With a new product and two deployments, Tropos Networks Inc. has staked itself firmly in the wireless LAN space.
The firm announced its Tropos 4210, an in-vehicle mesh Wi-Fi router. It combines the company’s fixed and mobile offerings.
Tropos said its Wi-Fi cells form a wireless mesh, dynamically routing traffic along the highest throughput path to a wired gateway.
Oklahoma City has decided to install the Tropos system for its law enforcement and firefighters, thanks to city voters who approved a $78 million bond issue to complete the replacement of their existing 20-year-old communications system.
In addition, the city of Philadelphia has extended the deployment of the company’s other mesh Wi-Fi product, the Tropos 5110.
“To support the state-of-the-art applications that are central to our redesigned public-safety communications system, we needed to provide unprecedented broadband connectivity to public-safety officers in the field” said Kerry Wagnon, project director for Oklahoma City. “The Tropos 4210 mobile Wi-Fi cell was an attractive option for us when planning our complete public-safety network overhaul.”
The company expects this to benefit its police and fire officers within a 400-square-mile footprint of the city.
The product will arm the officers with enough bandwidth to access such applications as computer-aided dispatch, in-field reporting systems, records management, GPS tracking systems, Web-based crime databases, mapping systems and video monitoring, according to Tropos.
Officers can access high-resolution photos, incident video feeds and detailed crime databases through their in-vehicle computer systems, while firefighters can leverage mapping and GPS systems in their vehicles and mobile command centers.
In Philadelphia, the Tropos 5110 Wi-Fi cells will bring Internet access to city landmarks like the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It already operates in and around Love Park.
“Users are able to access e-mail, the Internet and their corporate VPNs from anywhere in the coverage zone, including the famous museum steps,” said Tropos.
Lafayette, La.-based Syndeo Communications helped the city to plan and install the network.
