London's Biggest Outdoor Wi-Fi Network Goes Online
Kanata, ON, Canada -- London's largest wireless broadband hot zone is now live, providing free Internet access over a wireless network from BelAir Networks.
The London Borough of Islington now hosts the "Technology Mile", built on wireless mesh networking equipment from BelAir Networks, the first company to offer scalable wide-area wireless broadband for metro-scale deployments. The Technology Mile is an unbroken wireless hot zone stretching the length of historic Upper Street, which links the city to the A1 main artery into north London. The one-mile hot zone is covered by seven BelAir200 Wireless Multi-service Switch Routers and one BelAir100 Wireless Multi-service Node.
The network was conceived by Islington Borough Council in partnership with Cityspace, a UK-based provider of outdoor urban digital networks, and is financed as part of the Council's A1 Regeneration project.
The project was implemented to provide Internet access to all -- anyone with a Wi-Fi enabled device can access the Internet for free along Upper Street. In addition, the Council is providing a number of local businesses -- from cafes to dental surgeries -- with PCs so they can offer customers free Internet service, providing everyone in the area with an equal opportunity to benefit from Internet access.
"We chose to work with BelAir on this project as it offers the most flexible design in wireless switch routers, which allows us to easily and painlessly expand our wireless network," said Marc Meyohas, chief executive of Cityspace. "The combination of this essential flexibility with high bandwidth capabilities and BelAir's proven track record of outdoor wide-area wireless broadband deployments makes Belair the ideal technology partner for our rapidly expanding UK urban digital networks."
The Technology Mile network is accessed through an Islington Council landing page, which features a comprehensive menu of council services, information and communication options, plus direct access to the World Wide Web, all free of charge.
"This network is a perfect example of how local governments and service providers can work together to provide pervasive wireless broadband," said Phil Belanger, VP of marketing for BelAir Networks. "It's a winning combination of public and private resources and we applaud Islington Council and Cityspace for creating this network for the people of Islington."
The BelAir200 units deployed in Islington's Technology Mile are four-radio wireless switch routers that are built specifically for outdoor deployments. Each BelAir200 includes an access radio module that uses the 2.4 GHz band to support Wi-Fi client access. The access radio and integrated antennas project Wi-Fi signals over wide areas at street level; or directly into multi-story buildings from the outside, eliminating the need for indoor access points.
Every BelAir200 can also be configured with up to three separate 5 GHz backhaul radio modules. These radios and their associated antennas are used to connect multiple BelAir systems in a wireless backhaul mesh that delivers client traffic to and from the Internet. The resulting system provides unmatched capacity, security and scalability for large-scale wireless applications.
The BelAir100 is a two-radio platform that accepts the same radio modules as the BelAir200. It can be used to terminate a BelAir mesh, as a mesh edge node, or to provide wireless broadband access to single buildings.
The BelAir100 and the BelAir200 are engineered for wide-area Wi-Fi today, but the modular system design and the unique multi-radio mesh architecture can also be applied to other wireless technologies such as WiMAX and cellular. Both products are packaged in a small, environmentally-hardened enclosure designed to be mounted on light poles in parking lots or city streets, or directly on buildings.
Source: BelAir Networks