Chaska.net Unwires Chaska, Minnesota

Chaska.net is installing Tropos 5110 Wi-Fi cells to unwire the City of Chaska, MN. Chaska.net plans to offer high-speed residential Internet access, provide in-vehicle broadband to the Chaska Police Department and offer in-field access to municipal workers such as building inspectors and public works employees, who will also be equipped with Wi-Fi enabled devices such as laptop computers and PDAs. First Mile Wireless provided planning and installation services.

Open Park Project to Unwire National Mall

Bolstered by a “substantial” donation from Tropos Networks, the Open Park Project announced plans to unwire the National Mall in Washington, DC. Open Park co-founder Greg Staple promised that the Project “will give the public outside the Capitol the same quick Internet access for research, email and news that their representatives enjoy inside their offices.”

Cellular Wi-Fi Voice

Voice-over-Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi) promises to bring the benefits of Voice-over-IP (VoIP) to the mobile broadband user. When combined with metro-scale Wi-Fi, these benefits will extend to large outdoor coverage areas. Tropos Networks is committed to supporting standards-based VoWi-Fi in our products as the standards and market demand develops.

VoIP, the provision of high quality voice service over existing data communications infrastructure, is already being used extensively in lieu of traditional PBXs as a way of cutting telecom costs and adding features such a conferencing and white-boarding. The emergence of inexpensive Wi-Fi hot spots, hot zones and even city-wide Wi-Fi promises to extend these cost savings and quality improvements to the mobile user via VoWi-Fi. more

San Mateo County Ups Security for Peterson Trial with Wi-Fi Video Surveillance

A new, outdoor wireless network-based video surveillance system for the San Mateo County, California, Sheriff’s Department is enhancing security for the Scott Peterson trial. The project is a team effort from Tropos Networks, On-Net Surveillance Systems, Inc. (ONSSI), a leading developer of network-based digital video surveillance solutions, and Sony Electronics, a leading provider of network video surveillance cameras.

Milpitas, CA, Deploys Metro-Scale Wi-Fi Public Safety Network

The City of Milpitas, CA, has deployed a five square mile Wi-Fi network for use by the city’s law enforcement officers. Police officers in this Bay Area suburb now have in-vehicle access to a variety of broadband applications including crime databases, records management systems, and traffic and incident video feeds. Access to these applications will soon be expanded to include the city’s fleet of motorcycle patrols as well as the more than 20 engines of the Milpitas Fire Department. Future plans call for the expansion of the Wi-Fi network to cover the entire 10 square mile inhabited footprint of the city,

Metro-scale Wi-Fi in Asia

Metro-scale wireless isn’t just for the United States. Activity is picking up in Asia, with Taiwan and Malaysia among the countries at the forefront.

With strong government sponsorship, the City of Taipei has announced the "Wireless Taipei" project which will provide metro-scale wireless broadband coverage for 90% of Taipei's population. This RFP for this project is expected to be issued in July. When installed, the wireless network will light up about 250 square kilometers (about 100 square miles) in Taipei.

In south-east Asia, Tropos is working closely with MolAccess Portal Bhd (Malaysia Online), an application service provider, to deploy pilot projects through MOL (Malaysia Online) in two urban areas, Subang Jaya and Pasir Gudang, in the third quarter of this year. Based on the Tropos mobile broadband wireless infrastructure, MOL will offer a range of online services including online gaming and voice over IP services using a micro payment system called molepoints which are used in over 40,000 outlets including 7-elevens and cyber cafés world wide.

Tropos Networks Wins Best of Show at Wi-Fi Planet

Tropos Networks won Best of Show in the Hotzone Infrastructure category at Wi-Fi Planet in Baltimore. While we’re obviously honored and pleased to win this award, we believe that the real significance is the recognition that hot zone infrastructure is a product category, providing yet another proof-point that the metro-scale Wi-Fi marketing is taking off.

Spectrum Discussions Continue

A May 7 Los Angeles Times article discussing the FCC’s proposal to reallocate from use by television to use for wireless networking quotes Tropos Networks CEO Ron Sege. The Times article quotes Sege as saying, “The technology is so easy to use and so low cost that wireless broadband is going to be pervasive.” The article goes on to say, “Sege said it cost his company just $3 to serve a wireless customer compared with five to 10 times that amount for cable and telephone companies to deliver wired broadband service.”

Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt weighed in on the issue in testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee. According to an article in Internetnews.com, Hundt advocated moving wireless networking into lower frequency spectrum to enable longer-range transmissions and better in-building penetration. Hundt said, “Wireless broadband is being designed where the radio frequencies are very, very high and, as a result, the radio waves can not penetrate buildings. Waves at lower frequencies are longer in length. Longer wave lengths hold their energy over longer distances. They can travel miles from a tower and find their way inside living rooms. Correspondingly, wireless broadband can deliver very high bit rates at lower cost and greater equality if it also uses the lower frequencies of broadcast television. It has excellent propagation characteristics that will allow the build out of an inexpensive and ubiquitous wireless broadband network.”

Tropos Networks Announces Release 3

Tropos Networks announced release 3 of its Wi-Fi cell system with software and hardware innovations for large Wi-Fi networks. The system gives municipalities and service providers new functions to allow them to easily build and operate large and flexible Wi-Fi networks. Specific new features include virtually unlimited scalability with user mobility, the industry’s first purpose-built metro-scale broadband wireless management system, and key usability and reliability features such as flexible and emergency power options. These new capabilities announced today are based on the industry’s most extensive experience in deploying metro-scale Wi-Fi systems.