Sample of a Mesh Network

Vernier ASP Network

YDI AP-ANT & Firetide Mesh Router

Culver City is the first community on the west side of Los Angeles with free public Internet access. Town Plaza is the hub of a vibrant new downtown that attracts tourists, film industry workers, shoppers, and business people. In seeking to differentiate the city from neighboring areas, attract new business, enhance visitors’ experiences, and offer businesses an added incentive to locate in the city, the Culver City Redevelopment Agency and city IT department teamed to investigate the feasibility of bringing Wi-Fi Internet access to Town Plaza.

Wireless Hotspot, Inc. helped Culver City identify potential solutions and ultimately deploy the new network. Working closely with their vendor partners, Wireless Hotspot, Inc.selected the best-of-breed components to implement a solution that not only meets current requirements but has the potential to scale and adapt to changing business policies and requirements.

Wireless Hotspot created the one-mile-square downtown hotzone for CulverCity, using a Firetide wireless mesh network, consisting of three HotPoint®1000R outdoor mesh routers mounted on top of city hall, the theater, and the Culver City Hotel. With the Firetide mesh network in place and blanketing the downtown area, Wireless Hotspot connected wireless access points to each HotPoint mesh router to provide Wi-Fi access at each location. A gateway device connected to a 3-Mbit/s DSL line provides an Internet feed to the mesh network. Each HotPoint 1000R mesh router can cover up to two miles, and patented technology allows the mesh routers to locate each other automatically. If a HotPoint router is moved to a different location or removed completely, the network automatically heals itself and reroutes network traffic accordingly. If Culver City decides to expand the mesh, they simply just add additional nodes to the network and the
hotzone can grow and become more robust.

To secure its wireless network, Culver City selected the Vernier Adaptive Security Platform (ASP) from Vernier Networks which proactively protects networks from increasingly complex attacks, actively resolves intrusions, while continually adapting network security policy to protect against future threats. Vernier's proven security solutions operate today in thousands of networks for hundreds of customers worldwide, and have received numerous awards including InfoWorld's 2004 Technology of the Year Award and the 2003 Product of the Year Award from Network Magazine. The Vernier system allows Culver City to authenticate each user and provide them with a terms of use policy. Furthermore, the Vernier System gives Culver City the ability to enforce flexible business rules and policies to manage access privileges, bandwidth usage, access time, etc.

YDI Wireless provided the wireless end user equipment that users will be using to connect to the Internet. The YDI AP-Ant LR is an all-in-one, integrated solution combining both a long range Antenna and an 80211.b graded access point for an unobtrusive, simple installation. Its extended range capabilities offered far greater coverage than other products and fully certified by the Federal Communications Commission for outdoor use.