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  • About Steve Stroh

    In 1996, I was fascinated to discover that providing Internet Access via license-exempt wireless technologies was not only possible, but being done routinely by a small band of pioneering Internet Service Providers.

    By mid-1997, I was writing professionally about Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) as a monthly columnist in Boardwatch Magazine.

    In 2000, I began writing about BWIA full time in my own blogs, for numerous other publications, and my own subscription newsletter.

    From 2008 - 2015, I took a hiatus from writing about BWIA, but my interest in BWIA did not wane. From 2016 - 2020 I worked to resume writing full time.

    More on my bio page.

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    WISP News Blog

    The Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) News Blog is a publication of Zero Retries.

    The WISP News Blog provides brief mentions of selected developments in the Wireless industry relating to Broadband Internet Access via fixed wireless technology, and related fields, technologies, and industries.

    Significant developments are often discussed in depth in the WISP News Newsletter. The WISP News Blog also features previews of the WISP News Newsletter - subscription information here.

    The WISP News Newsletter focuses on the news, developments, technologies, business models, etc. that are of specific interest to the WISP industry.

    A separate Zero Retries publication - BWIA News Newsletter (and Blog) covers the "bigger picture" of Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) news, developments, technologies, business models, etc. that are generally outside the scope of the WISP industry.

    Coverage of the WISP industry in the WISP News Newsletter draws deeply on Steve Stroh's nearly two decades of involvement and writing about the WISP industry.

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« Why I Started WISP News | Main | Alvarion Conspicuously Absent From WISPCON 2007 »

February 21, 2007

Blogging from WISPCON 9 / WISPCON 2007 - Part 1

redlinecommunications.jpegKevin Suitor / Redline Communications Keynote Tuesday, February 21, 2007 - 08:00

Some key things learned from Katrina and past disasters:
* First responders often showed up with incompatible communications systems, so "infrastructure" like Broadband Wireless Internet Access communications needs to be flexible on how you allow them to plug in
* Response is usually late - need to stockpile equipment to be ready
* License-exempt ruled; no licensed; would have taken too long
* VOIP was 80% of IP communications traffic; voice is mission-critical
* Frequency Management was very important; interference impacted mission-critical voice
* Licensed links that are destroyed are often replaced in the short term with license-exempt links and since they're causing interference to established license-exempt links
* Mounting hardware was crucial... couldn't set up link, thus couldn't communicate without ability to mount the antenna
* Better to be conservative - when stocking, default to 2' (as opposed to 1') dishes and long cables. "Hastily Formed Network" is now well-recognized concept and terminology
* Regular exercises

"In any large-scale catastrophe, the first thing to go is communication. You have to plan for that." Dr. James Gregory

Resilience - The capacity to absorb shocks gracefully; difference from redundant which assumes individual component / system / link failure

When you construct Resilient or Redundant systems, you have to test them - UPS', backup files (tape), failover onto backup links Redline advocates WISPs selling business-grade links as "business continuity solution" - so your employees don't have downtime. When you factor in the productivity losses, a backup wireless link is a cheap investment Another opportunity is business sparing for servers; having servers staged at the ISP ready to help small businesses who have servers that go down or are destroyed due to disaster.

New opportunity - Storage Area Networking, IS applicable to WISPs.

Product Anouncement: AN-80i - FCC certified for operation in new 255 MHz of 5.4 GHz band, 9 Mbps - 90 Mbps upgradeable with software keys, 10/20/40 MHz cnannels, PMP is in beta, Power Over Ethernet (all outdoor), simple mounting - starts at under $2000 per end. Specifically designed to be a good match for Wi-Fi mesh systems. See full details in Press Release at www.bwiapressreleases.com/2007/02/redline_unveils.html

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh

If you like the content of this blog post, I provide much more unique, independent, in-depth writing about subjects like this in the WISP (Wireless Internet Service Provider) News Newsletter.
You can learn more at Zero Retries Newsletters page.

Posted by on February 21, 2007 at 07:40 in Conferences |

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