Wireless Technology

Meraki introduces plug-and-play WiFi mesh kit

Lynnette Luna — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:32:48 -0500

WiFi mesh vendor Meraki introduced the Main Street WiFi Starter Pack, a product design to assist any town or business district to deploy a WiFi mesh network across a square mile for less than $10,000.

Meraki has always had a unique strategy to deploy wireless mesh technology. It makes WiFi equipment and sells its WiFi repeaters and network gateways to residents who volunteer to deploy the equipment on rooftops or on their windowsills to create a wireless mesh. Municipalities have been deploying the solution too, and now they can deploy the Main Street plug-and-play kit network themselves or use a Meraki certified partner to handle the roll out.

Typical mesh solutions that cover a square mile cost between $25,000 and $100,000, Meraki said.

For more:
- read this release

Related articles:
Meraki rolls out mesh partner program
Poor, seniors to get free WiFi in 'Frisco

Could light bulbs replace WiFi hotspots?

Lynnette Luna — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:34:13 -0400

The College of Engineering at Boston University is introducing a program that aims to develop the next generation of wireless communications technology based on visible light rather than radio waves. Using a grant from the National Science Foundation, researchers at the college are looking to piggyback data communications on low-power light emitting diodes to make "Smart Lighting" that would result in faster and more secure wireless technology. Article

San Fran to use wireless sensors to monitor parking spaces

Lynnette Luna — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:43:29 -0400

The city of San Francisco this fall plans to test some 6,000 of its 24,000 metered parking spaces using a trial of a wireless sensor network that will indicate which of the spaces are free at a given moment.

Displays on street signs and smart phone maps will alert drivers to empty parking spaces. And the trial might even include the ability to pay for parking via mobile phone and add to the parking meter using their phones without having to make that mad dash to the meter. The program will also allow the city to adjust parking times and prices. For instance, time could be lengthened in the evening to accommodate long visits to restaurants.

San Francisco is using a system from Streetline, a company that has adapted a wireless sensor technology called "smart dust." A wirelessly connected sensor embedded in a 4-inch-by-4-inch piece of plastic glued to the pavement adjacent to each parking space is what transmits the information.

For more:
- check out The New York Times

Related stories:
San Francisco mayor says citywide WiFi willl be a reality San Francisco Wifi story
Meraki: More than 100,000 have used WiFi in San Francisco SF WiFi story

Towerstream to launch commercial 802.16e

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:59:56 -0400

Towerstream is working with WiMAX vendor Alvarion to conduct trials of mobile WiMAX technology in the 3.65 GHz band. Alvarion also announced commercial availability of its 802.16e BreezeMAX 3650 base stations and CPEs for the band. Towerstream targets the enterprise market with fixed wireless and has indicated its intention in the past to upgrade to mobile WiMAX for better economies of scale.

According to Unstrung, Towerstream is ready to go with a commercial deployment soon in an unnamed market. But Towerstream isn't the first to upgrade to mobile WiMAX.

Xanadoo, a wireless ISP operating in the central and southern U.S., has upgraded its market in Springfield, Ill., to 802.16e and is working to upgrade the rest of its markets that are using technology based on Cisco's proprietary broadband wireless technology. Xanadoo has spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band and is targeting consumers and small- to medium-sized businesses to compete with DSL and cable offerings.

A recent report from analyst firm Maravedis cautions the industry not to underestimate the influence other U.S. players besides Sprint and Clearwire will wield in the WiMAX market. It appears most of the momentum lies with the smaller players at this point.

For more about Towerstream's and Alvarion's trial:
- check out this release
- read this article in Unstrung

Related articles:
Don't underrate the influence of small WiMAX players Editorial on WiMAX
Xanadoo upgrading to mobile WiMAX Report on Xanadoo

Xanadoo to offer prepaid WiMAX

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:59:55 -0400

Cisco customer Xanadoo, a wireless ISP operating in the central and southern U.S., has upgraded its market in Springfield, Ill., to 802.16e and is working to upgrade the rest of its markets that are using technology based on Cisco's proprietary broadband wireless technology. Cisco purchased WiMAX vendor Navini in December.

Xanadoo has spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band and is targeting consumers and small- to medium-sized businesses to compete with DSL and cable offerings. The ISP offers seven different pricing plans beginning at $15 per month with plans to soon launch a prepaid wireless broadband offering. This large number of pricing plans is how Xanadoo is differentiating itself from DSL and cable, which typically only offer two different plans and require bundling of services. "There are niche markets where prepaid appeals to consumers," Marshall Pagon, chairman and CEO of Xanadoo said during an interview with FierceBroadbandWireless.

"There are the credit challenged but lots of professionals and contractors that are out of the office that don't need a contract. The resources they use are web-based. Students as well as military people are also attracted to such offerings." Xanadoo covers about 8 million pops in Texas, Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and West Virginia. The operator also holds 700 MHz spectrum covering nearly 156 million pops in some major markets.

Related articles:
- Cisco buys WiMAX vendor Navini for $330M Report

Verizon Wireless reveals open access details

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:59:54 -0400

In its Open Network conference in New York yesterday, Verizon Wireless executives revealed to developers more details about the firm's new open network agenda. Announced last November, Verizon said it would open its network to any device and any application that meets minimal technical standards later this year.

Verizon Wireless Chief Marketing Officer Mike Lanman told the audience that the company will have three models:

Retail. This is where a company goes to market with a device and Verizon sets the price of the device. The company also uses Verizon's existing rate plans.
Wholesale. This is where a company designs their own voice and data pricing plans.
Custom. In this scenario Verizon creates a custom package for a specialized product or service that a company wants to bring to market.

Lanman said that the company understands that by opening up its network to these different models it will see more devices in its test labs and therefore it is expanding its resources. This was reiterated by Tony Melone, executive vice president and CTO of Verizon Wireless. Melone said that the company will have third party labs that will help with the certification and that those will charge "market-based fees." He expects the certification process to take about four weeks.

The open access policy will also carry over to the operator's 4G wireless plans. Verizon indicated it will start testing Long-Term Evolution (LTE) wireless technology later this year. -Sue Marek

For more on the Open Development Initiative:
- see this website

Related Articles:
- Verizon releases open development specs Article
- Industry players discuss Verizon's open access moves Article