MobileAccess Networks has added a Wi-Fi component to its family of in-building wireless solutions: the MobileAccess MA-850 Intelligent RF Switching Hub. The solution is available via the company’s VAR channel.
Mobile Access’ carrier- and vendor-neutral, chassis-based solution allows enterprises to deploy “dumb” broadband antennas for Wi-Fi signal coverage. Meanwhile, the access points can be contained within a secure telecom closet, used only to provide capacity. Thus, the deployment of access points becomes dependent on total bandwidth needed, not coverage area, which means that companies need fewer of them to get a wireless LAN up and running.
The MA-850, which works with any 802.11a/b/g-based software, equipment and access points, can be deployed as a standalone Wi-Fi solution, or it can be connected into existing MobileAccess in-building cellular implementations, enabling the same broadband network to simultaneously support both wireless voice and data applications, now or in the future.
The company says the MA-850 addresses two specific concerns. First, by being mounted high on ceilings and walls, large populations of APs are burdensome to maintain, driving up operational expenses, and their public exposure presents a security risk. Two, conventional Wi-Fi implementations are Wi-Fi only, and future wireless voice or high-speed data services would require a completely separate or “parallel” solution for in-building distribution.
“Today we are seeing the same in-building coverage and reliability issues with Wi-Fi networks that we saw a few years ago with cellular phones and, more recently, with other wireless-enabled handheld devices such as BlackBerries and PDAs,” says Cathy Zatloukal, president and CEO of MobileAccess. “Wireless connectivity inside buildings will continue to be a major problem simply because high frequency radio waves do not propagate easily through typical building materials. In order to fully realize the UnWired Workplace, wireless voice and data connectivity must provide reliability equal to, if not better than, today’s wired connections for our desktop PCs.”
