By Roland Piquepaille
Today, several companies have products able to create wireless mesh networks with the help of fixed access points. But now, a California-based start-up company, PacketHop, is about to launch a software to enable mobile and instantaneously reconfigurable mesh networks. If you have a 802.11-enabled laptop or PDA, you will be able to send, receive and route data. According to InformationWeek, this could be primarily used by police officers "caught in a dangerous situation that requires teamwork and fast communication." And even if the company wants to sell its applications to businesses and consumers, it won't come up cheap. NewsFactor Network reports that each client will cost about $2,000, while the gateway software will cost around $25,000. Read more...Here are some excerpts from the InformationWeek article.
PacketHop's Communication System, introduced this week, includes its TrueMesh mobile mesh networking software and a suite of multimedia applications. The system works with any Wi-Fi-enabled devices. "Users basically have an ecosystem to choose from," says Michael Howse, PacketHop's president and CEO.
The concept could be especially useful for law-enforcements agencies that need to set up a network around an incident scene. They can use the suite of multimedia applications to instant message each other, send photos of suspects, whiteboard on the photos, and stream video if they have cameras connected to their mobile devices. Additionally, they can locate and track different law-enforcement units that are part of the network on electronic maps.
For example, PacketHop has already used its technology in "a homeland security exercise simulating a terrorist attack at the Golden Gate Bridge."
Below is a snapshot showing the dynamic San Francisco Golden Gate safety network (Credit: PacketHop).
For more information, you can read this case study or directly watch this Macromedia Flash animation.
NewsFactor Network gives more details about the origin of the PacketHop's line of products.
The Redwood City, Calif., company has been working on the product for nearly three years to further develop the mesh software, which PacketHop exclusively licenses from the original creator, SRl International. One change was to create a public-key infrastructure for managing digital certificates among mobile clients that might be constantly moving and reconnecting.
PacketHop also created a public-safety collaboration application, a management console, and a software gateway that links remote PacketHop mesh networks over conventional WANs.
Now, when will this software be available and how much will it cost?
The PacketHop software is expected to ship in September: Each client costs about $2,000; the management console with gateway software costs $25,000.
This looks like an attractive way to create a wireless mesh network, but it looks a little bit expensive to penetrate the consumers' market.
Sources: NewsFactor Network, August 29, 2005; Elena Malykhina, InformationWeek, August 25, 2005; PacketHop web site
Related stories can be found in the following categories.
And remember that comments are no longer accepted here because of a vandal. If you want to tell me something about this post, please go to the bottom right of this page and send me an e-mail.
Famous quotes containing the words instant, mobile and/or network:
“When my hoe tinkled against the stones, that music echoed to the woods and the sky, and was an accompaniment to my labor which yielded an instant and immeasurable crop. It was no longer beans that I hoed, nor I that hoed beans; and I remembered with as much pity as pride, if I remembered at all, my acquaintances who had gone to the city to attend the oratorios.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“From three to six months, most babies have settled down enough to be fun but aren’t mobile enough to be getting into trouble. This is the time to pay some attention to your relationship again. Otherwise, you may spend the entire postpartum year thinking you married the wrong person and overlooking the obvious—that parenthood can create rough spots even in the smoothest marriage.”
—Anne Cassidy (20th century)
“Parents need all the help they can get. The strongest as well as the most fragile family requires a vital network of social supports.”
—Bernice Weissbourd (20th century)