Strix Systems
Competitive Review of
Firetide
Firetide Overview
Weakness
• Firetide’s Linear mode can’t do mesh.
• Their two radio backhaul is only for serial architectures only – e.g. along railways.
• Having only two radios limits architecture design as they have no equivalent OWS 2400-30.
• Firetide Bonded Mode turns their backhaul into a 1st generation single radio
• Equivalent to our Turbo mode
• HotPort 6000 is a backhaul solution only
• HotPoint 4000 is an access solution only
General Description
• HotPort 6000 series
• 6201 single radio (2.4/4.9/5.8) - $2495+antennas
• 6202 dual radio, single frequency band (2.4 or 4.9 or 5.8, can not mix frequency bands) $2995+antennas
• HotPoint 4000 series
• 4600 outdoor unit single 2.4 GHz radio - $995+(2)antennas for diversity
• 4500 indoor unit single 2.4 GHz radio - $695 (2) 5dBi antennas included
Strengths
• Simple installation
• Auto-discovery generates little traffic (vendor claim)
• HotPort 6000 can bond two channels to achieve claimed 70 Mbps
• But this will mean that only one radio for backhaul. Thus, throughput will be less than Strix
after one hop and just get worse with more hops. Decrease by “1/N”.
• 70 Mbps is theoretical – equivalent to saying Strix can do 35 Mbps, which theoretically we
can, but not in the real world!!
Firetide overview (continued)
Additional weaknesses
• Back-to-back HotPort 6000 and HotPoint 4000 is required to equal an OWS 2400-20
functionality.
• Because each device is special purpose backhaul (6000) or access (4000). They must be connected via Ethernet
cable.
• High priced antennas ($495/omni antenna, $995/sector antenna)
• Firetide radio receiver sensitivity is less than Strix’s
• No Modularity
• Fixed units only.
Firetide pricing for Mesh Node
Unit
6201 – HotPort 6000 Wireless
Mesh Nodes
Description
Single radio – either: (1) 2.4
GHz, (2) 4.9 GHz, or (3) 5.15.825 GHz radio with DFS.
Note: Used for backhaul only,
Ethernet intended client input.
6201 – HotPort 6000 Wireless
Mesh Nodes
Dual radio (both radios must
operate in the same frequency
band)– either: (1) 2.4 GHz, (2)
4.9 GHz, or (3) 5.1-5.825 GHz
radio with DFS.
Note: Used for backhaul only,
Ethernet intended client input.
Connectronic’s Price
$2495.00
[odd note – two 5 dBi antennas
included for network staging
only. 8 dBi omni antenna is
$495 additional cost.]
$2995.00
[see note above for antennas]
Firetide pricing for Access Node
Unit
4600 – Outdoor Access Point
4500 – Indoor Access Point
Description
Connectronic’s Price
Single radio – 2.4 GHz. Must
connected via Ethernet to a
6000 series Mesh Node for
backhaul
$995.00.
Single radio – 2.4 GHz. Must
connected via Ethernet to a
6000 series Mesh Node for
backhaul
$695.
Antennas extra: price is $495
each, or $995 for sector
Antennas included – two 2.4
GHz 5 dBi.
3rd Generation Mesh for Strix – linear
network for Firetide
Strix’s 3rd Generation Mesh enables “full duplex” performance
Dedicated radio for client access
• Dedicated radios for backhaul enabling full-duplex performance
•
• e.g. one for dedicated “receive” and one for “transmit”
Near-zero throughput loss per hop with minimal latency
• Self-discovering/Self-configuring/Self-tuning/Self-healing.
•
Firetide’s two-radio backhaul enables linear backhaul. However, in the picture below any
node with more than two blue lines is not easily achieved by Firetide.
•
Firetide only advertises a linear design – for example along a railway system.
No latency imposed by busy radios
CH 149
CH 150
CH 153
Competitive Analysis
Performance
Mesh Competitive Matrix
(With bonded radios)
(Without bonded radios)
Scalability
Mesh Competitive Matrix
Independent Test
By
Iometrix Labs
Strix and Firetide
Independent Performance Test
Iometrix’ Industry-first Wireless Mesh Test
Revokes Widely Accepted Law
“It’s not every day that a test produces data that reverses a widely accepted belief:
Effective throughput on wireless mesh networks is supposed to taper off to little more
than 7 Mbps when traffic is backhauled over four or more nodes. In Iometrix’ firstever series of independent IEEE 802.11 mesh tests, Strix Systems showed that their
outdoor hardened OWS 2400 nodes spiked with multiple radios raise that bar fivefold
to a steady 35 Mbps.”
“Invitations to participate in this pioneering test were broadly distributed to vendors.
But no more than half a dozen companies responded, amongst which Tropos who
declined to submit their single radio solution citing reservations about our
methodology, and SkyPilot who said they were unable to free up resources for this
project. Only BelAir, Firetide and Strix Systems announced their intent to participate,
but in the end, only the latter two stepped up to the plate. BelAir, in an about-face
over a month into the preparatory phase of testing, withdrew its participation citing
resource constraints.”
Independent Performance Test
Strix 35 Mb/s at all Hops Vs. competitor at 7 Mb/s after 4 Hops
Strix
(Turbo mode)
Two Radios
solution
35
Backhaul throughput
(Mbps)
Backhaul throughput
(Mbps)
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1 Hop
2 Hops
3 Hops
4 Hops
Traffic load
(% of m edia rate, using 1518-byte fram es)
100%
80%
50%
10%
1 Hop
2 Hops
3 Hops
4 Hops
Traffic load
(% of media rate, using 1518-byte frames)
100%
80%
50%
10%
Independent Performance Test
Strix 37 Calls at all Hops Vs. competitor at 10 calls after 4 Hops
Strix
50
4
40
3
30
2
20
60
50
40
3
30
2
20
1
1
10
10
0
0
0
1 Hop
2 Hops
3 Hops
0
1 Hop
2 Hops
3 Hops
4 Hops
Upstream
Upstream
Downstream
Downstream
Number of calls
Number of calls
4 Hops
Number of calls
5
Average MOS score
Average MOS score
4
60
Number of calls
5
Strix Advantages
Lower cost and ease of deployment:
• Mounting and system provisioning
• Auto backhaul, channel selection, power and self-tuning
• About ½ the price of BelAir 200 similarly equipped
Dedicated radio backhaul egress, backhaul ingress and client ingress
Strix Dynamic Mesh Architecture is based on distributed Layer 2 Switching
(100Mbps), lower latency, largest sustained bandwidth across multiple hops, and
largest network scalability
Fast Roaming up to 180 mph and Mobile Node for any transportation / public
safety solution. High speeds require Strix Mobile Node
Up to 20 channels in the 5 GHz frequency useable for large scale mesh
deployments
Up to 6 Wi-Fi radios – 3 each 802.11A (4.9 or 5 GHz), 802.11G/B
Up to 768 users per unit and highest user density
Up to 100 Mbps backhaul injection and distribution from wired head end unit
4.9 GHz higher power DSRC –C mask up to 42dBm EIRP
Strix Advantages
Multi-use networks:
• Combined 4.9, 2.4 and 5 GHz access and 5 GHz backhaul
• 16 BSSIDs and 250 VLANs per radio, 4096 VLAN tags per system
• Up to 2 RADIUS servers per BSSID and RADIUS proxy support
Modular “in-field plug-in-ready” design. Interchangeable dual-radio boards for
servicing unit, upgrading to new technologies or increasing user density
Proven reliability in large-scale deployed networks worldwide – 40 square miles
and larger
Upgradeable to WiMAX, 802.11n and future technologies
Flexible antenna use:
• Mesh, Point to Multi-Point, Point to Point; Vertical, Horizontal or Multi-polarization;
Sector, OMNI, and Directional
Flexible installation:
• Horizontal or vertical pole, light or traffic pole, wall mount
Full Product Portfolio and centralized management
• Outdoor (OWS), Indoor (IWS), and Edge (EWS)
Strategic Investment by Samsung, leader in WiMAX solutions
Factors to consider: wireless mesh
Throughput
• Proven to be the highest throughput, lowest latency architecture
• Supporting 802.11a, b, g, j up to 108 Mb/s
• Backplane Sustaining over 100Mb/s
Latency
•
•
•
•
One & Two radio systems have high latency issues
Layer 2 switching faster than layer 3 routing
Intelligent distributed processing finds fastest path
Sustained performance over multiple wireless hops
Scalability
Need Any radio, Any Service, Any Configuration
Supporting the greatest number of un-tethered nodes
Providing the industry’s highest client capacity
Separate radio for Client Access and Backhaul
Supporting existing and new standards including 4.9Ghz and WiMAX.
• Capable of supporting dozens of nodes with only one wired node
•
•
•
•
•
Resilience
•
•
•
•
Automatic network configuration with secure acceptance into mesh
Self-tuning and self-healing architectures optimizes networks performance
Distributed network intelligence enables quick transitions
Mesh fast re-route redirects traffic during congestion, power outage and natural disaster
Management
• Critical network awareness, configuration and rogue detection
• Simple, powerful control over client and backhaul connectivity
• Secure access point and client authentication and encryption
Factors to Consider Wireless Mesh
Lower Cost of Initial Deployment
Must be able to follow your initial deployment plan
Require a flexible/modular architecture
Consider future upgradeability
Mitigate unplanned truck roles & service costs
Lower Cost of Operation
Need Simplified, but Powerful, Management
Train employees & customers in less time
Limit future forklift upgrades
Plug-in new future technology