1. Competitive Review of Firetide
Strix Systems
Competitive Review of Firetide

2. 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
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!!

3. Firetide overview (continued)
Additional weaknesses
Back-to-back HotPort 6000 and HotPoint 4000 is required to equal an OWS 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.

4. Firetide pricing for Mesh Node
Unit
Description
Connectronic’s Price
6201 – HotPort 6000 Wireless Mesh Nodes
Single radio – either: (1) 2.4 GHz, (2) 4.9 GHz, or (3) GHz radio with DFS.
Note: Used for backhaul only, Ethernet intended client input. $
[odd note – two 5 dBi antennas included for network staging only. 8 dBi omni antenna is $495 additional cost.]
Dual radio (both radios must operate in the same frequency band)– either: (1) 2.4 GHz, (2) 4.9 GHz, or (3) GHz radio with DFS. $
[see note above for antennas]

5. Firetide pricing for Access Node
Unit
Description
Connectronic’s Price
4600 – Outdoor Access Point
Single radio – 2.4 GHz. Must connected via Ethernet to a 6000 series Mesh Node for backhaul $
Antennas extra: price is $495 each, or $995 for sector
4500 – Indoor Access Point
$695.
Antennas included – two 2.4 GHz 5 dBi.

6. 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
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Strix Systems Confidential July 11, 2003

7. Competitive Analysis

8. Mesh Competitive Matrix
(With bonded radios)
Performance
(Without bonded radios)
Scalability

9. Mesh Competitive Matrix

10. Independent Test By
Iometrix Labs
Strix and Firetide

11. Iometrix’ Industry-first Wireless Mesh Test
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’ first-ever series of independent IEEE 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.”

12. Strix 35 Mb/s at all Hops Vs. competitor at 7 Mb/s after 4 Hops
Independent Performance Test
solution

13. Independent Performance Test
Strix 37 Calls at all Hops Vs. competitor at 10 calls after 4 Hops
Independent Performance Test
Strix 1 2 3 4 5
1 Hop Hops Hops Hops
Average MOS score 10 20 30 40 50 60
Number of calls
Upstream
Downstream 1 2 3 4 5
1 Hop Hops Hops Hops
Average MOS score 10 20 30 40 50 60
Number of calls
Upstream
Downstream

14. 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 A (4.9 or 5 GHz), G/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

15. 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, n 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

16. Factors to consider: wireless mesh
Throughput
Proven to be the highest throughput, lowest latency architecture
Supporting a, 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
Strix Systems Confidential July 11, 2003

17. 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
Strix Systems Confidential July 11, 2003