Proxim Wireless Corporation has introduced two major initiatives aimed at advancing the deployment of broadband wireless networks for municipalities worldwide. The company announced a family of dual-radio, multifrequency, ruggedized outdoor Wi-Fi mesh products, leveraging its heritage of excellence in enterprise-class Wi-Fi as well as outdoor broadband wireless networking, including the globally renowned ORiNOCO wireless LAN and Tsunami point-to-multipoint and WiMAX product lines.

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The ORiNOCO AP-4000MR-LR provides a cornerstone for large metropolitan Wi-Fi deployments, while the AP-4900MR-LR enables broadband wireless communications unique to public safety by operating at the 4.9 GHz frequency band. The ORiNOCO(R) AP-4000MR-LR series of ruggedized, dual-radio wireless mesh access points is based on the ORiNOCO enterprise-class Wi-Fi platform. One radio provides Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) end user access, while the other radio in the same compact product enclosure provides mesh backhaul using a pre-802.11s protocol. By using two radios operating at different frequencies, system capacity is doubled and interference is significantly reduced.

Furthermore, the mesh protocol secures links using AES encryption, supports fixed mesh (all APs mounted statically) or mobile mesh (in-vehicle versions of the mesh AP interacting with APs mounted statically) configurations, and VLAN information is kept intact over mesh links to enable virtual networking. Another advantage is draft 802.11e and draft 802.1p quality of service (QoS) enabling converged but differentiated carriage of voice, video and data traffic.

The ORiNOCO outdoor mesh access point is available in three variants. All of them are based on a common platform of two radios, with one radio providing 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi end user access, and the second radio providing mesh backhaul at:

-- 5.8 GHz for the U.S. municipal market as well as other markets where this is an available band (AP-4000MR-LR);

-- 4.9 GHz (public safety band designated by the FCC) specifically for public safety organizations (AP-4900MR-LR);

-- 5.4-5.7 GHz frequency band for European countries (AP-4000MR);

-- tsunami MP.11, providing capabilities of WiMAX in license-free frequency bands worldwide, for last-mile connectivity to a wireless mesh network;

-- tsunami MP.16 for last-mile WiMAX connectivity in the 3.5 GHz licensed frequency band; and

-- network management. Proxim expects that all ORiNOCO outdoor mesh access points will be available for volume commercial shipments beginning on May 15 with an MSRP starting at $1,999.