MuniWireless

Just when you thought everyone’s given up on municipal wireless networks, here comes Zhone Technologies with “high capacity, multi-service” metro Wi-Fi equipment (called SkyZhone) which uses 802.11n, MIMO and best of all, integrated DSL backhaul and line powering. This means you can install a SkyZhone access point anywhere there is a DSL line, no separate power line needed. SkyZhone comes in standalone or combined configurations using the 2.4 GHz and 4.9 GHz frequencies so it can be used for consumer, municipal and public safety applications.

I spoke to Steven Glapa, VP Marketing, and Marty Hahnfeld (Director, Marketing and former executive at Skypilot) last week about SkyZhone. I asked them why they were entering the supposedly moribund muni Wi-Fi market. Glapa and Hahnfeld told me that SkyZhone is an extension of the products that they are already selling to their (mostly) telecom customers. For example, a wireline operator can use SkyZhone to extend the reach of its wired network - wirelessly - and get new customers for its wireless service or bundle that service with its existing DSL offering.

Zhone is convinced that the SkyZhone product will not only improve the reach and reliability of wireless networks (because it uses 802.11n and MIMO), but make it much easier and cheaper to deploy them since the access points get their electric power from the DSL line.

Zhone has been publicly traded for many years now and its customer base consists mostly of network operators and telcos (incumbent operators outside the US, tier 2 and tier 3 operators in the US). Most of their revenues come from outside the US; the largest growth in their business is in the Middle East, Central and Latin America.

Recently, ACD.net, mid-Michigan’s largest independent ISP, chose SkyZhone for its networks in Lansing and Springfield, Michigan. According to the press release, ACD.net has deployed a multi-use network for public safety using 4.9 GHz and public access in the 2.4GHz band in Lansing. In neighboring Springfield, ACD.net is providing Internet access at subsidized rates for residents in a 6 square mile portion of the city.