Yesterday went to a Wireless Communications Alliance sponsored talk by Jim Thompson, currently a product development director at Vivato. (He was formerly CTO at Musenki and Wayport, and is a frequent contributor to the BAWUG lists.)

Vivato is creating a high end WiFi based 'switch'. Unlike so-called WiFi switches that are simply a means of clustering and controlling cheap access points, Vivato's system works by beamsteering the WiFi RF energy to separately reach machines located along radial paths from the antenna location. Each such beam has the full complement of WiFi channels and bandwidth, and has a range about five times of a conventional AP in a similar setting - that can reach the kilometer class for outdoor line of sight. The system works with off the shelf client side cards. The beams are tight enough (5 - 7 degrees) that Vivato is able to qualify for the FCC point-to-point rather than the omnidirectional power and gain rules. Jim was a bit evasive on the total throughput of each system, but marketing slides suggested it might be about the equal of 12 conventional APs.

Sound wonderful? There are a few catches. You will not pick this up on loss leaders at Fry's. The indoor version of the Vivato device will list for about $8,000. A ruggedized outdoor version will go for about $13,000. The claim is that industrial (and perhaps carrier) users will make this up on installation and management labor costs. You're also not going to hide this gadget under your desk. The indoor unit will have a one by one-half meter antenna; the outdoor antenna is a meter square and can be used to illuminate an office building from outside, or act as a point-multipoint backhaul system. The beams come off one surface of the antenna with a nominal 100 degree radius, so the indoor setup would be positioned at one corner of the office floor or other area. The indoor unit is supposed to ship in May, with the outdoor version soon after. Jim alluded to a follow-on NLOS project which he is leading.

This is an interesting first move of beam steering technology that was ultimately derived from military electronics down to the LAN marketplace. While priced well above the entry level for those just beginning to experiment with enterprise deployments, this will at least find a niche in applications such as warehouse, trade show, factory floor and trading floors where conventional APs are a difficult installation proposition. Convincing enterprise network managers that they want to give up their VLANs, subnetting and other AP management tricks in favor of the first cousin of a military radar might take a little more selling.

(I should mention I love the WCA almost as much as the IEEE. They charge $10 for the talk and munchies. Attendence looked to be over 100, with at least four lurking VCs including yours truly, and one company in hiring mode with HR recruiter present.)
5:52:22 PM