Government Computer News
Caught in the mesh
Digg
De.licio.us
Slashdot
TechnoratiIn this report
Can a wireless network pay for itself?
New standards in the works for WiFi networking
"Philadelphia scares the heck out of me. I would not want to try to cover the city of Philadelphia with anything." —Carl Weisman, 5G Wireless Solutions
As more municipalities and government campuses look to build out large-scale wireless networks, so-called mesh technologies built around current 802.11 WiFi standards have become the dominant choice. But with many of these networks still in the building phases—and many more still to be planned—it’s not too late to look at current wireless systems and determine whether one size fits all.
Although the 802.11 family of standards is still evolving, the hardware is fairly mature.
“It is an exciting, affordable and robust technology at this point,” said Paul Butcher, marketing manager for state and local governments at chip-maker Intel Corp.
Intel’s WiFi chips are in more and more mobile devices, and interoperable standards mean government agencies can choose from several mesh WiFi proposals when shopping for the best, most affordable deployments. But there are choices other than traditional mesh WiFi to consider.
“People think it’s the safe choice, but it’s not necessarily the smart choice,” said Carl J. Weisman, vice president of engineering for 5G Wireless Solutions Inc. of Marina del Rey, Calif.
Not even the folks at Tropos Networks Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., which sells mesh WiFi, claim the technology is the be-all and end-all of wireless networking.
“I don’t want to say the technology is perfect,” said vice president of marketing Ellen Kirk. “This is radio, people, and radio has a mind of its own. You put up an RF network and you’re going to be tuning it forever.”
Large-scale WiFi networks draw concerns over range, bandwidth, scalability, mobility and complexity, and there is not yet enough real-world experience to adequately address those concerns. The alternatives emerging to challenge or complement mesh WiFi include WiMax, cellular architectures and multiradio access points. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses.
The growth of mesh WiFi
WiFi is a broad term, covering the spectrum of 802.11 standards from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. It was designed primarily for short-range, indoor wireless connections between nonmobile clients and a wired LAN. As bandwidth and range have improved, its scope has expanded to include public hotspots for Internet access, as well as campus and municipal deployments.
![1105 Government Information Group [purity]](/images/1105logo_website.gif "Government Computer News [purity]")
© 1996-2008 1105 Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
