Tech Hardware Supply Chain - Gazhoo

Bhavin Shah
(852) 2800-8538
bhavin.a.shah@jpmorgan.com
Asia Pacific Equity Research
20 April 2009
configured for characteristics such as security and quality of service. Data routing
decisions can take into consideration congestion and other factors and route around
busy access points.
The 802.11s task group was formed in July 2004 to define a standard, according to
which wireless devices could form a dynamic wireless-mesh network. A wirelessmesh
network could then be used to connect all the wireless devices within the
network to provide data-transport services.
There were two major industry groups with proposals for 802.11s. One was called
the WiMesh Alliance (WiMA), composed of Accton, Nortel, NextHop, InterDigital,
Mitre, Thomson, Philips and more. Another group, SEEMesh (Simple, Efficient and
Extensible mesh) included Intel, Firetide, Nokia, Motorola, NTT DoCoMo and
Texas Instruments. In March 2006, the two groups resolved their differences and
moved forward with a joint proposal that should be voted in as the draft standard for
802.11s, the IEEE mesh networking standard.
802.11s is still in its early days. In June 2008 the 802.11s draft 2.0 had failed
clearance as it received only 61% approval (75% approval required for clearance).
Although a final standard is not yet out, three major functions have been defined:
• Mesh point—capable of detecting neighboring nodes, establishing links and
relaying traffic;
• Mesh access point (AP)—the capability to receive and process local station
traffic; and
• Mesh portal—a mesh point that sits between a wireless-mesh network and an
outside network, with some defined border functionality.
The 802.11s, which will be entering a mesh market, has already been developed.
Hence, companies have begun positioning themselves for the upgrade. Motorola is
using MeshConnex networking technology in products such as MR 6300 mesh
wireless router, Intelligent Access Point IAP 6300, Portable Wireless Router PWR
6300 etc.
As the mesh network uses the same standard as Wi-Fi, laptop computers or other
handheld devices do not require new hardware or software to access the network.
Also the network can be deployed in a wide area to provide mobile broadband as
users can hop from one AP to another. Whether mesh connected or using wired
backhaul, Wi-Fi networks provide a complimentary network to the wider area 3G
and WiMAX networks already deployed–allowing carriers to offload data traffic in
higher density areas while providing a better user experience.
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