As mobility-enabling technologies like Wireless LANs become more prevalent within enterprise offices, and pervasive mobility is becoming an increasingly critical requirement for the workforce, organizations are now facing a new challenge. The demand for outdoor wireless coverage has been increasing as enterprises discover the extent to which providing connectivity throughout a campus can increase users’ productivity and mobility. However, companies are faced with tight budgets and reduced resources, so the solution that they implement must take advantage of existing tools, knowledge and resources to maintain cost effectiveness.

Furthermore, they need an outdoor wireless LAN solution that effectively supports today’s networking requirements, and lays the foundation for the integration of business applications and processes. For many companies, challenging environments in the outdoor space create technology hurdles that must be overcome by any proposed solution. The outdoor wireless solution clearly needs to operate without the need of a wired infrastructure. In many cases, there may not be the opportunity to design or pre-install the solution, so it must adapt around network failures and interference without extensively compromising service, almost in a self-healing manner. Finally, traditional indoor power options may not be available, so the solution may need to support alternate sources of power to maintain operation.

Wireless Mesh is a technology solution that can address these business and technology challenges and provide a robust and dynamic solution to meet their varied and unique requirements.

Mesh is a network topology where devices are connected with many redundant connections between nodes. This concept is not actually new – the Internet is an example of Mesh network and has been in place for many years, providing connectivity for users worldwide. The success of the Internet has proven that meshed networking is the best way to build broadband networks. Mesh, combined with new IEEE standards and Wireless technology, creates a new game-changing technology in the market.

A Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) provides communication between nodes over multiple wireless hops on a full or partial mesh topology. The interconnected wireless routing nodes use a wireless mesh routing protocol to establish frame-forwarding paths through the mesh. Unlike traditional WLANs, a WMN is usually self-forming and has distributed network control.
There are several operating characteristics which are fuelling a growing movement towards using Wireless Mesh technology throughout a campus or even a metropolitan area. These characteristics include (and allow Mesh to):
* Operate without a wired infrastructure
* Create a self-forming fixed or mobile network without any pre-design or pre-installation
* Automatically route around network failures and adapt to radio frequency (RF) interference
* Be utilized indoors with a network diameter of a few hundred yards/metres
* Be deployed outdoors with a network diameter of tens of miles/kilometres
* Be used within licensed or unlicensed spectrum
* Operate on battery and solar power

These capabilities allow for the deployment of a dynamic, flexible and adaptive solution across a range of vertical industries and applications.

Is there a requirement for improved “day-to-day” communication and collaboration out in the field? Is there a need for creative and innovative new services and process optimisations to be supported? Is the movement of wireless benefits of “internal workspace” to outdoor metro-wide environments an appealing proposal? If you have answered “Yes” to one of more of those questions, Wireless Mesh could be an option for you and your organization.

Moving indoor wireless outside is a common theme among enterprises with large corporate campuses looking to provide “blanket” coverage for connectivity and asset tracking. Universities and healthcare institutions have a similar requirement to extend wireless coverage throughout their entire campuses.

Getting a sense of where Wireless Mesh is being used may help you further in determining if this technology is relevant for you and your organization. We are finding Wireless Mesh being used by companies across a variety of industry segments. The value derived from “always-on” Internet access is exponentially increasing as is cost- efficient links to remote buildings and temporary classrooms.

Wireless Mesh deployments can lower operational costs. The Mesh network’s ability to self-form and self-heal affords significant reductions in administration, maintenance and support costs. In addition, the skill sets required for network administration already exist within the IT department and therefore the learning curve is typically lower than for cellular and other centralized wireless networks.

It is clear that Wireless Mesh Networks can address the demand for outdoor wireless coverage and increase users’ productivity and mobility. The lower operational costs of a self-forming and self-healing network, coupled with leveraging existing wireless technology and knowledge, make it an ideal candidate to address critical business challenges for organizations. Without the need for wired infrastructure or time-consuming network design, a Wireless Mesh Network can adapt to many issues that arise on the network and issues with interference, re-routing transmissions using optimal paths and keeping communications and responsiveness to critical situations at adequate levels.

Outdoor wireless mesh products are “ruggedised” in order to operate in the more extreme and challenging outside environments. Mesh access points are designed to mount to existing lampposts and use the same power source as the lamps themselves. Wireless Mesh is a disruptive technology solution that can address the business and technology challenges companies face when searching for an ideal outdoor wireless solution to meet the growing demands of an increasingly mobile workforce.