From fork-admin@xent.com Mon Sep 9 10:46:06 2002 Return-Path: Delivered-To: yyyy@localhost.example.com Received: from localhost (jalapeno [127.0.0.1]) by jmason.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 02BD716F18 for ; Mon, 9 Sep 2002 10:45:48 +0100 (IST) Received: from jalapeno [127.0.0.1] by localhost with IMAP (fetchmail-5.9.0) for jm@localhost (single-drop); Mon, 09 Sep 2002 10:45:48 +0100 (IST) Received: from xent.com ([64.161.22.236]) by dogma.slashnull.org (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g88NtCC17997 for ; Mon, 9 Sep 2002 00:55:12 +0100 Received: from lair.xent.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by xent.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 59E3B2941CD; Sun, 8 Sep 2002 16:52:04 -0700 (PDT) Delivered-To: fork@example.com Received: from mta7.pltn13.pbi.net (mta7.pltn13.pbi.net [64.164.98.8]) by xent.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id D90462940C9 for ; Sun, 8 Sep 2002 16:51:25 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [192.168.123.100] ([64.173.24.253]) by mta7.pltn13.pbi.net (iPlanet Messaging Server 5.1 (built May 7 2001)) with ESMTP id <0H250058U92AJ5@mta7.pltn13.pbi.net> for fork@xent.com; Sun, 08 Sep 2002 16:54:10 -0700 (PDT) From: James Rogers Subject: Re: whoa In-Reply-To: To: fork@example.com Message-Id: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit User-Agent: Microsoft-Entourage/9.0.1.3108 Sender: fork-admin@xent.com Errors-To: fork-admin@xent.com X-Beenthere: fork@example.com X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.11 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: Friends of Rohit Khare List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Date: Sun, 08 Sep 2002 16:54:09 -0700 X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-9.7 required=7.0 tests=AWL,EMAIL_ATTRIBUTION,INVALID_MSGID,IN_REP_TO, KNOWN_MAILING_LIST,QUOTED_EMAIL_TEXT,SPAM_PHRASE_00_01, USER_AGENT,USER_AGENT_ENTOURAGE version=2.50-cvs X-Spam-Level: On 9/8/02 3:16 PM, "Gary Lawrence Murphy" wrote: >>>>>> "J" == James Rogers writes: > > J> An example: Being able to model RF propagation in three > J> dimensions for a metro area when deploying wireless networks. > J> By having every single tree and building detail and similar, > J> you can "see" even tiny dead spots due to physical blockage and > J> signal attenuation. > > Hmmm, just as I thought. In other words, it has no practical uses > whatsoever ;) ... do the biz guys in your office /really/ think WISPs > are really going to shell out /their/ money to find a house or two > they can't reach? Experience suggests (a) they won't care and (b) > they will even sign up that errant house and then give them a > run-around blaming the dead-spot on "unsupported vendor equipment". Errrr....the biz guys in my office don't care what the "WISPs" want to do with their little WiFi networks. And the bandwidth shadows in most cities are surprisingly large and common. They aren't selling the software, which is pretty pricy as it happens. They are using it to optimize next generation wireless canopies over metro areas and fiber networks on a large scale. There are an essentially infinite number of metro wireless configurations, some of which generate far more dead or marginal spots and others which are very expensive to operate (due to backhaul transit considerations) or both. This software can be used as a tool to optimize the canopy coverage and minimize the actual transit costs since the wireless is tied into fiber at multiple points. The canopies we are talking about aren't short-range wifi technologies, but a mixture of long-range high-performance wireless networking, with bandwidth measured in tens to hundreds of mbits and ranges measured in miles (up to well over a hundred miles on the extreme end). At those ranges and bandwidth levels, the cost of providing the network can easily vary by an order of magnitude or more depending on how you manage RF shadows and proximity to fiber access points. The idea ultimately is to optimize the cost and performance such that no existing network infrastructure providers can remotely compete and maintain profitability. This is a surprisingly low bar, and it is about time networks were designed with this level of large-scale optimization (cost per mbit, maximizing coverage, and effective bandwidth available per unit area) in any case. And for this company's long-term plans, this type of capability will be absolutely necessary to keep things sane. Or at least investors find this capability very sexy and compelling, especially since we have this lovely visualization engine tied into the system (CLI batches never have the same effect, even if it is more efficient). -James Rogers jamesr@best.com