CALABASAS, Calif., October 26, 2005 – Strix Systems, the leader in high-performance wireless mesh networking, today announced that WiFiFee has deployed a combination of Strix’s Access/One Network Indoor (IWS) and Outdoor Wireless Systems (OWS) to deliver high-speed Wi-Fi access to the residents of the River’s Edge and Forest Pointe apartment complexes in New York. After site survey evaluations of competing single- and dual-radio mesh architectures, WiFiFee determined that Strix’s multi-radio, multi-RF, multi-channel mesh solution provided the best possible cost-effective coverage for high-performance wireless broadband Internet service to residents in Multi-Dwelling Unit (MDU) settings.
“Our evaluation proved that the combination of Strix’s indoor and outdoor systems would provide the best coverage, because users want seamless coverage in public areas as well as inside their own units,” said Brian Epstein, chief executive officer for WiFiFee. “Strix’s multi-radio approach gives the most optimal wireless broadband coverage both inside and out while providing performance and capacity that rivals that of wired networks at a fraction of the cost.”
WiFiFee provides Internet access at over 2,400 locations worldwide, including airports, RV parks, hotels, and residential communities. WiFiFee’s deployment at the River’s Edge Apartments in Green Island, New York, covers 190 units across 20 separate buildings. Strix’s OWS product enables WiFiFee to distribute a single existing fiber optic Internet connection by beaming the broadband signal from the rooftop of a collocation site on one side of the Hudson River to the apartment complex on the other side of the river, which is then distributed throughout the apartments via multiple Strix IWS nodes to provide wireless broadband connectivity. Despite a drawbridge crossing the river that when raised interrupts the connection between the OWS node on the opposite side of the river and one of the IWS nodes at the apartment complex, Strix’s multi-radio mesh easily and automatically re-routes all information to the surrounding IWS nodes to avoid any disruption of coverage.
WiFiFee’s installation at The Apartments at Forrest Pointe in East Greenbush, New York, which is still under construction, will combine Strix’s IWS and OWS products. The completed mesh network will allow residents of all 200 apartments to connect to a wireless broadband network from within their homes and from outdoor communal areas.
Both MDUs are located in the Tech Valley area near Albany, New York; WiFiFee expects that the availability of wireless Internet access at home will help each community attract young professionals. Strix’s multi-radio mesh architecture combined with WiFiFee’s support provides the most cost-effective way for apartment managers in the region to stay competitive by supplying wireless broadband. In addition, Strix’s Access/One Connect Privacy security feature addresses subscribers’ concerns by protecting the network from unauthorized users in neighboring communities.
“WiFiFee’s combined deployment of Strix’s IWS and OWS once again demonstrates the cost and coverage benefits of our multi-radio mesh architecture for indoor and outdoor environments,” said Nan Chen, vice president of marketing for Strix Systems. “MDUs are emerging as a hot market for our multi-radio solution throughout the country, especially since the inherent scalability of our modular system enables WISPs to easily expand these deployments to cover surrounding communities or even entire cities. Together, our indoor and outdoor products provide the most cost effective, superior, seamless coverage and client access, whether the users are connecting outdoors via city-wide municipal networks or indoors from the comfort of their own homes.”
About Wi-Fi FeeWiFiFee provides wireless Internet access that enables users to use their Wi-Fi accounts at over 2,400 locations around the world. WiFiFee is focused on providing secure, easy-to-use wireless Internet access to residential communities in New York’s Tech Valley and around the world. WiFiFee was founded by Brian Epstein, the 2004 recipient of the Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Center for Economic Growth and TechConnex.
About Strix SystemsStrix Systems designs, develops, and delivers high performance wireless mesh networking systems based on the company’s unique multi-radio, multi-channel and multi-RF wireless architecture. Sold globally by a network of integrators and resellers, these solutions address the high cost of hard-to-wire environments while providing the high throughput and low latency needed to support wireless voice, video, and data applications. Strix’s Access/One solutions provide scalable, reliable wireless connectivity in both indoor enterprise deployments as well as in the emerging outdoor public safety, municipal, and metropolitan Wi-Fi marketplace. For more information about Strix Systems, please visit
www.strixsystems.com