News
Issue #2002 - 43 (November 2002)
(Updated Nov. 13, 2002)

TECHNOLOGY

Profile: Vivato's Antenna Technology Moves WiFi Into The WAN

Start-up Vivato has developed an antenna technology for 802.11b networks that boosts the technology's transmission capabilities. Vivato's technology allows a user to boost their WLAN's capacity to accommodate hundreds of users and to broadcast wireless Internet access at distances of more than 2,000 feet. The company does not plan to release its product (or pricing information) until Q1 of next year, but is currently hyping its product to the market in a move to draw interest. Many W-Fi evangelists think technology like Vivato's could position Wi-Fi as a wide area network (WAN) competitor to existing 2.5G and 3G technologies such as CDMA 1XRTT and GSM/GPRS networks.

Vivato is a next generation Wi-Fi infrastructure company. We are creating a new category of products called Wi-Fi switches. Wi-Fi switches have the same properties as Ethernet switches - parallel network operation, extended range and support of standard client adapters - applied for the first time to Wi-Fi networks with extraordinary results. 
Vivato's Wi-Fi switches deliver the power of network switching with Vivato genius radio antennas. Vivato's switches use phased-array radio antennas to create highly directed, narrow beams of Wi-Fi transmissions. The Wi-Fi beams are created on a packet-by-packet basis. Vivato calls this technology PacketSteering™. 

Unlike current wireless LAN broadcasting, Vivato's switched beam is focused in a controlled pattern and pointed precisely at the desired client device. These narrow beams of Wi-Fi enable simultaneous Wi-Fi transmissions to many devices in different directions, thus enabling parallel operations to many users - the essence of Wi-Fi switching. These narrow beams also reduce co-channel interference, since they are powered only when needed. 

Vivato's Wi-Fi switches significantly increase the range of Wi-Fi. Rather than transmit the radio energy in all directions, Vivato's PacketSteering concentrates the same amount of energy into a narrow, long beam. This beam is effectively a high-gain antenna that is formed for the duration of a packet transmission. The result is extreme range - extending the reach of Wi-Fi from tens of meters to kilometers. 

Another key attribute of switching is preserving compatibility with standard client devices. Vivato's Wi-Fi switches deliver increased capacity, range and security to standard Wi-Fi clients based on the IEEE 802.11b, 11a or 11g standards. With increasing capacity and range, Wi-Fi switches are more scalable than Wi-Fi traditional micro-cellular implementations and are managed in much the same way as Ethernet switches for easy adoption and widespread deployment. 

For more information: http://www.vivato.net

MobileInfo Comments and Advisory: We want to compliment Vivato on this this technological development. Our hunch tells that there is still a lot of potential in refining intelligent antennas. 

Note: This news release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and section 21E of Securities Exchange act of 1934 in USA. Similar provisions exist in other countries. There is no assurance that the stipulated plans of vendors will be implemented. MobileInfo does not warrant the authenticity of the information. Readers should take appropriate caution in developing plans utilizing these products, services and technology architectures.  All trademarks used in this summary are the property of their respective owners.