Comments on: MuniFi Monday http://gigaom.com/2006/10/16/munifi-monday/ Sat, 11 Feb 2012 06:01:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Jesse Kopelman http://gigaom.com/2006/10/16/munifi-monday/#comment-126103 Tue, 17 Oct 2006 23:14:02 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/10/16/munifi-monday/#comment-126103 Jacomo, I am willing to bet that for the same cost I could build a system using SkyPilot that is just as good as a system using Strix. In a wide-area situation where you can’t predict or control who else will be cohabiting the unlicensed bands, having SkyPilot’s much higher power and and TDMA MAC for backhaul should trump Strix’s multiple WiFi radios given a well thought out network topology. I do not work for SkyPilot, nor do I recommend them exclusively, but technology-wise they are very hard to beat. Strix is a perfectly good product, but it is far from the world beater you claim. The truth is, if the network designer knows what he is doing, the various big-name products all tend have a very similar price/performance ratio. If you have a very large WiFi based project (> 100 AP), your primary concern should be O&M, not who has the best RF technology.

]]> By: Jacomo http://gigaom.com/2006/10/16/munifi-monday/#comment-126102 Tue, 17 Oct 2006 20:43:42 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/10/16/munifi-monday/#comment-126102 These Cities will regret burying their technology heads in sand by selecting Mesh systems that will need to be upgraded before they reach the end of their 1st year in operations. They are focusing on the short term spin the likes of MetroFi (using SkyPilot) and Cisco are using to seduce the Muni into buying their name or package (free) instead of selecting the best technology for their networks. The best product by far is the Strix Mesh Network which they should select and then find the best Provider to install and support the network. You might be suprised at the response you might get to this approach.
The entire Wireless Mesh Network concept will begin to experience bad press and a major set back as these single and even dual radio Mesh solutions begin to have problems (throughput) and need to be upgraded to add new radios and or address the incredible demand that we can expect in the next few years from VoiceIP and Video services operating over these wireless links. This is not just a Email recovery service any more.
Hardware Vendors are beginning to buy (RFP)networks and providers are promising free everything here and Muni will suffer the under performance and failure of these nets and end paying for these free networks.
SOme one in the analyst community needs to get a backbone and begin asking these Providers and Cities so real questions as to what they are doing.
If you want to see a well designed and powerful mesh take a look at Tempe Az and what they have done with the Strix System.
Simple question one could ask of any mesh vendor today: What effective throughput can you provide/deliver out of the 4th Node/AP deployed in the Mesh-without having to regenerate the network? Will they guarantee this performance?

Jacomo

]]>