Nortel Networks Ltd. came out of the closet last week touting dual-radio Wi-Fi gear that’s being used in large-scale network deployments in Moscow and Taipei, Taiwan, as well as in small and medium-sized cities, counties and university campuses.
Kyle Klassen, director of Mobility Marketing at Nortel, said the company’s six-sided unit contains a half-dozen non-directional antennas that radiate equal energy in 360 degrees. Klassen explained that directional antennas have a narrower transmission swath, usually about 30 degrees, which means energy is transmitted in a certain direction that may not be the direction needed by the incoming or outgoing signal. On Nortel’s unit, each of the six panels contains a non-directional antenna, which Klassen says provides greater strength and flexibility as the unit works to communicate with other mesh nodes within the network.
“Our product dynamically selects the antenna that’s best positioned to communicate with a neighboring antenna,” said Klassen.
Angela Singhal Whiteford, director of Muni-Wireless at Nortel, pointed out that along with the company’s six-panel equipment, Nortel’s network engineering and design capabilities have helped the company win Wi-Fi contracts with operators not only in Moscow and Taipei, but also in Annapolis, Md.; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Waukesha county in Wisconsin. The company has also unwired several university campuses, including The University of Arkansas and The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Singhal Whiteford also said Nortel’s strategy isn’t about going after huge municipal deals, but rather, “We see the sweet spot as tier 2 or tier 3 cities with populations of less than 500,000 because these medium markets don’t have the long sales cycles that the larger markets have, and they’re more favorable on the operator side.”
Interestingly, Nortel didn’t bag the Wi-Fi contract in its hometown of Toronto-that business went to BelAir Networks. The project is being steered by Toronto Hydro Telecom, the subsidiary of city-owned Toronto Hydro Corp.
The first phase of Toronto’s Wi-Fi network is set to launch in September. Eventually, the network is supposed to cover all 247 square miles of Toronto, the fifth-largest city in North America with a population of about 2.4 million.
BelAir also scored a contract to blanket Washtenaw County in Michigan with Wi-Fi. The network’s initial rollout took place this summer, and BelAir said the county’s entire 710 square miles will be outfitted with more than 5,000 access points by the end of 2007. The county has about 322,000 residents and is home to The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
The service provider in Washtenaw County is 20/20 Communications, which plans to offer a free service, as well as a high-speed package with advertising for $35 per month, or $50 per month for a package without advertising.
In February, BelAir was called on to provide Wi-Fi equipment as The Cloud, a Wi-Fi operator in Europe, announced plans to build a citywide network in London.
BelAir has also received Federal Communications Commission certification for its WiMAX mesh gear. The company said it doesn’t see WiMAX networks edging out Wi-Fi networks, as the two technologies are designed to service different needs. During an interview with RCR Wireless News, BelAir said service providers may choose to use WiMAX for backhaul while using Wi-Fi for access.
“There is going to be huge critical mass of Wi-Fi devices, and service providers will need to support various access and backhaul options in many types of markets,” suggests Dave Park, vice president of Product Marketing at BelAir.
BelAir’s multi-radio Wi-Fi gear has long been thought of as high-end within the industry, but Tropos Networks Inc. and Motorola Inc. have both recently announced multi-radio equipment, indicating that network operators are demanding higher-end gear as their networks are built out. Tropos had long insisted that its single-radio equipment was as effective as higher-end gear due to its sophisticated software, which the company said used radio spectrum more efficiently, negating the need for additional radios.
But BelAir’s vice president of marketing, Jim Freeze, disagrees with Tropos’ claims. He said, “You can’t defy the laws of physics with software.”
