The technology also allows enterprises to blanket large indoor areas, such as office buildings, convention centers, sports arenas, warehouses, and factory floors. At the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, a mesh supplied by Firetide Inc. provides Internet coverage throughout much of the institution's 120,000-square-foot building. Mike Walton, the museum's IT director, says the mesh, which serves both guests and staff members, is capable of covering the museum's eight-plus acres of outdoor space. "If an outside group were to hold an event inside a tent in the parking lot," notes Walton, "guests would still have Internet connectivity on their handhelds."

Buses — a Testimonial
Despite the obvious benefits of mesh nets, the technology is far from perfect. A lot of that has to do with the mesh manufacturers themselves. Industry watchers say makers of mesh nets, including Tropos, MeshNetworks, Firetide, and BelAir Networks, continue to roll out different — and usually incompatible — products. This insistence on proprietary products makes it difficult for potential purchasers of those products. So, too, does the notoriously high mortality rate of wireless start-ups. Experts warn that early adopters of meshes could wind up stuck with networks that can't be expanded or upgraded — or even serviced.

Latency, too, could prove to be a problem. As more users log onto a mesh — and more data is relayed between access points — response times can slow. Since a mesh must carry both service and backhaul, bandwidth can vanish rapidly. To date, most meshes have been developed for use by a controlled number of users; no one really knows what will happen as the networks become more complex and are thrown open to the general public. Says Stan Schatt, an analyst who covers mesh networks: "All of these issues are giving people the feeling that the technology is not quite ready for prime time."

Still, the vast potential of these new wireless networks outstrips the drawbacks. The uses are endless. In Ports-mouth, England, for example, city bus stops are linked to a $6 million mesh network supplied by MeshNetworks. With the network in place, anyone at any bus stop in Portsmouth can walk up to a kiosk-mounted display and find the exact location of the next bus. "In England, most people consider buses to be old, dirty, smelly, and not to be used unless you have to," gushes John Domblides, team leader of Intelligent Transport Systems for the Portsmouth City Council. "The [mesh] system gives people the confidence that the buses are actually worth using."

John Edwards is a freelance writer based in Gilbert, Arizona.

• « previous
• 1
• 2