SkyPilot expands wireless mesh offering

SkyPilot Networks, which provides broadband wireless mesh network equipment, launched its SkyAccess DualBand product, a dual-radio product the company said complements its existing citywide Wi-Fi products.
The product incorporates a dedicated radio for backhaul and a second radio for Wi-Fi access. The product resides at the edge of the network and functions as the last hop of the mesh network.
“The SkyAccess DualBand allows service providers and municipalities to significantly reduce capital expenditures for large-scale Wi-Fi deployments,” said Brian Jenkins, vice president of product management for SkyPilot. “Since a last-hop mesh node doesn’t need to repeat the wireless signal, we designed the SkyAccess DualBand to provide the same Wi-Fi performance and coverage but at a lower cost, helping improve the return on investment (ROI) for municipal wireless networks.”
The backhaul component of the product operates in the 4.9-5.8 GHz frequency band and the access point operates in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz frequency band.