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Wireless Network Solutions for a Metropolitan Area?
An anonymous reader asks: "I work for a company that is expanding into multiple buildings within the same office park. We have line-of-sight between the buildings and are looking into wireless alternatives.
Does anyone have experience with products such as Proxim's Tsunami or Bridgewave's GE60 Gigabit wireless link?
The point-to-point links will need to support the usual LAN traffic (SMB, HTTP, SMTP, etc.) as well as VOIP. The buildings are not large--up to 140 users, whose main network use would be e-mail, printing, and saving Excel documents to file servers, as well as the aforementioned VOIP).
Are these connections any more secure and reliable than using something in the 802.11 family of protocols?"
Still, someone must make something like that today. It would fit your situation perfectly. First of all, it's not broadcast. You can't stand 5 feet from the thing and intercept the signal. Second, even if you did manage to intercept the signal somehow, it is much harder to mess with than if you use some kind of 802.11.
Point to point laser links may be your answer.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
I would always run a VPN on top of anything wireless, especially when carrying sensitive information for a company. If you are unsure about the security of a solution, run security that you are sure of on top.
Of course it runs NetBSD. BTC: 1NT7QvbetmANwaMzhpVL6
I designed and deployed the first metro area mesh network in the US using Locustworld's MeshAP software. It wasn't and isn't big (small tourist town) and it required a lot of babysitting for the first year, but its a pretty mature technology now and the price is right (the software is free unless you start getting into the WISP stuff they sell).
Seastead this.
If its all in one complex see about the options to having fiber pulled inside existing conduits. Otherwise it's time to justify the cost over a number of years, and allow for a redundant pathing setup & better hardware. Do 3 links and run OSPF on the back side - that way you're safe in the event of one link failure. Also consider CanoBeam (Canon) free air optics http://www.usa.canon.com/html/industrial_canobeam/ canobeam/canobeam130.html which may also work better for you, depending on needs.
Keep in mind that fog and tall buildings can impact performance on laser based systems, but compare this to everyone 's wifi APs as background noise. Just make sure to go to either licenses bands or the 5.8ghz range if you go the radio path.
Also, do what you can to cut back on cross building traffic. Make sure each building has a local print server, and locate user files closest to the users that will access them. Sending a 100mb print job to the copier around the corner shouldn't involve data leaving the building.
Good question. What you are looking for is a point to point bridge. At short range with good line of sight there are only three relevant factors. Price, Speed and Quality.
If price is irrelivent, a free space optic (like gigabeam) with an RF backup (like a Tsunami) will give you massive amounts of bandwidth, low latencies and lots of 9s for uptime/reliability.
Price is rarely irrelivent. A more economical option would be to skip the FSO and just use something like a Proxim QuickBridge. Another alternative which hits a nice price/performance/reliability is a Trango Atlas (45Mbps, about $3k). Most inexpensive (ala 10k) and the licence may be an annual recurring cost. Licence costs depend on location (city/county/state).
So for rough ballparks...
FSO w/RF backup, 1Gbps, $25k +
Licenced P2P RF, 100Mb, $12k + Licence
Unlicenced P2P RF, 54Mb, $3k (Trango)
Unlicenced P2P RF on-the-cheap, 54Mb, $1500 (Microtik, other 802.11x based systems)
Unlicenced P2P RF ultra-cheap, 54Mb, $400 (WRT54Gx2 w/Sveasoft firmware, external antennas)
Colubris. Colubris. Colubris.
Why? Priced right. Feature rich. Linux under the hood. Capable of supporting 16 separate networks per AP/Controller. Radius authentication. Active Directory integratable. Etc. Switches, routers, full spectrum industrial wireless solution hardware provider.
ps. I work for a reseller/installer and I am versed in the support of the Colubris back end.
And one comment that applys to both the Airaya and Redline gear.
Due to the frequencies and power in use, do NOT stand in front of the units for longer than 20 seconds when they are powered on. You will get the most severe pounding migraine-level headache you have ever experienced.
ICQ# : 30269588
"I used to be an idealist, but I got mugged by reality."
Have you considered fiber? Consider it again.
& prodID=98 Digging yourself is more expensive than pulling through conduit but it could well be cheaper than a decent laser link and its a whole lot more reliable. And oh yeah -- it'll handle your bandwidth needs for the next 20 years instead of having to be replaced in 3.
You're entirely in a private office park you say. Less than 2 km between buildings, right? Has the telco laid any cable conduit? If so, its now a fixture of the property and belongs to the property owner. This means you can use it. Pick up some spools of direct-burial multimode fiber on ebay at around 20 cents a foot, pull it yourself and pay a fiber expert to come in and attach the connectors.
Even if there is no pre-existing conduit, you can use something like the $250 borit tool to get under the parking lot without disturbing the surface. http://www.borit.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=details
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.