Alaska Statesman Clicks with Compaq

Although he had been a lifelong Mac user, one of Alaska's best-known public figures quickly warmed up to Compaq after getting acquainted with an Armada notebook PC at last February's Comtech 98 trade show in Juneau.

"My relationship with Compaq just clicked right away," says H.A. (Red) Boucher, Alaska's former lieutenant governor and foremost champion of wireless networking in Alaska. "I just liked the feel of the Armada."

Boucher's company, Alaska Wireless Technology, occupied the booth next to Compaq. The company has pioneered high-speed spread spectrum wireless communications in the state since 1996. "We set up Compaq Armadas to interface with Alaska Wireless equipment," Boucher says.

Rick Blake, Compaq's representative at the show, provided Boucher with two Armada 1592 models, each with 32 MB of RAM and a 3-GB* hard drive. Alaska Wireless then installed its wireless modem cards. "The Armadas came right up and we accessed the Internet via wireless right from the trade show floor," says Blake. "Red was so impressed, he got a hold of me and said, 'Let's go show this off.' For the next two hours, we walked the halls of the Alaska Capitol Building, giving personal demonstrations to legislative leaders and executive staff members."

"I'd like for a kid in Toksook Bay to be able to carry on normal activities, like hunting caribou during the day, then go home, sign onto the Internet and get an education from MIT." - H.A. (Red) Boucher President, Alaska Wireless Technology Former Lieutenant Governor of Alaska

Since then, the combination of Compaq and Alaska Wireless technology has also proven effective under much harsher conditions. "Later in the winter, I took an Armada to the remote Eskimo village of Toksook Bay," says the 77-year-old Boucher. "Using 2.2 Mbps wireless radios manufactured by WaveAccess of Natick, Massachusetts, we connected the high school, grade school and health clinic to the Internet at T-1 plus speeds. That afternoon we took our Armada for a snowmobile ride in temperatures ranging from 30-40 degrees below zero, wind blowing 20 or 30 miles per hour. Five miles from the high school we were still connected to the Internet at T-1 speeds. The Armada with its WaveAccess modem performed without a flaw."

Eventually, he hopes everyone in Alaska will have access to such technology. "I'd like to see the smallest village in the most remote areas of Alaska have the opportunity to maintain their culture and still be able to get information through 'computercating,'" he says, using a term he coined to describe the "convergence of computers and wireless communications."

Boucher believes that Compaq shares this vision. "Compaq is interested in the same thing I am, connecting very small villages to the world of information resources that are available on the Internet. I believe Compaq's involvement in this trend shows forward thinking," Boucher says.

These experiences made Boucher a big fan of Compaq technology, and the Compaq Armada he purchased shortly after Comtech 98 has become one of his most prized possessions. "My Compaq Armada totally energizes me," he says. "I highly recommend the product."

*For hard drives, GB=1 billion bytes.