BelAir Networks Unveils Single Radio BelAir50c for Wireless Mesh Clusters




New Product Rounds Out Comprehensive Product Line for Metro Wi-Fi that Scales From Low-end Mesh Clusters to High Performance City-Wide Deployments

Baltimore, MD ? Voice over Wi-Fi Planet -/June 15, 2005 - Wi-Fi Technology News/-BelAir Networks introduced the BelAir50c, a single-radio wireless mesh node designed for small mesh clusters at the edge of a BelAir Networks wide-area wireless broadband network. With the addition of the BelAir50c, BelAir now offers the industry?s first and only comprehensive system for metropolitan scale Wi-Fi.

Service providers, carriers, and municipalities planning metropolitan Wi-Fi networks can now opt for a single, integrated solution that simplifies configuration, deployment and maintenance of large scale Wi-Fi networks and offers the highest degree of design flexibility.

The BelAir50c extends the industry?s leading family of broadband wireless infrastructure products, which now enables a full spectrum of wireless coverage options, from thin data-only networks covering large open areas, to high capacity wireless broadband networks in urban centers providing video, voice and data services. The BelAir50c joins the four-radio BelAir200 Wireless Multi-service Switch Router and the two-radio BelAir100 Wireless Multi-service Node and the BelAir BelView Network Management System (also announced today), to form the most comprehensive product family in the industry.

?The success of large-scale metro Wi-Fi networks depends upon the ability of the wireless infrastructure to cost-effectively cover very large areas yet easily expand to support increasing numbers of subscribers and services as the network grows,?

said J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D., Principle Analyst, MobileTrax LLC. ?BelAir remains at the forefront of innovation in the wide area wireless broadband space. With the announcement of the BelAir50c, the company is helping to move the industry one step closer to the reality of ubiquitous wireless broadband.?

?Customers traditionally have been forced to choose between low-cost versus high-capacity networks capable of supporting voice, video and data services,? said Bernard Herscovich, President and Chief Executive Officer, BelAir Networks. ?Now, with the addition of the BelAir50c to our product family, we offer them a low-cost mesh node from which they can build mesh clusters that scale into larger networks when they need it. With the BelAir solution, customers no longer have to sacrifice future capacity and capability for near-term budget constraints.?

About the BelAir50c

The BelAir50c is a single-radio, wireless mesh cluster node that uses 802.11g to support both Wi-Fi client access and wireless backhaul. The BelAir50c utilizes BelAir?s rugged, environmentally-hardened design, and includes diversity omni-directional antennas, 100 Mbps Ethernet line interface, Layer 2 switch and a power supply with two hour battery backup. Each unit is designed to operate as part of a shared mesh cluster of up to ten nodes. The BelAir50c automatically discovers other BelAir50c units nearby to create a mesh cluster. Using BelAir?s advanced mesh routing protocol, packets are forwarded though the optimal path to the node in the cluster that is supplying the wired or wireless backhaul. The BelAir50c supports multiple SSID and VLAN configurations. It will be generally available in September 2005 for a list price of $2795.

?The wireless mesh war of words is now over,? said Phil Belanger, Vice-President, Marketing, BelAir Networks. ?By adding the BelAir50c and incorporating the shared mesh software in the BelAir100 and BelAir200 for both access and backhaul, BelAir now offers every possible type of wireless mesh infrastructure for metro and wide-area deployments. We move beyond esoteric technical arguments and simply recommend network designs that match the customers? budget and application requirements. Single radio mesh is for small clusters, dual radio mesh interconnects clusters with larger networks and BelAir?s unique multi-radio mesh operates at the core of high capacity networks and is used to aggregate multiple clusters together.?


About BelAir Networks

BelAir Networks offers the most scalable, wide-area wireless broadband wireless network solutions with the highest quality of service for data, voice and video applications. BelAir?s complete portfolio of wireless networking products are built on the only multi-service architecture for wide -area wireless broadband deployments of Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and broadband cellular networks.

Built specifically for outdoor deployments, BelAir Networks? products deliver the lowest cost per user and deploys in days, blending into the physical infrastructure of downtown business districts, hotels and resorts, and college campuses. Founded in 2001, BelAir Networks is a privately held company headquartered in Kanata, Ontario. For more information, please visit http://www.belairnetworks.com.