Wide area Wi-Fi

Telecommunications Americas, Dec, 2004

BelAir Networks

www.belairnetworks.com

With release 2.0 of its BelAir 200 wide area Wi-Fi solution, BelAir Networks' customers will be able to organize their wireless infrastructure into multiple, secure, independent networks that fit specific business needs. This means that a large hotel, for example, can provide secure internal network service for its own use and high-speed public Internet access for its guests all from one system. Release 2.0 includes a set of new features, including Multiple Service Set Identifiers (MSSIDs), support for 802.1x authentication, rouge access point detection, enhanced backhaul security and streamlined network management capabilities. Hardened for outdoor deployment, the BelAir 200 is a modular, four-radio, wireless internetworking platform that can be mounted directly on buildings, light poles in parking lots or city streets. Each BelAir 200 includes up to three backhaul radio modules that create 5 GHz point-to-point links to form a wireless backhaul mesh that interconnects all of the BelAir 200 nodes. The access radio module supports Wi-Fi Client access in the 2.4 GHz band with integrated antennas that project Wi-Fi signals over a large area or into multi-story buildings.

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With this latest release, each new BelAir 200 supports 16 simultaneous MSSIDs, or, in other words, 16 virtual Wi-Fi networks. With enough capacity to support 256 simultaneous associations and up to 50 active users per node, service providers can support one public and 15 private SSIDs, which are then mapped to separate VLANs with different security policies and tagging of SSIDs and users to VLANs. By offering support for 802.11x authentication on the access radio module, operators can support multiple authentication methods for any kind of user. The enhanced product offers various security features, including rogue AP detection capabilities for the access network and Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) encryption on the wireless backhaul links. An optional optical line interface module (LIM) allows a direct connection between BelAir wide area Wi-Fi networks and existing wireline optical networks. This software is shipping in all new BelAir 200s and is also available as a software upgrade for any BelAir 200s deployed in the field.