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Motorola’s MOTOMESH Broadband Solution for Municipalities Now Widely Available
[January 23, 2006]

Motorola’s MOTOMESH Broadband Solution for Municipalities Now Widely Available


TMCnet Communications and Broadband Columnist
 
MOTOMESH, a multi-radio, high performance mesh networking system delivering a total municipal wireless communications solution is now available from Motorola, Inc. The system is designed to address the needs of public safety, public works and public access in a single network by leveraging multiple radios in both licensed and unlicensed frequency bands.


 
Complete municipal-wide wireless connectivity is available with the MOTOMESH™ multi-radio broadband solution. The architecture supports up to four radio networks in a single access point.

 
Through the combination of the unlicensed 2.4GHz and the newly licensed 4.9GHz public safety spectrum, MOTOMESH provides for municipalities to enable WiFi access for public users, license-free mobile broadband for public works users and dedicated licensed network connectivity and security to public safety users over a single network.
 
The city of Riviera Beach, Florida is the latest to deploy the MOTOMESH as its metro-area wireless network.
 
Riviera Beach Police Chief Clarence Williams stated that by delivering state-of-the-art applications into the field, officers have the necessary resources to proactively reduce crime and serve the Riviera Beach community. With the deployment of MOTOMESH, the city has the ability to expand the network to bring on other municipal agencies in addition to providing residents, businesses and tourists with wireless internet access in the future.
 
With the support of the 4.9GHz public safety band as well as municipal WiFi, MOTOMESH can qualify for grants available through homeland security funding and other public safety related grants. The Riviera Beach Police Department was able to use seized drug money to purchase the system in order to reduce the city’s dependence on low-speed cellular data services.
 
Richard Licursi, Vice President of Motorola’s Mesh Networks Product Group views Riviera Beach’s approach to funding as creative and the deployment of the mesh-enabled video and data system as demonstrating the forward thinking that is needed to keep communities safe and secure.
 
Two standards-based 802.11 (WiFi) radios and two of Motorola’s Mesh Enabled Architecture (MEA®) mobile broadband radios are contained in every MOTOMESH access point. One set of the WiFi and MEA radios operate on the 2.4GHz band while the other operates on the 4.9GHz public safety band. This is intended to minimize potential interference between first responders and public WiFi users as well as to enhance the security of mission critical communications.
 
By leveraging MEA’s client meshing capabilities that enable instant tactical networks to be formed on demand, users equipped with MEA radios can form wireless broadband networks directly between themselves. Motorola offers unique Multi-Hopping® technology that turns each user into a router/repeater, enabling them to hop through other users to reach MOTOMESH access points. In effect, every user makes the network stronger by extending network coverage and creating more data paths through the network.
 
Initially designed for military use in the battlefield, the mesh networking technology can provide instant, ad-hoc communication networks where fixed infrastructure is not available due to lack of deployment or destruction. In emergency situations, lives can be saved when adequate communication is available among first responders.
 
The mesh technology also provides for tracking capabilities with the reliance on GPS equipment or satellites. The availability and strength of the mesh technology will be essential to preparing communities for disasters, natural or otherwise. In the absence of such emergencies, the provision of a strong wireless network will provide for effective and efficient communication that should provide for productive activities.
 
WiFi Telephony Summit
 
Once considered a myth, wireless Ethernet has changed society in the way we work, play and live. And while WiFi has already penetrated even the most quaint and nostalgic parts of our everyday lives, it still remains nascent in the communications space. See what the future holds for WiFi Telephony at the only summit dedicated to help you find answers to today’s most vexing questions. The WiFi Telephony Summit takes place at INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & Expo, EAST, which runs January 24-27, 2006, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
 
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.
 

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