BelAir unveils three-radio node targeted for 4.9 GHz operation

Aug 1, 2007 12:00 AM, By Donny Jackson

Mobile broadband systems vendor BelAir Networks introduced the BelAir 100T, a three-radio mesh-networking node designed primarily to support public-safety applications operating on 4.9 GHz spectrum.

Expected to be deployed primarily in municipal networks, the 100T expands customers' node options beyond the dual-radio BelAir 100 and the company's four-radio 200 node, said Jim Freeze, BelAir's senior vice president of marketing and alliances. The 100T was developed because many customers wanted to be able to support 4.9 GHz operations using the BelAir100 platform, which typically enables 2.4 GHz access and 5.8 GHz backhaul, he said.

“They didn't want to do it by taking the 5 GHz or the 2.4 GHz [radio out] and putting the 4.9 in,” Freeze said. “They wanted to have that same compact, cost-effective dual-radio platform and add 4.9 to it.”

Available immediately, the 100T already has been shipped and is being deployed by some unnamed large municipalities, Freeze said. Complementing BelAir's single-radio, dual-radio and quad-radio nodes, the three-radio 100T gives the company the “broadest portfolio in the industry,” he said.

In addition, because all BelAir nodes have a modular architecture, network designers can use the same infrastructure to support 802.11-based communications at 2.4, 4.9 or 5.8 GHz, as well as WiMAX communications at 2.3 or 2.5 GHz by swapping radio modules, Freeze said.