Vivato Switch

[agent007]

Has anyone in this forum actually seen the Vivato switch in action? I'm looking for opinions, weaknesses, etc. Just what can that thing punch holes thru??

And does anyone know when the outdoor version will be available??

Questions.....questions..

[jsicuran]

I have seen the web site and I tried to get in contact with them to be a beta tester. I have submitted several technical quesitons in regards to gain and receiver sensitivity. The product is very interesting and if an outdoor version is coming they could redefine the WISP market. I am still playing phone tag with a rep. so as soon as I get any additional information I will pass it on..

Regards..

/JS

[Vanishes]

The Vivato switch is a very interesting product, very high end and complicated, but with great rewards. It retails around $9,000 and first delivery will be around mid May.

I'm currently working with a mall on a child tracking system, and instead of purchasing 14 APs, I sought to buy four Vivato switches to completely immerse the mall with coverage, from one end to the other (the switches will be located at each end of the mall, in the parking lot facing the mall). Furthermore, with its 100 degree field of view and its 25 dBi of gain, coverage is very adequate and at a full 11mbps. It can also penetrate several concrete walls, to reach the mall's lower floors.

This way, not only will the child tracking system become more accurate, but I can also track the children's whereabouts out to the parking lot. Also this gives the mall and its visitors an instant hotspot. Of course, this only advocates more spending because students can come and study, leisure readers will have several cups of coffee, and it’s a great idea as a selling tool.

Now we have the problem of Wardriving and physical damage. The Vivato switch is very robust and secure using TKIP authentication, of course we yet to find out how secure TKIP really is. It can handle temperatures from 32 - 122 F and humidity 10 - 90%. Using casing is a sure solution to combat bad weather. If it’s out of hands way then it’s out of harms way, to an extent.

As this project adheres to its life cycle, I will update periodically.

[dastormy1]

what 802.11 tracking client will the children have on them? I'm looking for something like that for a different application I'm thinking of ...

[NewBWiFiGuy]

It's too bad the Vivato switch is going to be so expensive. I reallly need a solution where I can have a single major hub pointing highly focused spot beams to cover large areas using a diverse antenna system. $10,000 is the budget for my entire initial system.

I hope someone comes out with an open antenna diverse switch system. It could certainly save me a ton of money for my long range zone sites.

agent007 take a look at my Product Request for a WiFi switch (http://forums.80211-planet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1047) thread..

[Jim Vadino]

Vanishes,

The mall idea sounds very interesting. I have conducted extensive testing in the mall environment, but never from the outside.

I have completed design work for GGP and Simon and would love the opportunity to speak with yo more about this subject, if I may?

Thanks.

[darold]

I work for a very large computer consulting firm and I have seen the Vivato switch in action. Very nice!

[Vanishes]

Dastormy1 -+- I contracted an engineering company to construct my wireless tags; they are about the size of a business card, and 3/8 of an inch thick. Also, they are very light weight, rugged, waterproof and tamper proof. If the kid/kidnapper would try to take it off, the tamper proof switch would immediately alert security and the parent figure. It cost around 45k for the r&t, and $97 per tag.

Jim Vadino -+- When you say "extensive testing in the mall environment,” do you mean RF site surveying, installing AP's or just schemas in general? My email is Vanishes@hotmail.com; please feel free to contact me.

NewBWiFiGuy -+- The switches are expensive, but its truly cost over value, instead of installing 14 AP's or more, having to use expensive equipment and the extra man hours; the Vivato switch will make it much easier, since you need to install only a maximum of 3 switches to get unique coverage and is very scalable. Also, they do have a range of 6miles, and an adequate span of 100 degrees. More on this switch here (http://www.vivato.net/download/Indoor switch 2.03-01 PDF.pdf).

This project is starting on June 1st; we will have the 4 Vivato switches delivered to us May 1st. They will be incased in rugged, waterproof casings, and have custom, pole mountable latches. I will be running Rip2 on the back haul for failover redundancy and a LRP Linux firewall (more on this firewall here http://lrp.steinkuehler.net/).

[jsicuran]

This project is starting on June 1st; we will have the 4 Vivato switches delivered to us May 1st. They will be incased in rugged, waterproof casings, and have custom, pole mountable latches. I will be running Rip2 on the back haul for failover redundancy and a LRP Linux firewall (more on this firewall here http://lrp.steinkuehler.net/).

Sounds cool, please let us know how you make out. As for the Rip2 portion are you using Cisco routers or does RIP run on the Vivato? If you are using Cisco you can adjust the protocol’s timers for quicker convergence and or use neighbor commands. I am not sure if the Vivato runs RIP but if it does see if its timers can be tuned to match that of your routers. Also see if you can use HSRP.

I built a couple of Linux firewalls using ipchains and open source tripwire a couple of years ago. Works great. Iptables looks good also.

Thanks for the post and good luck...

/JS

[NewBWiFiGuy]

Vanishes RE: NewBWiFiGuy -+- The switches are expensive, but its truly cost over value, instead of installing 14 AP's or more, having..........

Maintenance wise you are correct, it means less units to manage. But for that $9000, I can get 18 acess points, with 1 watt amps, antennas, and cables/connectors. Take out the amp and I've got 35+ AP kits. (based: $140AP $200amp $100cables/connectors $50anteanna). Yes, there are many other issues I'm missing. I was just making an example. If they come out with an outdoor unit, that is low cost, and can do the six miles it might make sense for me. Otherwise I have to use multiple radios with directional dishes separated apart enough so they don't interfear with each other. The dishes can make it 10-30 miles to a customer with a external antenna. 50 miles for a fixed wireless user with a dish on their roof.

I'd still rather see an access point with 4-12 diversity antenna outputs or a WiFi switch. But I wish Vivato the best, and they can count me in as a customer if they can bring their price down to $1000-$1500. I wonder if mass production and unit sales would enable them to eventually drop down into this range. I am sure they can charge $9000 right now because of the initial demand.

[agent007]

This project is starting on June 1st; we will have the 4 Vivato switches delivered to us May 1st. They will be incased in rugged, waterproof casings, and have custom, pole mountable latches. I will be running Rip2 on the back haul for failover redundancy and a LRP Linux firewall (more on this firewall here http://lrp.steinkuehler.net/).

Where are the switches going to be deployed???

[agent007]

Vanishes, if you haven't already, take a look at: Wherenet.com

They market a solution for "locating, tracking and providing status information on mobile assets" in logistics and warehousing. I've never referred to my child as a mobile asset before, but hey, if the shoe fits. Perhaps some adaptation of their product could fit your requirements, or you could just get some good info from them. Good luck.