they create or acquire over the Internet.
The SimHouston product suite includes e-mail, word processor, file manager, calendar, computer backup and contact manager applications. Future releases will include an interactive white board and Instant Messenger.
One of Houston’s own, SimDesk Founder and CTO Ray Davis, created the product that makes this all possible.
The SimHouston virtual desktop was launched Aug. 20, 2001, and was first made available in all City libraries, beginning with the Smith, Carnegie Regional and Acres Homes Branch Libraries. Any resident who wants free access to this advanced technology can simply visit a library and open their virtual desktop over any Internet connection. SimHouston is also being incorporated into Houston government offices and may eventually be available at more city facilities, such as fire stations, to increase accessibility to the largest number of citizens.
Every Houstonian can how have an e-mail address to provide to prospective employers, co-workers, friends or family. City officials said this system truly bridges the digital divide that has kept some residents from participating in the information techonology explosion.
