Motorola says its new HotZone Duo, a meshed Wi-Fi product line, will provide scalable, area-wide wireless broadband access to large and small municipalities. The HotZone Duo nodes will feature two Wi-Fi based radios. Utilizing two radios enables dedicated user accessibility on one channel by carrying all network backhaul traffic on the other.

Motorola says this configuration can increase throughput by up to 100 percent, and dramatically reduce packet latency and interference issues. The high performance radios deliver 36 dBm EIRP, the maximum legal transmit power, and -100dbm receiver sensitivity to maximize coverage and minimize nodes per square mile.

The solution is part of Motorola’s MOTOwi4 portfolio of wireless broadband solutions which includes Fixed Broadband, Mesh, Broadband over Powerline, and WiMAX.

The Duo solution is expected to be available in the third quarter in North America. with a low-quantity list price of $1,800 (one radio activated) or $2,100 (with 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g and 5.8GHz, 802.11a radios).

The HotZone Duo enables a robust self-forming, self-healing wireless network using Motorola’s exclusive MeshConnex routing. MeshManager, Motorola’s carrier class Element Management System (EMS) provides configuration, security policies, reporting and Over-the-Air (OTA) software updates.

Motorola’s MotoMesh product line is a different animal. It uses two proprietary MEA radios where signals are relayed through clients.

The non-MEA radios in the Hot Zone Duo product line will be software-upgradeable to comply with the 802.11s meshing standard as soon as it is finalized. The HotZone Duo features include:

• Dual Radios - 2.4GHz, 802.11b/g and 5.8GHz, 802.11a
• NEMA 4 environmental rating in a 5 pounds package
• Support for the final IEEE 802.11s meshing standard
• 802.11e Quality of Service (QoS)
• 802.11i (WPA2, AES-based) Security
• Exclusive AES based Hop-By-Hop(TM) security for all user, management and routing packets
• Canopy Connect - Power over Ethernet support for Canopy broadband

The HotZone Duo solution also utilizes MeshPlanner, a flexible software solution that allows service providers to more efficiently plan, tailor and deploy installations.

The HotZone Duo mesh Wi-Fi product will likely compete directly with Tropos gear resold by Motorola. EarthLink deployments in Anaheim, New Orleans, Philadelphia and San Francisco use Motorola’s Canopy (for the backhaul) and Tropos (for the mesh).

• Tropos’ MetroMesh OS with PWRP can scale to thousands of routers in a mesh network without exceeding 5 percent of available bandwidth. It achieves this by measuring throughput 5 times a second on all available paths back to the wired network. Then, each router selects the path with the highest throughput.
• Firetide’s EtherDirect enables the mesh to operate as several small local clusters of nodes. Each cluster can support about 30 nodes and connects to other clusters.
• MeshDynamics’ intelligent Structured Mesh nodes are configured with one 802.11b/g radio for client access and two 802.11a radios for backhaul.
• The BelAir 200 features a plethora of backbone radio options, providing antenna selection, to switch the signal path in the appropriate direction to eliminate the need for the installer to manually point the antennas.
• Strix configures its network with up to six radios per node.
• SkyPilot has a high-gain, 8-antenna array and offers 4.9 GHz public safety option.
• Cisco has a dual radio system coupled with their popular controllers and promotes mesh standards using the Lightweight Access Point Protocol.

ABI notes that BelAir formed a cable Technical Advisory Board (see: DailyWireless Cable Gets Meshed). Tropos is also working with cable equipment supplier Scientific Atlanta, which planned to resell Tropos equipment along with its products.

Posted by Sam Churchill on Monday, June 19th, 2006 at 12:37 am.