After four years in stealth mode, SkyPilot Network Inc. took the wraps off of its eponymous low-cost, carrier-grade wireless broadband system. The SkyPilot System combines standard 802.11 silicon with network discovery, mesh routing and smart antenna technologies to support high-capacity, high-coverage deployments in both non-line-of-sight and line-of-sight environments.
Significantly, the SkyPilot hardware/software system synchronizes 802.11's asynchronous technology so that it acts more like a cable modem or WiMAX system.
"It's WiMAX before WiMAX," says Mark B. Johnson, SkyPilot CEO in an interview with XCHANGE, noting WiMAX-certified systems based on IEEE's 802.16a specification are not expected to hit the market until 2005. "Service providers have two choices. They can solve customer problems today or wait for WiMAX and let competitors take your customers."
Johnson says the system supports both wide-area and last-mile applications and both can be running at the same time on the same network since it supports point-to-point, point-to-multipoint and mesh configurations.
The SkyPilot System includes the SkyGateway base station, SkyExtender antennas, user-installable SkyConnector indoor or outdoor units and the SkyProvision provisioning system. An optional element management system, SkyControl, also is available.
In a typical installation, the gateway talks to the CPE or antennas, which talk to other antennas and subscriber units using the 5.8GHz band. A LOS application can reach up to 10 miles; NLOS deployments also are multi-mile. The system enables subscriber data rates in excess of 3mbps throughout the network while offering multiple tiers of service and support for VoIP and video, the company says.
"The SkyPilot System is well suited to address the capacity, coverage and cost issues that currently hamper the industry, as it offers carriers and small operators alike many of the benefits of 802.16 with an 802.11 solution that is years ahead on the cost curve," notes Andy Fuertes, senior analyst with Visant Strategies, in a press statement. "And since SkyPilot's focus is integrating their software and RF expertise on industry standards, their approach should serve their customers well as 802.16 and other standards progress down the price curve and are adopted by the industry and the company."
The SkyPilot System will be available in August with pricing for the SkyGateway at $2,499, SkyExtender at $499, SkyConnector Outdoor and Indoor at $349, SkyProvision at $499 per 1,000 users and SkyControl at $2,499 per 1,000 users.
