Mailing List os2-wireless_users@2rosenthals.com Archived Message #1462

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I just wanted to share a few thoughts with everyone on the list, if I may.

As many of you know, I've been in Milpitas, CA (that's near San Jose,
for those not familiar with the left coast of the US) since Wednesday
evening, attending a very informative 2-day workshop on deploying large
scale Wi-Fi networks. This workshop was sponsored by Moonblink
(http://www.moonblink.com), smartBridges (http://www.smartbridges.com),
and Sputnik, Inc (http://www.sputnik.com). Moonblink is a supplier of
Wi-Fi equipment; smartBridges is a manufacturer of carrier-class Wi-Fi
hardware (amazing stuff). Many of you have heard me speak of Sputnik, as
that's the company whose captive portal technology we use for Hautspot.

Speaking during the first day of the workshop was Jack Unger, of
Ask-Wi.com. I met Jack in the spring of 2005, at ISPCON in Baltimore. He
is extremely knowledgeable and an excellent speaker. I'll have some
great tips to share with everyone at Warpstock, including how to run two
Wi-Fi networks on the same channel without them interfering with each
other (ponder that for a few days, won't you?). :-)

I also made several new acquaintances, and even sold a license for eCS
to one of the tech-heads here (how's that?). I am amazed at the growing
number of applications for wireless technology, and the number of
expanding business models for large scale deployments, beyond the
typical "last mile" solution. Some of these guys actively compete with
DSL and cable providers, and are able to not only keep their heads above
water, but excel (no, not that spreadsheet product from a small company
in Redmond, WA) at what they're doing.

We had a couple attendees from Nigeria here, someone from Costa Rica,
and others from various parts of the globe. I heard tales of profitable
Wi-Fi installations in Iraq, and we even talked about how to deal with
interference from sandstorms. We talked about doing thorough site
surveys using a spectrum analyzer, and about the typical amount of noise
we have to overcome to provide good quality of service over long
wireless links (several miles).

Today, we had some hands-on stuff with Naveen Chhangani of smartBridges,
and got to see some of their latest line of integrated
AP/router/bridge/antennas. These things are simply amazing, considering
where the technology was when this mailing list started. It truly
boggles the mind how far we've come in just a few short years, and how
affordable some of this equipment is becoming (that's not to say that
we're dealing with a couple hundred dollars per AP, but when I started
doing satellite telecom stuff ten+ years ago, we would talk about
startup equipment cost approximating $100K, contrasted to $10-$20K for a
startup WISP operation).

Anyway, it's been some real fun out here, even though I didn't get a
chance to enjoy the California sunshine, and have to catch an early
flight back east tomorrow. Just thought I'd throw some of these
electrons out before I grabbed some dinner.

If you do visit any of the links I've listed here (and Jack has a good
review of Wi-Fi books I recommend everyone should check out), please be
sure to mention that I pointed you in that direction. ;-)

Cheers, everyone.

PS - There is still time to register for Warpstock next month, and I
promise to do my best to not disappoint in the Wi-Fi workshop.

--
Lewis
------------------------------------------------------------
Lewis G Rosenthal, CNA, CLP, CLE
Rosenthal & Rosenthal, LLC
Accountants / Network Consultants
New York / Northern Virginia www.2rosenthals.com
eComStation Consultants www.ecomstation.com
Novell Users Int'l www.novell.com/openenterpriseserver
Need a managed Wi-Fi hotspot? www.hautspot.com
------------------------------------------------------------


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