Outstanding Applications and Deployment

BelAir Mesh network provided high-speed wireless communications to three fire command locations and over 800 firefighters during second largest wildfire in Arizona history

Emergency crews in Arizona tapped the power of wide-area wireless mesh networking in July, 2005 to help fight the second largest wildfire in Arizona’s history. More than 800 firefighters and three command centers mobilized to fight the 250,000 acre fire. The emergency teams maintained constant communication over a broadband wireless infrastructure.

Sparked by a flash of lightning, the Cave Creek, Arizona, fire burst into flames and into the history books with a wildfire that stretched over a wide area from Cave Creek to Black Canyon City. To contain the fire and reduce damage to the environment, firefighters needed to maintain constant communication between themselves and their command centers. One of the premiere wireless wide-area network (WAN) and local area network (LAN) integrators in USA was called on to create a temporary wireless network. The effective network that met all the requirement was built with BelAirBA200 and BelAirBA100.

A network of BelAir BA200 radios provides WiFi facility throughout One&Only Palmilla Resort in Los Cabos, Mexico

Guests and employees at Kerzner International’s One&Only Palmilla resort Los Cabos, Mexico can now wirelessly surf the Internet, access e-mail, and connect to secure private networks from anywhere on the resort property over a new wide-area wireless infrastructure built with a network of BelAir BA200 radios.

Located at the tip of the Baja California peninsula, between San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, the 172-room beachside One&Only Palmilla resort includes a world class golf course, several restaurants, and a spa. Recently, resort management decided to add property-wide wireless broadband to its list of guest services and to support internal operations. The wireless network it envisioned needed to provide carrier-grade data coverage for the entire property without detracting from the stunning aesthetics of the location.

After an intensive competitive review, One&Only Palmilla decide on using the BelAir BA200 based solution because it provided complete coverage with minimal hardware, it required only a few days for deployment, it could be deployed with no disruption to guests or employees, and it was designed to seamlessly blend into the existing landscape. In addition, the solution proved to be more cost-effective than traditional wireless networking options.

The entire facility took only 10 days to install.

BelAir BA200 based Wireless Multi-service Switch Routers deliver Free Internet Access to conference attendees at Taipei’s Prestigious Grand Hotel

A wireless broadband network to supply data services to attendees at the Global Business Dialogue on Electronic Commerce (GBDe) conference, held at the Taipei Grand Hotel from June 30 – July 1, 2005 was built with BelAir BA200 radios.

The GBDe is a worldwide, CEO-led business initiative, established in January 1999 to assist the development of a global policy framework for the online economy. The conference was hosted by Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), one of the most experienced and largest integrated telecommunications operators in Taiwan.

The wireless IP infrastructure allowed conference attendees and presenters a way to share information and ideas quickly and easily.

BelAir Wide-area, Wireless Broadband Network Offers High-Quality, Low Cost Alternative to DSL and Cable

Residents in the city of Galt, California, now have an inexpensive, high-quality alternative to DSL or high-speed cable Internet, thanks to a broadband wireless network built with BelAir BA200 radios.

Softcom, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the Sacramento county area was looking for a way to offer high-speed, residential Internet access that would compete with offerings from local DSL and cable operators. It selected BA200 radios to build a scalable wide-area wireless broadband for metro-scale deployments. The result was a city-wide broadband wireless network that can provide comparable broadband access at a fraction of the cost of traditional high-speed Internet connections.

Phase I of the Galt network covers more than 4,000 residential homes over 4 square miles using 45 BelAir BA200 and BelAir BA100 wide area wireless mesh nodes in a combination.

BelAir Wide-area Bristol Wireless Network Supports Municipal Video and Public Data Applications

Citizens, visitors and local government workers in Bristol, England are enjoying wireless broadband services on the U.K.’s largest wireless hot zone, which is built with a network of BelAir BA200 wide-area wireless networking equipment.

Known as “StreetNet” the Bristol network has been live since November 2004. It stretches from the top of Park Street down to St Augustine's Parade, the Watershed and some surrounding key roads—approximately three square kilometres—and supports multiple public and municipal networks and applications.

The network is built with BA200 Wireless Multi-service Switch Routers to provide ‘always-on’ access to the Internet and email and allow for council and city workers to access private networks (VPNs) while working on city streets. The network also provides wireless connectivity for CCTV, allowing cameras to be deployed around street events and for general security surveillance.

The Bristol network was conceived by Bristol City Council in partnership with one of UK’s leading providers of outdoor urban digital networks.

London’s biggest wireless broadband hot zone built with BelAir BA200 nodes provides free Internet access

The London Borough of Islington now hosts the “Technology Mile”, built on wireless mesh networking equipment BelAir BA200 and BelAir BA100 a proven solution for scalable wide-area wireless broadband for metro-scale deployments. The “Technology Mile” is an unbroken wireless hot zone stretching the length of historic Upper Street, which links The City to the A1 main artery into north London. The one-mile hot zone is covered by seven BelAir BA200 Wireless Multi-service Switch Routers and one BelAir BA100 Wireless Multi-service Node.

The network was conceived by Islington Borough Council in partnership with one of UK’s leading providers of outdoor urban digital networks, and is financed as part of the Council’s A1 Regeneration project.

The project was implemented to provide Internet access to all—anyone with a WiFi enabled device can access the Internet for free along Upper Street. In addition, the Council is providing a number of local businesses—from cafes to dental surgeries—with PCs so they can offer customers free Internet service, providing everyone in the area with an equal opportunity to benefit from Internet access.

Beachside in St Maarten is WiFi-enabled with a network of BelAir BA200 nodes

The requirement was to build a WiFi facility in the tourist-heavy downtown and boardwalk areas that supports both indoors and outdoors applications within a time frame of 3 weeks as holiday season had already begun.

A network of four BelAir BA200 nodes strategically sited over the target area give optimal coverage of approximately a half-mile stretch along Front Street, the main street in the downtown area and the Boardwalk at the beach.

The design of the four BelAir BA200 nodes allows for high-capacity coverage both indoors and outdoors, rapid deployment and the ability to scale the network easily, all provided in an unobtrusive package that seamlessly blends in to the locale.

BelAir WiFi facility enhances the revival of Downtown Springfield, Missouri

Springfield decided to offer free WiFi in the downtown core to attract new businesses and local college students and to encourage people to spend more time in the area.

The requirements for the network were very specific:
- it needed to cover a wide area
- it had to be unobtrusive and aesthetically pleasing and most importantly
- it needed to easily accommodate network expansion as the city’s needs grew

After an extensive review process, the project developer selected BelAir BA200 to build a wide area wireless IP infrastructure because it was the only one capable of delivering high-bandwidth wireless backhaul and Layer 2 VLAN functionality. The modular design of the BelAir BA200 multiple wireless switch routers was another deciding factor. It was perceived that the design would allow the existing fibre infrastructure be leveraged for expansion of the wireless IP infrastructure to cover the entire city eventually as required. It would also allow useful wireless-enabled applications to be run over the wireless IP infrastructure.

Wireless Athens Georgia Zone (WAGZone) replaced its old wireless local area network, that had been degraded by the elements with age, with a wide-area wireless broadband network built with BelAir BA200 nodes

The Mobile Media Consortium, part of the New Media Institute at the University of Georgia-Athens, is a collaboration between industry and academia dedicated to building tomorrow’s mobile media with today’s technology.

The WAGZone, established in 2001, provides the students and faculty at UGA with a real-world research test-bed where different types of mobile media content can be explored. After three years of operation, rain and humidity had begun to degrade the original WAGZone infrastructure, and it needed to be replaced. The Mobile Media Consortium opted for a wide-area wireless broadband solution based on BelAir BA200.

The new network is built with seven BelAir BA200 wireless multi-service switch routers which are connected to each other using the multiple point-to-point architecture. It now provides wireless broadband coverage over 24 blocks of downtown Athens.

The BelAir BA200-based wireless network now provides students, faculty and industry partners with the ability to think creatively about wireless applications and test them over a reliable infrastructure. For instance, patrons in downtown Athens can log on to the network and review projects established by the students at UGA or explore the Internet from their handhelds or laptops.

In addition to public access, the new network is a test-bed for arrange of applications, including streaming audio and video, location-based content delivery, and even mobile content that responds to user profiles via RFID. Recent mobile media projects produced in the WAGZone include a wireless football stadium, a restaurant guide, a wireless historical tour and parking locator.