Global leader in wireless mesh networking Matt Holdrege Technology Director Global Strategic Operati

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Global leader in wireless mesh networkingMatt
Holdrege Technology Director Global Strategic
Operations
Digital Cities Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 2007.2.7

• .

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Strix Global Leader in Wireless Mesh

• Headquartered in Calabasas, California (Founded
  April 2000)
• Personnel totals 75 with sales and support in
  U.S., EMEA, China, Japan, Southeast Asia
• The Technology Leader (Iometrix, June 06)
• Highest performance for data and voice
• Highest scalability (capacity, future-proof)
• The Market Leader (Heavy Reading, Sept 06)
• In 2005 and 1st half of 2006 respectively
• 30,000 radios (ports) shipped
• 3,000,000 user capacity shipped
• 100 mesh networks installed
• Largest deployments in the World
• 64M in VC capital invested
• Worldwide industry awards and accolades

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Wireless mesh market opportunity

• By 2010/2011, we believe the majority of cities
  and townships in the US will have a municipal
  wireless mesh network in place and the focus then
  will be in uniting them into a seamless, if not
  centralised, national network (Visiongain,
  January 2006)
• There are over 400 cities worldwide planning to
  deploy municipal broadband networks and the
  number will double in 2006 (Visiongain, January
  2006)

Wireless mesh market size ( Thousand)
Wireless mesh radio shipments
Heavy Reading, Sept 2006
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What is Mesh?

• Technology Neutral WiFi, WiMax, 4.9Ghz, etc.
• Access points themselves are wireless
• Up to 6 radios in a single box for both access
  and Backhaul/Mesh
• Self-Configuring, Self-Tuning, Self-Healing
• Multi-radio for real-time applications such as
  VoIP and Video (surveillance and streaming
  entertainment)
• Lowest OpEx (fewer wires)

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What about Wimax?

• WiMax uses OFDM like WiFi, but with several
  advanced techniques which should offer better
  NLOS performance
• WiMax operates mostly in licensed spectrum. This
  eliminates uncontrollable interference
• WiMax is still not quite finished with
  standardization
• WiMax chipsets are not yet mature
• The technology was over hyped by marketeers
• Not enough spectrum has been allocated to run a
  full city network
• Nevertheless in 2008 we should start to real
  deployments using WiMax

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WiMax versus WiFi

• Supposedly WiFi is for short range and WiMax is
  for long range, but today, WiFi can go much
  further than WiMax (up to 40km).
• Over 500,000,000 WiFi chips on the market. WiFi
  is a very mature technology. WiMax will take many
  years to catch up.
• WiFi is not standing still. 802.11n (MIMO) will
  significantly improve WiFi and extend its
  lifetime.
• Some say it is already too late for WiMax, but
  realistically both WiFi and WiMax will be used
  for years to come. Due to spectrum issues, many
  operators will need both.

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Family of products
Access/One IWS(Indoor Wireless System)
Access/One EWS (Edge Wireless System)
Access/One OWS (Outdoor Wireless System)

• Released in April 2005
• Modular architecture with flexible configuration
• Broad range of radio and antenna technologies
• Up to 6 radios

• Released in April 2006
• Used to extend a wireless mesh network into the
  home or business
• Remote control capabilities
• Incorporates 2 radios

• Released in August 2003
• Modular architecture with flexible configuration
• Broad range of radio and antenna technologies
• Up to 4 radios

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Customer Segments
Municipalities
Communications service providers

• Public safety applications
• ambulances and patrol cars
• video surveillance
• communications for city workers
• Residential and business internet access

• Municipal networks
• Residential and business internet access
• Backhaul of cellular traffic
• Transportation networks

Enterprises
Transportation systems

• Hard-to-wire environments
• airports, hotels, ports and ships
• campuses and stadiums
• distribution and manufacturing facilities
• mining operations and refineries

• Mobile environments
• trains
• buses
• subways

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Mesh Advantages
High performance

• Multi-radio nodes minimize latency
• Larger coverage range and double the user density

Quality of service

• Optimized for voice, video and data (triple
  play) services
• Enables service providers to offer tiered services

• Enables users to remain connected on the go
• Connectivity at speeds of at least 150 miles per
  hour

Mobility
Flexibility

• Modular chassis simplifies ability to scale
• Flexibility to use any antenna type or
  configuration
• Automated capabilities simplify deployment and
  operation

Cost effective

• Minimizes both capital and operating expense
• Ability to maintain performance over multiple
  hops reduces costly connections to the optical
  core

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Case study City of Tempe, Arizona

• Tempe is the largest active wireless mesh network
  in the world, based on number of radios in
  operation
• over 3,000 radios (over 700 nodes) already
  deployed
• only 8 backhaul locations for entire network
  (average of 5-6 hops)
• City of Tempe covers a 40 square mile area with a
  population of 160,000 residents and 50,000
  students

Highlights

• The City of Tempe deployed its wireless network
  to provide
• residential and business internet access
• mobile broadband access for municipal and public
  safety employees
• online services for Arizona State University
• Due to success of Tempe, the mesh is extending to
  neighboring cities of Gilbert and Chandler
• creates a contiguous coverage are with inter-city
  roaming over 187 square miles
• combined networks expected to include over 12,000
  radios
• Gilbert and Chandler deployments have already
  begun

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Case study Mumbai (Bombay) India

• Mumbai is the most densely populated city in the
  world
• over 1,000 radios (over 700 nodes) already
  deployed, soon to be over 10,000
• Heavy use of CPE to lower costs

Highlights

• The operator deployed its wireless network to
  provide residential and business internet with
  mobility throughout the city.
• The operator addresses the issues of the
  incumbent cable operator by offering a better
  last-mile alternative, including broadband
  Internet, IP video surveillance, streaming video
  conferencing, and mobile roaming, to corporate
  enterprise, industrial, government, and
  residential customers throughout Mumbai.

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Case study Beijing, China

• Capital City of China and home of the 2008
  Olympic Games
• Several networks already installed for government
  agencies
• City government buildings using WiFi VoIP for 2
  years now

Highlights

• The City Police have mandated an increase in
  video surveillance in several city districts.
  They use WiFi for video feeds back to
  headquarters, as well as to mobile police cars.
  They will use Mobile WiMax when the technology is
  ready.
• The Olympic Committee and the city government are
  both users and advocates of WiFi due to low cost
  and ubiquity.

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Thank You - Shokran

• We hope to join with our local partners to bring
  advanced wireless communication services to the
  people and businesses of the Kingdom of Saudi
  Arabia, Inshallah.
• Matt Holdrege
• matt_at_strixsystems.com
• www.strixsystems.com