FOR RELEASE AUGUST 7, 2006
Media Contacts:
|
Alan Menezes
Wavion, Inc.
408.261.7000
alanm@wavion.net
|
Kawika Holbrook
Sterling Communications, Inc.
408.395.5500
kawika@sterlingpr.com
|
WAVION ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF
THE WS410 SPATIALLY ADAPTIVE ACCESS POINT FOR METRO WI-FI;
DETAILS DRAMATIC FIELD TRIAL RESULTS.
Field Trials by CONXX Reveal the Wavion WS410 Delivers
Significantly Greater Coverage and Capacity over Conventional
Outdoor Access Points for Metro Wi-Fi Deployments.
SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 7, 2006 – Wavion™,
a company transforming the metro Wi-Fi market with a new
category of access points, today announced the general availability
of the WS410, a spatially adaptive Wi-Fi access point specifically
designed to dramatically improve the economics and performance
of metro Wi-Fi deployments. The Wavion WS410 can quadruple
the coverage of existing access points in metro Wi-Fi deployments,
support new applications, minimize dead spots, and better
penetrate walls for a significantly improved user experience.
In addition, Wavion revealed the results of field trials
with CONXX, which demonstrates the power of the WS410.
CONXX built and operates Maryland’s Allegany County
Network, one of the oldest municipal wireless networks in
the United States. The carrier-class communication network,
called AllCoNet2, provides high-quality communication services
to public safety, government, education, commercial, and
residential users. Based on their tests with other outdoor
access points, CONXX engineers expected 200 to 250 meters
of radial coverage with data rates averaging between 1-6
megabits per second (Mbps). Instead, results from their
first field trials revealed more than double the coverage
in NLOS (non line-of-sight) and LOS and conditions. During
the same tests, data rates routinely hit 10-15 Mbps and
peaked at 21 Mbps.
“Frankly, we are impressed. We have been testing many
types and manufacturers of Wi-Fi equipment over the past
several months. Of all the equipment we tested, we found
that coverage was fairly undistinguishing between manufacturers,
until we received the Wavion WS410,” said Jeff Blank,
Chief Technical Officer of CONXX. “We had incorrectly
concluded that all Wi-Fi equipment was mostly the same from
a radio frequency (RF) standpoint. As a result, we had come
to the false realization that Wi-Fi equipment would have
to be evaluated solely on its software features and not
its RF performance. The WS410 changed everything.”
“The Wavion WS410 offers significant benefits to infrastructure
equipment vendors, service providers, municipal organizations,
and customers eager for metro Wi-Fi deployments to deliver
Internet access where they work, drive and live,” said
Ran Eisenberg, Wavion’s CEO. “Launching the world’s
first metro-scale access point with digital beamforming
is a big first step on the road to transform the metro Wi-Fi
market.”
The Wavion WS410 Improves Performance, Penetration and
Profitability
A single WS410, which serves up to 254 standard Wi-Fi clients,
is designed to perform the work of three to four conventional
access points, reducing service providers’ capital
and operating expenditures by more than 50 percent.
“This ability to continually optimize the wireless
signal, regardless of the changes in the electromagnetic
environment, moving objects and other environmental factors,
is critical to any successful metro-scale Wi-Fi deployment
in a dense urban area,” said Sam Lucero, senior analyst
for ABI Research. “Wavion's use of digital beamforming
in outdoor access points is an important technological development
that will help to improve performance, reliability, and
capacity.”
The WS410 uses six radio transceivers and six 7.5 dBi omni-directional
antennas. It employs advanced digital beamforming to optimally
focus radio energy to and from network clients on a per-packet
basis, significantly improving the range and quality of
the link. The key to this significant performance gain is
the ability to exploit the different propagation paths from
the access point antennas to the client and assuring that
all propagating signals sum coherently at the client. Pre-authentication
ensures fast handoffs and consistent performance across
the network. This advanced technology provides significant
performance gains for any off-the-shelf, 802.11 standards-based
Wi-Fi clients – such as those found in nearly all recently
manufactured notebook computers.
The technology also allows Wavion to gain from a new U.S.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulation. This
new FCC regulation allows multiple-antenna systems that
utilize beamforming technology to deliver more power than
conventional systems, as they adaptively focus their energy
directly at a client. While conventional access points are
limited to 36 dBm (decibels of measured power referenced
to one milliwatt) in effective radiated power, Wavion’s
system is allowed to deliver up to 42 dBm.
The WS410’s intelligence resides in customized ASICs,
which tightly integrate beamforming signal processing with
the PHY and MAC network layers, incorporating advanced algorithms
that continually compensate for dynamic outdoor conditions.
The Wavion WS410:
May be mounted on light poles, rooftops, or any other
suitable outdoor location, and can be easily integrated
with other backhaul options. The 20-pound AP can tap standard
AC, streetlights, NEMA photoelectric controls or Power over
Ethernet for power. With its rugged construction, the WS410
can withstand salt, fog, rust, and winds up to 140 mph.
Supports up to 16 Service Set Identifiers (SSIDs) and up
to 16 virtual LANs (IEEE 802.1q VLANs) for wholesale
and retail services. Different security options can be associated
to each VLAN. To prevent unauthorized network intrusion,
the WS410 supports Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), and is
software upgradeable to WPA2 Enterprise (IEEE 802.11i) security
methods.
Will provide the latest IEEE 802.11e and the Wireless Multimedia
(WMM) quality of service (QoS) to prioritize traffic, ensuring
the strength and clarity of voice transmissions by reducing
latency and jitter. The higher throughput offered by the
WS410 also contributes to voice quality by minimizing delays.
Includes a complete suite of remote management capabilities,
including web-based configuration and Simple Network Management
Protocol (SNMP) traffic monitoring with a full set of system
performance and switching statistics. The onboard management
system features an easy-to-use graphical user interface.
The WS410 is the first in a family of spatially adaptive
access points Wavion will be releasing to original equipment
manufacturers and other partners. Complete product specifications
for the WS410 are available now from Wavion’s website,
http://www.wavion.net. Pricing and availability information
is available now from Wavion and soon from OEMs and partners.
About Wavion
Wavion is transforming the metro Wi-Fi market with a new
category of spatially adaptive access point. The company’s
digital beamforming and SDMA technologies are the first
and only to resolve the significant performance, penetration
and profitability challenges facing metro Wi-Fi deployments.
Wavion is privately held and backed by world-class investors
including Sequoia Capital, Tel Aviv-based Elron Electronic
Industries Ltd., Star Ventures, and BRM Capital. Wavion
has offices in Silicon Valley and Yoqne’am, Israel.
To learn more, please visit Wavion at http://www.wavion.net.
