Azimuth Intros WiFi Tester

ACTON, Mass. -- Azimuth Systems Inc., the leading provider of Wi-Fi® engineering test equipment, today announced the release of the Azimuth Wi-Fi Mesh Test software suite, the industry’s first commercial solution that automates the performance testing of wireless mesh networks in a controlled laboratory environment. Mesh testing serves an important element of the rapidly growing Wi-Fi enterprise and public infrastructure markets as more municipalities deploy wireless networks to deliver high-performance broadband access to first responders, residents and businesses within a wide area. By using Azimuth’s Wi-Fi Mesh Test software on the award winning W-Series test platform, Wi-Fi infrastructure manufacturers can ensure maximum product performance and quality, while streamlining their testing.

Rather than sending and receiving data from a central point, wireless mesh networks use a series of nodes to pass data and share bandwidth. Unlike traditional Wi-Fi testing applications that evaluate clients connected to a single access point, testing Wi-Fi mesh networks requires an entire matrix of nodes, which introduces layers of complexity and significant performance challenges to the testing process. The new mesh solution leverages Azimuth’s established leadership as the test equipment supplier for manufacturers of enterprise-grade Wi-Fi systems, with current Azimuth customers accounting for 98 percent of the enterprise access points on the market as verified by ABI Research.

“We predict that mesh network revenue will grow from nearly zero in 2005 to $1.2 billion in 2010. Thorough testing of Wi-Fi mesh technology will be required to enable these large scale deployments,” said Sam Lucero, senior analyst, wireless connectivity research at ABI Research. “The ability to test wireless mesh networks in a controlled, repeatable manner allows vendors to identify potential issues prior to being introduced into the field, where finding problems may be logistically challenging and costly.”

Azimuth Systems Inc.