September 17, 2008 -- Motorola announced a new addition to its Wireless Ethernet Bridge portfolio, the Point-to-Point (PTP) 200 series. The company contends that the platform provides enterprises and service providers with reliable and secure wireless connectivity, with a low cost of ownership appealing to even the most restricted budgets.
The PTP 200 systems are designed for customers who need a wireless bridge that can perform reliably in line-of-sight (LOS) or near line-of-sight (nLOS) conditions where obstacles partially block the radio's line-of-sight. Operating in the 5.4 GHz band, the PTP 200 Wireless Ethernet Bridges are part of Motorola's Wireless Broadband portfolio, providing users with data rates of up to 21 Mbps and line-of-sight distances of up to five miles (eight kilometers).
"This latest addition to Motorola's portfolio of Wireless Ethernet Bridges further broadens the number of radio options available to our customers," offers Keith Bergstrom, vice president of sales at wireless service provider 3-db Networks. "The PTP 200 systems feature many of the technologies found in higher-tier models, providing network operators with a dedicated, secure broadband Internet connection that offers significant communications advantages while helping keep costs down."
According to Motorola, the PTP 200's Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technology provides resistance to interference and fading while providing virtually instant fade recovery. By successfully penetrating through foliage, passing around buildings or other obstructions that can partially block the radio's line-of-sight coverage, the robust wireless bridges deliver superior performance for applications that require up to 21 Mbps throughput.
The PTP 200 is also equipped with GPS synchronization capabilities that significantly reduce self-interference, which allow network operators to support collocation applications. In addition, Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) detects radar-based users in the band and automatically switches to a non-interfering channel.
A simple network design allows PTP 200 systems to complement existing networks and integrate easily with web-based and SNMP-based management systems, as well as the Canopy Prizm and Canopy Network Update Tool (CNUT) systems. The radios are billed as exceptionally easy to install with built-in installation and deployment assistance features that make deployment quick and easy.
"The PTP 200 is an affordable solution that can help enterprises support applications requiring more bandwidth, and enables wireless service providers (WISPS) to extend customer reach while increasing revenues," concludes Robert Baker, general manager of the Point-to-Point Product Group, Motorola. "With a fast return on investment, the PTP 200 is also ideally suited for building-to-building and campus connectivity, and backhauling traffic from multiple access points to a point of presence."
Separately, Motorola announced the addition of what it calls a powerful real-time location solution to the Wireless Next Generation (Wi-NG) architecture for its RF wireless switches. The company says its Real-time Location System (RTLS) strengthens the company's all-wireless enterprise portfolio by delivering location awareness and standards-based application programming interfaces (APIs) for third-party business applications across indoor and outdoor wireless LAN (WLAN) infrastructure.
Powered by the embedded RTLS engine, the Motorola Wi-NG architecture enables accurate location determination and presence detection capabilities for Wi-Fi-based devices, Wi-Fi-based active RFID tags and passive RFID tags. The solution can be deployed by small, medium and large organizations using Motorola's RF switch portfolio in both indoor and outdoor environments.
Motorola's location solution is both RF- and tag-agnostic, and includes built-in location determination algorithms that can integrate data from third-party location engines. An industry-standard application level events (ALE) interface allows developers to create location-based business applications using location data. Capable of processing many location technologies simultaneously and delivering the data with a single XML-based interface, Motorola says the RTLS offers customers the most comprehensive and flexible location solution on the market.
"By featuring ALE, a standards-based application programming interface (API), the Motorola Wi-NG architecture can easily integrate location data from Motorola's WLAN infrastructure into business applications like Movida," offers Euro Beinat, chief executive officer at Geodan. "The use of business rules across multiple disparate location technologies ensures that location-based applications are not affected by changes in RF or tag technologies."
The Motorola Wi-NG architecture with RTLS allows businesses to preserve their current investment in devices and software by eliminating the need to rework applications or upgrade infrastructure when new RF or tag technologies are introduced. By providing a single, integrated application interface for all location services, Motorola's wireless switches can compound multiple technologies and locationing for tags identified by multiple/hybrid technologies. Wi-NG also integrates with multiple leading vendors of real-time location technologies, including AeroScout, Ekahau and Newbury Networks.
"Motorola's Wi-NG architecture with RTLS allows business applications to harness the full value of a location-aware infrastructure," says Sujai Hajela, vice president and general manager of Enterprise WLAN, Motorola Enterprise Mobility business. "Without having to worry about RF or tag technology, wireless enterprise deployments in healthcare, manufacturing, retail and many other industries can easily leverage new business applications like asset tracking, automated workflow management, complex event processing, inventory management or location-based security on Motorola's WLAN infrastructure."
On the Web:
www.motorola.com