Firetide Extends Wireless Lineup

As a pioneer of mesh networks, Firetide has been a major advocate of a class of wireless networking that allows each node to function as a router within a peer-to-peer network.

But Firetide marketing manager Ksenia Coffman said there are plenty of wireless networking scenarios where the level of redundancy provided by mesh networks can’t be justified from a cost perspective. With this new series of 802.11n multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) wireless networking products, called the HotPoint 5100 and 5200 series, Firetide is supplementing its network lineup to give customers one place to acquire a full range of wireless networking technologies, she said.

As customers become more sophisticated about what type of wireless network to apply when and where, Coffman said Firetide has been asked to expand its product lineup so customers can increasingly have one supplier of multiple types of wireless networks that share a common management platform.

The MIMO wireless technology used in these latest offering is especially well suited for outdoor and campus environments that only require point-to-point access, she said.