APS

SPOTLIGHT: In-Stat: WiFi mesh networking faces slowing growth

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 06:59:52 -0400

The WiFi mesh networking equipment market grew more than 100 percent in terms of shipments during 2006 and is expected to have more than 90 percent growth in 2007, according to In-Stat. Strong growth will continue for WiFi mesh access points (APs) for the next several years, as shipments grow more than three-fold between 2006 and 2011, the firm said. Most of that growth however will come between 2006 and 2008, with growth rates rapidly declining starting in 2009 because of business model concerns. Release

ALSO NOTED: Exoteq Aps makes OFDM/OFDMA licensing deal with Qualcomm; U.K.'s Urban Wimax announces partnership with Nortel;and

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 06:59:51 -0400

> Exoteq Aps, a mobile broadband solutions developer in Denmark, agreed to license OFDM/OFDMA from Qualcomm. Release

> U.K. WiMAX provider, Urban Wimax, announced a partnership with Nortel to build and test a user-ready mobile WiMAX service ahead of the U.K.'s spectrum auction in early 2008. Article (telecoms.com sub. req.)

> Boingo Wireless is running a promotion for iPhone owners, giving them free WiFi in 13 North American airports during the month of August. Release

> Telecom Italia said its 3G subscribers surpassed 5 million at the end of June. Article

> Singapore's Starhub says that it will launch full HSPA service this weekend. Article

Trend: Where wireless networking is heading

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 19:01:35 -0500

Wireless networks not only proliferate, but they also grow, become more complex, and are now more critical for more and more organizations. In many enterprises, large and small, WLANs are now the main way of connecting to--and within--the organization. What are the major trends in wireless networking? E-Commerce Times' Greg Murphy offers a useful summary.

Increased scale. Not too long ago only very few networks encompassed 1,000 or more wireless APs. Today 1,000 APs are considered moderately sized WLAN. More and more WLANs now boast more than 10,000 APs, often scattered across hundreds of facilities. The key to coping with this increased size: management software that provides a single console from which to manage an entire network, regardless of its size.
Device diversity. There used to be a time when practically the only devices connected to a WLAN were laptop PCs running Windows. Nowadays any wireless-enabled device--laptops, PDAs, smartphones, etc.--may become a node in the enterprise network. Smaller devices mean greater mobility, and greater mobility affects reception and network performance. The greater number and diversity of devices means that IT managers must now develop a plan to support multiple security policies simultaneously, improve WLAN performance (in order to sustain such new devices that impose higher performance requirements), and understand new mobility patterns within the enterprise. IT managers must conduct regular audits of the entire infrastructure to alert them to AP or wireless-enabled devices not complying with security policies.
Diverse infrastructure. Many enterprises must integrate different wireless technologies--WiMAX, mesh networks, other proprietary technologies--into their current networking mix. The challenge of how to support multiple wireless architectures and topologies, in addition to multi-vendor networks, is not easy.

"In the long run, as wireless networks grow larger and more complex, IT needs to consider investing in neutral network management solutions that give them the flexibility to control and monitor both traditional and advanced infrastructures from the same console," Murphy concludes.

For more on the direction of WLAN:
- see Greg Murphy's E-Commerce Times discussion

DTPC may hobble VoWLAN

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 19:01:35 -0500

As old battles come to an end (Fred Ikle, a high-level Pentagon official in the Nixon years, captured this fact in the title of his acclaimed book, Every War Must End), new battles erupt. The battle over thin vs. fat APs has largely been settled in favor of distributed switching architectures (see "Spotlight" below), so now a new disturbance looms for WLANs: The advantages and disadvantages of dynamic transmit power control (DTPC) capabilities.

Joanie Wexler writes that some of the RF fine-tuning capabilities built into WLAN gear may hinder WiFi networks optimized for VoIP. In evidence: The DTPC capability in Cisco and other vendors' WLAN products. The DTPC, for example, helps to keep a network going if an AP fails by increasing the power of neighboring APs, thus allowing these APs to compensate for their fallen comrade. Things get a bit more complicated in voice-enabled WLANs.

Kurt Mensch, senior product manager at SpectraLink, explains that the reason for the problems is that voice transmission demands consistent power levels across all APs for optimum performance. Wexler quotes Mensch to say that "We recommend that all APs are set to the same power level for optimal performance. If you use DTPC, the wireless network coverage will be inconsistent; the coverage overlaps will no longer be according to the intended original layout. We also actively scan for APs to hand off to, but we don't know the AP power until we authenticate to it, so we need to make assumptions that the power output is the same on all APs."

Talk about a Catch-22: The opposite is also true, as Mensch admits that if an AP fails and the neighboring APs do not compensate (because DTPC is disabled), then the WLAN may cover an area insufficiently, which could also hobble VoIP quality. "But cranking up the power on the adjacent APs can cause other problems from interfering with other APs on the same channel," he says. "The preference is to know about a failed AP as soon as possible and deal with it rather than trying to compensate for it and creating problems in other areas."

For more on DTPC
- see Joanie Wexler Techworld report
- Cisco's information webpage
- and Anmol Sheth's University of Colorado White Paper

Trend: Wireless vs. Ethernet in the enterprise

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 19:01:35 -0500

Are we coming to the end of the line? As the lines between WLAN and Ethernet switch gears what connects end users continues to be blurred, and as Cisco, Nortel, 3Com and others are working to link these products into a seamless access system, the question of whether more enterprise users will access their enterprise network wirelessly or over wired Ethernet is becoming more of an issue. "I think WLAN will become the default network connection technology over next five to 10 years," says Craig Mathias, a communication maven and principal at the Farpoint Group. "I've always said that wireless should be thought of as an adjunct and not as a primary network. But we've made so much progress in the technology in recent years that there's no reason why we should not be thinking of it as a primary vehicle for access for anybody with a mobile device."

Market projections support Mathias' prediction that WLAN will overtake wired Ethernet as the preferred access method in many organizations. For example, IDC predicts that the total number of enterprise-class WLAN APs shipped world-wide will grow from 1.6 million in 2006 to 11.5 million by 2010. IDC also predicts that managed Ethernet switch ports will grow from 172 million to 208 million by 2010.

What will accelerate this trend toward wireless connectivity is 802.11n, which will increased the capacity of WLAN APs to support more users over a wider range at the same time that it bolsters security. "We'll see an improvement in throughput, range and reliability," Mathias says. "So at that point, there's probably no good reason not to use wireless."

For more on the trend toward enterprise wireless access
- see Phil Hochmuth's detailed NetworkWorld discussion

ALSO: You may want to download this new paper on denial-of-service (DOS) attacks on 802.11 networks.

Trapeze shifts WLAN distribution model

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 20:01:36 -0400

The finale of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony includes a very long coda, in which the main themes of the movement are played in compressed form. The symphony ends with no fewer than 29(!) bars of C major chords, played fortissimo. For the uninitiated listener, the long coda presents a problem: The bars are interspersed with rather lengthy pauses, so it is difficult to know when the symphony ends and when one should begin to applaud in appreciation. No one wants to clap too early, or too late. It is the same with the endless tussle between thin and fat APs: You don't know when to begin and applaud because just as you think that the performance is over and one side has won, there is another loud chord issuing.

The first generation of usable, business-class APs were what we would now call fat (also smart or intelligent) APs--designed to have everything on board so that they could be connected to any Ethernet switch. Many also support security and management features and, depending on the vendor, additional functionality to cope with fast roaming. When WLANs began to be more mainstream, and were being adopted at higher rates both at home and at the enterprise, some smart people thought that the fat AP should be replaced by a thin one to drive down the cost of WLANs. Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages.

Trapeze Networks is shifting its switching distribution model in the hope that its Wireless LAN Mobility Exchange switch will handle VoWLAN and 802.11n environments better than competitive centralized models. Trapeze has begun shipping its Smart Mobile software this week. The solution moves copies of Station Switching Records to every AP in an 802.11 network, in the process providing local copies of information on QoS policies, firewall protection and Virtual LAN tags. The solution also allows encryption to be handled in distributed fashion, and the company says it can better support the speeds of 802.11n networks, measured in Gbps. The distributed forwarding information has the added advantage of allowing for higher-layer links to be made in outdoor WLAN environments (this would be similar to Layer 3 and 4 wireless backhaul systems provided by dedicated microwave radio companies). As important: Trapeze will be able to link enterprise meshes using Layer 2 and 3 tunnels.

The intelligent switching of Trapeze's Smart Mobile thus departs from today's preferred WLAN architecture, which typically restricts switching to the central controllers and requires all data traffic to pass through the controller, with the resulting high levels of latency and jitter. Smart Mobile allows organizations to optimize traffic by centralizing or distributing data forwarding based on the requirements of the underlying application. For applications which require low latency such as VoWLAN, Smart Mobile distributes switching functionality to the APs throughout the network, enabling them to communicate directly in a peer-to-peer fashion without requiring round trips to the central controller. This allows enterprises to distribute the switching of all their voice traffic--but centrally forward all data traffic.

For more on Trapeze's new approach:
- see this company press release
- and Ted Samson's Infoworld report

Femtocell may disrupt dual handset market

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 20:01:33 -0400

Worldwide shipments of dual-mode cellular/WiFi VoIP handsets will exceed 300 million units by 2011, a new report from ABI Research suggests. As we have reported in the past, however, the expected arrival of femtocell AP toward the end of the report's forecast period may well prove "disruptive for the market," as ABI puts it.

Femtocell APs are also known as 3G APs, and they are small cellular base stations designed for use in residential or corporate environments. As is the case with WiFi APs, femtocell APs connect to the customer's own broadband connection. Femtocell technology offers greater network efficiency, better in-building wireless coverage and a more suitable platform for fixed mobile convergence services, ABI says. At least in theory, femtocell obviates the need for the complexity and cost of WiFi in handsets. "Some operators now believe that they don't need to subsidize more expensive Wi-Fi-enabled handsets; they can use the handsets they have, and put femtocells in the home," ABI's Philip Solis says.

Of the 300 million dual-mode units forecast for 2011, Solis expects that handsets based on 802.11n will outnumber those of other protocols. "Cellular handset vendors have made sure that their voices have been heard in the 802.11n standards process, so they are getting all the optional features that they want," he says.

For more on femtocell's challenge to WiFi
-see ABI Research's Web site

Vendor-independent migration to switched WLAN

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 20:01:36 -0400

Who says you cannot teach an old do new tricks? If you could, this would be important, especially when the old dog cost a lot of money. Businesses would be delighted to know that Aruba and Airwave have teamed up to offer businesses with unmanaged legacy WLAN infrastructure a way to move to a centralized, switch-managed WLAN.

When WLAN came on the scene, the emphasis was on distributed, stand-alone, thick APs. There is a limit to what this type of architecture can deliver, and the tide has turned toward centralized, switch-managed design. Trouble is, many businesses have invested in the distributed scheme, and moving to a centralized system would be costly and disruptive. Aruba's Gary Singh says: "This tie-up is designed to protect firms' investments in second-generation legacy access points. We're offering to manage what you have in place this minute, giving a much smoother transition to a centrally managed architecture. This solution is not limited to any type of deployment."

It is estimated that there are about 5 million stand-along APs (some have taken to calling them "orphan" APs) around the world, and the Aruba-Airwave solution would offer the owners of these APs a vendor-independent migration path toward centralized switching. Infonetics predicts that enterprise WLAN sales will more than double by 2009 to reach $2.4 billion. Cisco is the leader in enterprise WLAN equipment, followed by Symbol, Aruba, 3Com, and Trapeze.

For more on Aruba-Airwave solution:
- take a look at this press release

SPOTLIGHT: Thin is in--but which thin?

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 20:01:33 -0400

There is a general move away from fat, intelligent, stand-alone APs in WLAN design toward a centrally switched architecture (see story #4 above). There are several reasons for this change of direction: Security became an issue, as was the need to allow for cross-subnet roaming. There were other issues having to do with scalability and control. Yes, you could buy gateways from Blusocket or Cisco to help manage the distributed network, but more and more businesses realized that a better way was to manage a series of thin APs by using wireless switches. As Craig Mathias notes, however, there are several different architectures which feature the wireless switch-thin AP combination (just compare the designs of Meru Networks, Extricom and Xirrus). As businesses weigh what WLAN to buy next, they should consider not only features such as throughput and security, but also WLAN architecture. Discussion

WiFi to grow by leaps and bounds in China

Tue, 04 Jul 2006 20:01:36 -0400

During the next three years, the Chinese market for WiFi technology will likely grow four-fold, experiencing a 45 percent annual growth rate. A white paper written for the WiFi Alliance by Chinese market research group Analysys International says the growth will be driven by deeper penetration of broadband and falling prices of WiFi-enabled laptops. The market for APs, network cards and other non-embedded WiFi equipment will be worth about RMB 10 billion by 2008.

The white paper also finds that:

One of the key components of the long-term growth of the Chinese market for WiFi-enabled consumer and enterprise gear is the 10,000 hot spots in the country and the world's largest population of mobile phone subscribers
China's enterprise sector is adopting WiFi at the fastest rate, especially for internal use; the market for enterprise WiFi equipment will likely be four times its current size by 2009
Chinese telecom operators have invested heavily in hot spot deployments, and are now focusing on providing home WiFi networks as a value added service to basic broadband access

For more on WiFi prospects in China:
- see this Wi-Fi Alliance press release
- and Analysis International's Web site

Taiwan, China produce more WiFi gear

Mon, 05 Jun 2006 20:01:37 -0400

As has been the case with other electronics and communications gear (but also, it occurs to us, with sneakers and T-shirts), more and more of the production is being done in Asia. Recently published market research says that production of WLAN APs in Taiwan and mainland China will likely continue to grow steadily and keep pace with developments on the standards front. Gear makers are directing their efforts more toward improving 802.11g and 802.11a APs, with combination products also in ample supply. Many companies, however, are considering joining the 802.11n bandwagon soon, as they predict the "n" standard to rule the market in the next few years.

Taiwan's Market Intelligence Center (MIC) says that Taiwan produced about 7.21 million WLAN APs in 2005, amounting to $275.4 million. The country is projected to produce 8.27 million APs with a production value of $314.3 million in 2006. Taiwan's 2005 output of WLAN APs accounted for 56 percent of the worldwide shipment of 12.87 million units. In 2006, the output is expected to account for 50.2 percent with a projected global output of 16.47 million units.

Another research outfit, the Industrial Economic & Knowledge Center (IEK), says the global WLAN market could grow by 14 percent in 2006, with strong growth coming from the consumer electronics and telecom industries. WLANs for PCs continue to account for 47 percent to 49 percent of the overall WLAN output, but WLAN for consumer electronic products have risen between 10 percent and 12.5 percent in H2, and that WLAN for telecom products grew by 9.8 percent in Q4 2005. IEK projects that the WLAN for the two segments will continue to be strong in 2006, with WLAN for consumer electronic products accounting for about 20 percent of the total share.

For more on the WiFi gear market
-see this detailed TelecomProducts report

Wavion shows innovative metro-WiFi AP

Mon, 22 May 2006 20:01:35 -0400

San Jose, CA-based start-up Wavion has a new technology which would be on interest to service providers and infrastructure equipment vendors: It is a new category of wireless AP. Wavion's spatially adaptive AP appears to be the first MIMO-based metro-scale AP. The company says it goes a long way toward addressing vexing performance and penetration issues currently facing metro-WiFi equipment--and in the process, also addressing similarly vexing profitability issues for metro service providers. Wavion's technology has received the backing of blue-chip investors such as Sequoia Capital and Elron Electronics Industries, who invested $22 million in the company.

Conventional metro WiFi APs use simple diversity antennas which are hobbled by short range and limited capacity. They are also adversely affected by multipath and omni-directional noise reception. To overcome these shortcomings, providers deploy APs densely, thus increasing infrastructure costs without always being able to improve transmission quality or eliminate spotty coverage. Another shortcoming of current metro WiFi APs is that they are based on commoditized semiconductors originally designed for indoor networks. Metro WiFi, however, is by definition an outdoor deployment, and outdoor deployments must face challenges such as much higher levels of electromagnetic interference, much higher multipath delay-spread and much faster moving objects and users such as cars.

The current generation of metro WiFi networks face another problem: Inability significantly to scale in capacity to meet future demands. There is but a limited available spectrum, and these limitations will become even more pronounced as thousands of clients and APs are added each year, increasing the level of interference. This is where Wavion's spatially adaptive technology comes in. Spatially adaptive AP aims specifically to optimize outdoor metro WiFi networks and do so without requiring any changes to standard WiFi clients. Rather than use a single commoditized radio and diversity antenna, Wavion APs use custom-designed application-specific integrated circuits and embedded software to combine the power of a total of six antennas and six radio transceivers. The result: Enhanced range, coverage, capacity and scalability. Wavion achieves these gains relative to conventional APs by using technology incorporating two innovations: digital beamforming and Space Division Multiple Access.

For more on Wavio's new metro AP:
- see this press release
- read this wi-fitechnology report
- read Jim Barthold's telecommunications report
For more on Wavion's technology:
- check out the company's Web site

Symbol shows new Wi-NG platform

Tue, 09 May 2006 20:01:36 -0400

The late Cyrus Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times, titled his autobiography A Long Row of Candles. The author of the history of the wireless age may want to call his book A Long Row of Acronyms. There is another one yet: Symbol Technologies is gearing up to launch its Wi-NG (for Wireless Next Generation) platform. The new radio frequency switches planned will consolidate technologies such as 802.11, 802.16, passive RFID, mesh networks, EV-DO and HSDPA. "This is a long term strategy for Symbol for the next 12 months," said Chris McGugan, the company's senior director of marketing. The point is to allow companies to start with a WiFi-based WLAN and expand from there to new technologies.

The first product in the Wi-NG series will be the WS5100 Wireless Switch. It will be enabled with Layer 3 roaming and the ability to adopt RFID readers. The switch can be coupled with the AP-5131 mesh AP the company announced last year, and the APs can be deployed without a switch. "The mesh is standalone today, but is part of the architecture for Wi-NG," McGugan said. "If customers want that mesh to be switch controlled, they have that option." Security company AirDefense is a partner in the new Wi-NG architecture, and it integrates its wireless intrusion protection systems into the new offering. Symbol APs will serve as the sensors for detecting and preventing intruders such as unauthorized clients or rogue APs. Wi-NG is built on Linux.

For more on Symbol's Wi-NG:
- see this TMCnet report

SPOTLIGHT: WiFi tracking to grow fast

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 20:01:32 -0400

WiFi is increasingly being used in location tracking applications and WiFi asset tags are expected to reach almost 2 million shipments in 2010, according to a report by In-Stat. The WiFi location tracking market is only just beginning and In-Stat says "many highly changeable factors will decide how fast it grows over the next few years." The tags are used in WiFi real-time location systems, which use WiFi APs to locate devices with external WiFi tags or devices with embedded WiFi. So far, healthcare has been keenest to adopt the technology to track such items as patient monitoring devices and wheelchairs, but it can also be used to track devices such as laptops, scanners and phones. Release

SPOTLIGHT: Aruba challenges Cisco

Tue, 17 Jan 2006 19:01:33 -0500

Now, here is challenge to Cisco: Aruba Networks is coming out with a competitively priced WLAN switch for small businesses. It also adds a high-end management appliance for companies with large WLANs to its Mobile Edge line of products. The Aruba 200 Mobility Controller, which will ship next month, is smaller than a notebook PC, includes Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet ports, and supports up to six APs and 100 users. It is very reasonably priced at $1,750 (compared to $4,995 for the higher-end Aruba 800 controller, which supports 16 APs and hundreds of simultaneous users). The controller includes QoS features which can prioritize voice traffic to support the delivery of VoWLAN. Aruba is also showing off its Mobility Management System, an appliance aiming to provide a centralized management system for companies with large networks consisting of hundreds or even thousands of APs. The appliance is powered by an Intel Xeon processor and uses RAID storage. It will also ship in February and is priced beginning at $21,995 (or $3,995 for just the Linux-based management software). Company's press release

IETF selects Cisco's LWAPP

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 19:01:39 -0500

Size matters, but then, perhaps it does not. Cisco's LWAPP (lightweight access point protocol) has been selected as the basis for a standard which will control WiFi APs in enterprise networks. We should use the word "control" carefully here because it is not clear how much sway this new standard will have. LWAPP was selected by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) which has been working for a while now on the CAPWAP (control and provisioning of wireless access points) protocol. As it happens, the CAPWAP initiative was urged by Cisco's opponents--chief among them Airespace--as a means to create a group of switched wireless vendors who would coalesce around an alternative to Cisco's LWAPP. The goals was to keep Cisco's dominance in the enterprise LAN in check.

What did Cisco do? Last year it acquired Airespace, removing the main anti-LWAPP player from the opposing team, and LWAPP became the leading candidate to become the CAPWAP standard. LWAPP's purpose is to allow users relief from a single-vendor stranglehold when building their enterprise WLANs: Instead of buying all the network components from one vendor (for fear that otherwise performance would degrade), the Cisco standard will make it possible to construct a WLAN using gear from different vendors. Airespace is now swallowed whole by Cisco, but LWAPP is now facing competition from SLAPP, a lighter approach supported by Aruba and Trapeze, two rivals of Cisco and of Airespace when that company was still around. SLAPP's approach is that instead of a standard to control gear from different vendors, a simpler protocol should be developed which would allow vendors to download firmware to other vendors' APs.

We said earlier that all this may be moot and that LWAPP may not make much of a difference. The reason: Most people use gear from the same vendor in their WLANs not because of compatibility, but because they typically get a better deal.

Read more about CAPWAP:
- in Peter Judge's Techworld report

ALSO: If Cisco's move on LWAPP can be seen as the company's contribution to standardization (in this case, of multi-vendor WLANs), the company's moves on another front will have the opposite effect. Cisco is making an undisclosed investment in Zensys, developer of the Z-Wave wireless mesh networking technology. This is good for Zensys, but it is not good for the development of the standards-based ZigBee protocol to which Z-Wave is an alternative. Z-Wave is a proprietary RF wireless technology in the unlicensed 908.4 MHz spectrum in the U.S. and 868 MHz in Europe. Not having to comply with any standards, the technology claims advantages such as a longer range at the same power level with a longer battery life. Users of Z-Wave will be locked into buying from Zensys, however, as it is the only Z-Wave silicon vendor. There is another problem: Z-Wave uses a very simple routing system which sends information to all the devices in a network, but this constitutes a limitation on the size to which a network can grow before congestion becomes an issue. Our prediction: Here we go again. In a typical Cisco move, the company supports a proprietary technology, then relies on its market muscle to establish it as a de facto standard for the industry. Just wait. Report

New standard improves control of WLAN

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 19:01:39 -0500

What do enterprises want? They want to control their networks, but in enterprise-class 802.11 deployments the control of the network is limited to the infrastructure (wireless switches, APs). What about wireless client devices such as laptops, PDAs and wVoIP phones? Well, network administrators have no control over them. The IEEE wants to remedy that by proposing 802.11v, a standard for wireless network management. The standard defines procedures by which a wireless infrastructure may exert control over key parameters on wireless client adapters--for example, identifying which network or AP they should connect to. The IEEE team has been developing the standard for close to a year now, and it will likely be finalized by early 2008. Of course, clients (WLAN cards, adapters) and infrastructure (AP, WLAN switches) will have to support it for it to be meaningful.

802.11v will do load balancing to distribute wireless clients among APs; it will enable secure client configurations from the infrastructure, cutting deployment time in large-scale networks, and a plan to save battery life on low-powered devices will likely be added. Enterprises were looking for something like 802.11v, and now they will not to wait for much longer.

For more on 802.11v:
- see Sudheer Matta's Network World report
For a status report on 802.11v:
- see the IEEE Web site

Allied Telesyn's alternative to 802.20, 802.16e

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 20:01:38 -0400

European users of wide-area WiFi networks would be interested to know that Allied Telesyn is planning to deploy a system which would allow them to move from one AP to another without losing a connection. Allied's proprietary technology is already deployed in Asia. The mobile IP system was developed by Japanese company Root and acquired by Allied Telesis Holdings KK earlier this year.

The system is based on Root's proprietary Layer 3 Roaming technology and it enables hand-over of IP connections in wireless networks in a manner similar to the hand-over of voice and data calls in cellular networks. Thus, if a sufficient number of APs are installed along a rail track and the train is equipped with a mobile router, passengers can view streaming video without interruption. The company says that its technology can hand over connections in vehicles traveling at speeds up to 300 kph. (It occurs to me that at that speed Allied will have only race car drivers as customers.) Root's technology is access-technology agnostic.

Root's proprietary system would soon have a competitor: 802.20. The standard is designed to support connections up to 1.5 Mbps in vehicles moving at 120 kph. 802.16e, when it comes, may also pose a challenge to Allied's plans.

For more on Allied's plans:
- see this InfoWorld report
For more on the technology behind Allied's solution:
- see Root's Web site

Solar-powered WiFi arrives

Tue, 09 Aug 2005 20:01:38 -0400

Small companies can make big waves. Lumin Innovative Products is a company with a staff of four with one big idea: Harnessing the power of the sun to power WiFi networks (one of the company's mottos: "Technology... Sourced by the sun, brought to earth by Lumin"). In mid-July this concept was put to the test when the company, then one month in existence, deployed its first solar-powered APs at the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colorado.

The company currently offers the LightWave AP-1000 solar-powered AP (it comes in two versions -- single and dual). The Boulder deployment uses four dual roof-top units and two hinged solar panels. Each AP may potentially reach up to 30 miles in an environment with few obstacles, but the obstacle-rich six-bloc Pearl Street area, and the number of leafy trees in and around the mall, required the four APs. We should note that Boulder's urban setting was not the initial target for Lumin's systems. Rather, the units were designed with more remote areas in mind, locations where there is little or no available power.

The network deployment's price tag was $10,000, but maintenance will cost practically nothing. Even if the rechargeable batteries may have to be changed every once in a long while, the solar panels are built to run for 25 to 30 years. What is more, Lumin's solar technology is so sophisticated that it does not required the solar panels to be placed in sun-drenched locations. The panels charge even in cloudy and dreary days, and it takes only five hours of direct sun, or the cumulative equivalent amount of light over a longer period of time, to charge the battery so it can power one LightWave for 72 hours.

Solar-powered WiFi networks have obvious homeland security uses as they would continue to run even in the event electricity is out owing to terrorist attack or natural disaster. The solar systems are portable, so first responders could move into a disaster area and set them up quickly to facilitate communication. I recall a New Yorker cartoon in which a big sign in front of a church read: "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Salvation!" Lumin's slogan echoes that: "No power? No phone lines? No problem!"

For more on Lumin's products and deployment:
- see the websites of Lumin | Downtown Boulder Business Improvement District
- and Naomi Graychase's internetnews.com report

AirMagnet shows multi-tasking sensored headline

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 20:01:37 -0400

AirMagnet is enhancing its support for Cisco APs in AirMagnet Enterprise 6. It is also offering multi-tasking sensors, simplifying set-up, and adding intelligence to spot new attacks. "You can now use Cisco APs as scanners," AirMagnet's Rich Mironov told Techworld. "That's a little less than a sensor, it is not a full-function analytical device, but the AP can become a full-time dedicated scanner on all channels." The company's probes are also integreated in other multi-radio APs, such as those offered by Xirrus and Colubris.

The new software allows sensors to block rogue APs while continuing to look for other trouble. The sensors are set up remotely by the AirMagnet server. "As each sensor is plugged in it will make DNS request to find server and get connected up," said Mironov. "That's not a big deal if you are putting twenty sensors out, but if you are putting 1,000 out on four continents, it's a big help."

For more on AirMagnet's new enhancements:
- see Peter Judge's Techworld report

PLUS: AirMagnet has added "Day Zero" alarms, prompting software to raise an alarm when an unusual traffic pattern indicates the network is under attack. This is especially effective against "phlooding attacks," which target central authentication servers. Release