Ad Hoc Group - some news items

[Duncan Sharp <dsharp@planetworks.ca>]

No meeting today, but that doesn't mean the Ad Hoc Group is not active.  For
these who are interested, here is a quick update on some commercial
deployments and standards activities for multi hop ad hoc networks.
Although not very mobile, it looks like the first multi hop routing
protocols are emerging to test the marketplace.

Cheers,  Dunc

802.16 WIRELESSMAN

Regarding the newly minted 802.16 standard for wireless metro area networks
(WirelessMAN):  The standard includes a multihop or "mesh" extension.  We
can deduce that Nokia is providing the intellectual property rights (IPR)
from the (good) tutorial on the mesh extension found at:

<http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/16/tga/contrib/S80216a-02_30.pdf>


NOKIA ROOFTOP ROUTER

Regarding Nokia's Rooftop Router product line, more information is available at

<http://www.wbs.nokia.com/solution/index.html>

And I see pricing for the six node "Jumpstart Kit" from Tessco is now US$
5,600 (down from 7,500 a week or so ago).

<http://www.tessco.com/nokia_rooftop#JumpStart>


802.11 WLAN - MESHNETWORKS 

Meshnetworks has multihop routing software for 802.11.  They have a bit of
information on their web site <http://www.meshnetworks.com> and there is a
good story at 

<http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,55980,00.html>

Here is an extract that has some price points (the article also points out
potential market limitations stemming from scalability, delay and security)...

<QUOTE>
    With just five MeshBoxes, the tiny municipality of Kingsbridge, Devon,
in western England, was able to provide broadband access to the citizens who
live in the center of town. A group of enthusiasts eventually wants to
provide all 5,000 of the town's residents with wireless broadband. 
    Frustrated with British Telecommunications' slow progress in wiring the
town with DSL, two members of the Kingsbridge Link project took charge. They
purchased the MeshBoxes for around $2,400, and strategically placed them in
the center of town. 
    The boxes piggyback off a single broadband pipeline owned by one of the
local businesses and distribute bandwidth to the residents who tap into the
network. 
    Users can download and swap information, share printers and even
bandwidth -- for free. To partake in the network, they need only a PC card
for their laptops ($80) or a Wi-Fi radio adapter for desktop computers that
could be purchased off the shelf for about $160. 
    The eventual goal for the MeshBoxes is to get enough of them out on the
street so that almost anyone could get Internet access from anywhere, said
Jon Anderson, co-founder of LocustWorld, the company that sells the MeshBoxes. 
    According to Anderson, LocustWorld has sold about 270 MeshBoxes to date.
He hopes the technology will eventually be used throughout Europe, such that
anyone traveling outside their homes would be able to pop open their laptops
and surf the Web wherever they go. 
<UNQUOTE>