Aruba Networks today unveiled the Aruba AirMesh outdoor wireless solutions portfolio which is designed to be scalable and provide better performance, especially for video streaming, than its earlier outdoor solutions. The company says that the new products’ Layer-3 routing capabilities and the quad-radio architecture of the new flagship MSR4000 differentiate it from other outdoor mesh solutions. ”Layer-3 routing capability, which greatly improves scalability, will be increasingly critical for large mesh networks of the type that serve municipalities and large outdoor industrial installations,” said Rohit Mehra, Director, Enterprise Communications Infrastructure, IDC. “Users should also look to the elimination of wired or overlay backhaul systems enabled by quad-radio architectures. This helps them minimize the cost of expensive cabling, and eases both installation and management.”
Video surveillance is one of the most important killer apps for outdoor mesh products. As more cities and businesses (e.g. ports, mining firms, oil fields and refineries, harbors, police departments) deploy wireless video cameras, they want to be able to stream the images in real time at ever higher resolutions. Streaming video requires higher bandwidth and lower latency and jitter.
Another large market for Aruba’s outdoor mesh products is the cellular industry whose members are desperately finding ways to offload 3G (and soon 4G) data traffic onto Wi-Fi networks strategically placed outdoors and indoors. Existing cellular networks have not kept up with how people are using these networks, that is, for sending and receiving large files, streaming video, web browsing, etc., Customers of carriers such as AT&T continue to complain bitterly about dropped calls and unacceptably slow speeds for data transfer.
Outdoor mesh in mining operations, municipal wireless networks and ports
The Aruba AirMesh portfolio was designed from the ground up to be deployed in a wide variety of outdoor network scenarios, including delivery of data, voice and high-definition (HD) video at oil and gas fields, mining operations, utility management and transportation facilities. Local government uses include municipal wireless deployments and public safety applications such as video surveillance, mobile data transmission and disaster recovery. Its intelligent multi-radio design, with dual- and quad-radio 802.11n MIMO platforms, enables massive capacity, interference mitigation and sustained throughput over multiple network hops.
At the port of Yokohama, Japan, traffic from IP cameras, weather sensors, Z-Wave and other Wi-Fi enabled devices is transferred by Aruba’s AirMesh network to the iPhones and iPads used by workers and security at the port. United Communication Services, Inc. (Unicom), which specializes in wireless and mobile technology, acted as the system integrator for the project. “Providing network connectivity in outdoor environments is often challenging due to the cost and disruption of running fiber to each location,” said Nobuharu Suzuki, Corporate Officer and General Manager of the Engineering Department for Unicom. “Most wireless mesh networks deployed today simply cannot scale to cover large areas and provide multi-service capabilities due to a legacy Layer-2 mesh switching architecture. With its Layer-3 routing architecture and quad-radio-enabled backhaul capabilities, Aruba AirMesh enables us to meet all of our outdoor networking needs, regardless of the number of hops or the type of application being delivered.”
The Aruba AirMesh portfolio of products features Aruba MeshOS™, with Adaptive Wireless Routing™ (AWR™), providing RF-aware, Layer-3 network intelligence to optimize traffic flow, reduce latency and ensure resiliency. Active Video Transport™ (AVT™) optimizes and prioritizes video traffic, significantly improving video quality by reducing packet loss and jitter. AVT can identify video frames at 30 fps, a critical capability in delivery of HD video over multiple hops. Aruba’s MobileMatrix™ technology enables reliable roaming between mesh routers in less than 50ms.
“The clarity of the HD-quality video and reliability of the Aruba wireless mesh network allows Seattle police to protect the public without requiring a costly wired infrastructure,” said Monty Moss, a detective with the Seattle Police Department. “The particular system that we designed is also incredibly flexible. Cameras, wireless mesh routers and antennas can be moved and repositioned anywhere in the city to ensure public safety at specific events.”
The Aruba AirMesh family includes ruggedized single, dual and quad radio platforms that deliver fiber-like capacity – up to 300 Mbps per radio. Each software-configurable radio can function as a mesh backhaul link or access point (AP) that operates in multiple frequencies for optimal performance and sustained throughput over multiple hops. Additionally, long-range directional antennae facilitate data transmission at distances up to 10 kilometers (6 miles).
Product list and pricing
The Aruba AirMesh portfolio includes the following products (with pricing):
- (NEW) MSR4000 – Quad-radio outdoor 802.11n mesh router, software configurable for 2.4, 5 or 4.9GHz operation, price starts at $5,495 (US List), power conversion and antenna options not included in the price.
- (NEW) MST200 – Single-radio outdoor 802.11n mesh router with an integrated antenna for long-range connections, price to be announced.
- MSR2000 – Dual-radio outdoor 802.11n mesh router, software configurable for 2.4, 5, or 4.9GHz operation, price starts at $3,295(US List), power conversion and antenna options not included in the price.
- MSR1200 – Dual-radio indoor 802.11n mesh router, price $1,495(US List), power conversion and antenna options not included in the price. – MeshConfig – Enables monitoring and management of multiple mesh networks.
Aruba Wireless Mesh Professional (AWMP) Certification Program
IT professionals certified as Aruba Wireless Mesh Professionals (AWMPs) will be able to deploy and manage Aruba AirMesh outdoor wireless mesh networks. The fee-based certification exam is administered on behalf of Aruba Networks at Pearson VUE test centers. Participants in this course will have completed the Aruba Wireless Mesh Networking (AWMN) course. AWMP certification is valid for three years. Recertification requires passing the then-current version of the AWMP exam. Aruba
Outdoor RF Planner
The newly announced Aruba 3D Outdoor Coverage Planning Tool gives Aruba customers and partners an effective way to plan and visualize their Aruba AirMesh deployments in 3D, with detailed predictions for signal strength at both ends of link, as well as upstream and downstream throughput and channel-specific displays. Easy-to read, multi-colored graphs generated by the planning tool clearly show client coverage, client throughput, elevation profile and other deployment attributes.
North American Distribution Agreement with ScanSource Security
Aruba today announced an agreement with ScanSource Security, an international distributor of specialty technology products, for sales of the Aruba AirMesh portfolio in North America. “The AirMesh multiservice 802.11n outdoor network portfolio helps ensure that users have reliable coverage and high quality of experience with video, voice and data applications, regardless of their location and in even in extremely harsh environments,” said Greg Murphy, Vice President of Outdoor Mesh Networking for Aruba. “This not only helps reduce the high cost of fiber cabling, but also gives users coverage when and where they want it, even as that changes over time.”
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