Fixed Wireless Equipment

WISPCON II:
Equipment Makers Stretch the Limits

• Alvarion's Network Management
• MicroTik's Multifaceted PCI Card
• KarlNet's Jack-Of-All Base Stations

by Jim Wagner Managing Editor, ISP-Lists [October 8, 2002]

Wireless Internet service providers (WISPs) attending WISPCON II here in Chicago Monday found vendors offering equipment that goes beyond straight connectivity.

Fixed wireless, the technology delivering Internet over the airwaves in the license-free Federal Communications Commission (FCC) spectrum—primarily 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, and 5.8 GHz—has enjoyed widespread popularity the past few years as an alternative to "wired" high-speed Internet choices in digital subscriber line (DSL) and cable.

To date, the equipment powering fixed wireless and "hotspot" 802.11b has revolved primarily around getting more distance from equipment without violating Part-15 rules at the FCC, which limit the power of the signal so it doesn't interfere with licensed spectrum operators in the U.S.

Three companies—Alvarion, MicroTik, and KarlNet—showcased equipment that improves on what's available today and makes subscriber management easier.

Alvarion's Network Management
Alvarion, a company that gained major clout in recent years after its creation through a merger between BreezeCOM and Floware, was showing off its new traffic manager Monday. The product puts a cap on the amount of bandwidth an individual user can use at any given time and tallies how much they use.

For WISPs, it brings a whole new level of network management not normally available. Finding out how much bandwidth subscribers are using and billing them appropriately is a key advantage. To date, most WISPs (and conventional ISPs, for that matter) use the multi-router traffic grapher (MRTG), a free application created by developer Tobi Oetiker.

Now, besides passively counting what users consume, WISPs can put a limit to how much bandwidth is used, raise or lower that amount, and keep track of it. It's similar to what many cable and DSL providers use today to "tier" service at different speed levels (i.e., 1.5 Mbps, 768 Kbps).

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MicroTik's Multifaceted PCI Card
Riga, Latvia-based MicroTik released its first hardware product to WISPs on Monday. The company, known as a software firm, was looking for hardware suited to its core product, MicroTik v2.6. Enter MicroTik's Router Board 200, designed and manufactured in the European company's headquarters in Riga, Latvia.

The card is "basically an ATX (motherboard form factor) card cut in half," according to one of the company's officials. It is a plug-in PCI card filled with ports and slots for a variety of network-based services. They include: intrusion detection, optional mini-UPS for power backup (15 minute battery life, enough time to send out an alert to the administrator), and Ethernet- and 802.11b-based slots.

The board supports most operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and BSD.

John Sully, MicroTik managing director, said the lack of a product suited to its software needs was the reason behind creating a hardware product.

"We're a software company, but no equipment out there could use it," he said. "We went out and ordered the design and had it manufactured in Latvia. The competition's similar product is much less powerful."

Officials are still working on a final price for the product, though Tully said the board will run between $150 and $200 and be sold directly to customers for the time being. Depending on the success of the board, MicroTik may ramp up production and set up reseller distribution and original equipment manufacturing (OEM) deals.

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KarlNet's Jack-Of-All Base Stations
KarlNet was the third manufacturer with a new product, an all-in-one piece of hardware that accommodates all types of wireless networking needs.

The KarlNet WISP Base is a 1U rack mount base station capable of operating up to five different radios and two 10/100-Ethernet interfaces, which can support up to 320 remote wireless stations. It can be used in either 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz radio systems.

Like Alvarion's traffic manager, the KarlNet product features a bandwidth and simple network management protocol (SNMP) control feature at the remote station, instead of at the network operations center (NOC). Tied to the network's remote authentication dial-in user service (RADIUS), it can be used to manage and bill individual users, as well as determine whether the user is actually a customer.

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