Katie Fehrenbacher of GigOm says series of open source projects are tackling high-end switches and wireless networking. She says Vyatta and Digium have based their entire business model on open source software. Digium is the original creator and primary developer of Asterisk, the industry’s first open source PBX Meraki Networks, a Mountain View, Calif.-based startup is building a business off of hardware and software based on MIT’s Roofnet project.

The Roofnet Project was previously funded by MIT’s Project Oxygen and NTT DoCoMo. Meraki also consults on mesh-networking related issues for the fabled $100 laptop prototype project. The first offering from the company will likely hit the shelves this fall, and is called the Meraki Mini, which is a $49 wireless 802.11b/g router that allows users to build a wireless mesh network or extend the range of a municipal network.

Sanjit Biswas, the company’s co-founder, and MIT student on-leave, hopes the low-cost hardware will cause a wave in the mesh networking industry, and the company is working on beta-testing this summer. The hardware uses an open platform and the company is encouraging users to tinker around and install their own software. Though, Biswas says the router isn’t completely open source and part of the software is closed.

Biswas says that Meraki’s goal is to enable a grassroots movement of small wireless ISPs by providing them everything they need to get started. “Hardware (the Meraki Mini) is part of the story, but we also have the mature mesh routing software and hosted billing/user management tools operators will need to run a production network.”

Meraki might be one of those startups that is in the right place at the right time. As more cities and companies show interest in muni wireless, wireless networks with open platforms are starting to gain traction. Earlier this month we covered Sascha Meinrath’s NSF grant for his open source wireless mesh project. Earlier this week the Mayor of Boston unveiled plans to bring low-cost metro WiFi access through a non-profit foundation.

Roofnet is an experimental 802.11b/g mesh network in development at MIT CSAIL.

Portland also has a large experimental node (above) using RoofNet and the Netgear Wgt634u. PersonalTelco has been building the Portland RoofNet network. Details are on the PTP’s Wiki and Personal Telco Handbook.

At OSCON last week, Portland’s Personal Telco showed off their open source routers.

Personal Telco’s Russel Senior built a self-contained, battery-powered router using a Netgear WGT-634u (above) which can be configured as a self-contained, mobile WiFi monitor. The router’s USB connection connects to an external GPS dongle, and several hours of readings can be stored on-board. Because it can be battery powered, it can also fit on a bike or placed on the dashboard of a car.

Related DailyWireless articles include; Big Bucks for CUWiN, Recognizing Heros, Community Mesh Developments, Cheap PC Roundup, Ruckus Home Gateway, Sputnik + DD-WRT = Inexpensive WiFi Management, Community LAN Partnership Models, Linksys WRT-54GL and PersonalTelco Hosts Local Music.

Posted by Sam Churchill on Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006 at 2:32 am.