Vivato Unveils WiFi Switch

SAN FRANCISCO -- Vivato, a new Wi-Fi infrastructure company, today announced it has created the first Wi-Fi switch with patent-pending PacketSteering™ technology. Vivato's invention changes the "physics" and economics of wireless networking deployment by providing dramatically higher capacity at significantly lower costs of ownership than conventional wireless networking, enabling Wi-Fi everywhere. Wi-Fi switching is a new architecture for wireless local area networks that combines gigabit Ethernet switching, Wi-Fi and smart antenna design. Wi-Fi switches send and receive multiple transmissions simultaneously and extend the range of Wi-Fi from meters to kilometers. Vivato's switches will include planar phased array antennas built into a flat panel with integrated management and security. Three levels of security will be provided: state of the art Wi-Fi encryption and authentication, virtual private networks and a unique rogue access point detector. Vivato's Wi-Fi infrastructure products will support standard IEEE 802.11b, .11a and .11g client adapters. Vivato is targeting large enterprises and campus environments, such as universities and hospitals, that can benefit from extended range, world-class security and scaled deployment of Wi-Fi. Inside an enterprise, a single Wi-Fi switch can cover an entire floor or, if deployed outside, one switch can cover an entire building or campus. As compared to the tens of conventional access points it would take to cover the same area, the Wi-Fi switches simplifies both deployment and management, resulting in lower total cost of ownership for large Wi-Fi installations. Wi-Fi switching is also an attractive option for last-mile broadband delivery in metropolitan or suburban areas. The extreme range of Vivato's switches provides coverage to large areas and enables direct communication with standard Wi-Fi clients, improving the economics of broadband service delivery. Vivato expects to ship products to customers in the first quarter of 2003. "A switch architecture may serve to address several of the primary issues facing large enterprises in 802.11 deployments, such as installation and configuration," said Rajeev Chand, senior equity analyst, Wireless Technologies, Rutberg & Co. "Recently formed companies in this 802.11 sub-sector are exhibiting technology differentiation, which we believe merits investor and corporate attention." Vivato Inc.