Fixed Wireless Equipment

WISPerMapper Flexes its Price

Based on software developed to monitor Dartmouth College's own network, WISPerMapper is designed for wireless broadband networks of all sizes, and now the pricing is more reasonable (but also more complex).

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [September 28, 2004]

Hanover, N.H.-based Dartware's WISPerMapper software is built on a foundation that dates back to 1996. At that time, William Fisher and Rich Brown were part of the Dartmouth College IT staff.

"We needed a tool to watch over the campus network," recalls Brown. "There were about 120 routers, and 8,000 or 9,000 workstations. We needed to a tool to find out about trouble before it was reported to us so that when we got a call, we'd say, yes, the guy's already on his way."

That's exactly what any wireless ISP would like to be able to do.

By 2000, it was clear that this piece of software had a loyal following and could support a business. Dartware was started as a local business, with the college donating the software in exchange for a share of the startup. Although Dartware has customers in the financial, military, and government areas, as well as small and large enterprise customers, and also, of course, big customers like Dartmouth in the education vertical, it has been pursuing the WISP market avidly.

"We chose to focus on this vertical with WISPerMapper," explains Brown. The software has probes to communicate with specific brands of radio gear. When we spoke with Brown, Dartware already covered Alvarion, Motorola Canopy, Trango, Tranzeo, Cisco, and Karlnet, but it was working on adding many more, including Proxim, WaveRider, and StarOS.

Dartware has taken InterMapper, the polling application, and refitted it to conform to the needs of wireless broadband networks. "It's a Java app, so it's platform independent," enthuses Brown. "You put the main component of InterMapper in the center of your network, and you can put the remote component in your office, you can give everyone in the help desk a copy, and you can carry a copy on your laptop to maintain full visibility of your network. You do have to poke a hole through a firewall, if you're using a firewall, but you get to choose the port."

Another key feature that that not all clients are created equal. Customers can be allowed to view statistics on part of the network but not all of it. Brown says consultants, who may be working for several customers at any one time, particularly like this feature. "The consultant can allow clients to see their own maps."

Pricing and availability
The product is available now.

Brown says he is always listening to customers, and adjusting pricing in response. Pricing starts at $350 for a network of 20 wireless devices and 10 wired devices. Full pricing details for networks of 1000 wireless devices or less are disclosed here and summarized in the chart below.

A wired device add on pack covering 20 wired devices costs $295. Other add ons are also available.

All licenses are for one year, and renewal fees are 25 percent, which is relatively high. On the other hand, initial pricing, especially for small networks, is low.

On Monday, September 27th, 2004, Dartware announced a more flexible pricing plan. The company's new pricing flexibility means that companies can move between pricing tiers simply by paying the difference between the tiers, so a company moving from 20 wireless devices to 50 would pay $495 - $350 = $145, which is a good deal, and seems very logical.

WISPerMapper (Each tier includes 10 wired devices) Price 20 wireless devices $350 50 wireless devices $495 100 wireless devices $695 250 wireless devices $1095 500 wireless devices $1545 1000 wireless devices $2345 Wired Add-on Pack add 20 wired devices $295

—End