SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A high-speed
wireless networking technology that's
still being tested around the world will
be deployed at an evacuation shelter and
other spots on the U.S. Gulf Coast hit
by Hurricane Katrina.
The
technology called WiMax will bring the
Internet to remote areas where the
existing infrastructure has been
destroyed or never existed. The network
will be used for Internet telephone
service and information exchange.
Intel Corp., a major WiMax supporter and
maker of chips, shipped equipment
Thursday to San Antonio's decommissioned
Kelly Air Force Base where thousands of
evacuees are being taken. The gear is
expected to arrive on Friday.
A group of wireless Internet providers
called Part-15.org is working with the
Federal Communications Commission and
the Federal Emergency Management Agency
to deploy Wi-Fi hotspots at the shelter
and areas hit by the storm.
But those hotspots need to connect to
the wider Internet to be most useful _
and that's where WiMax comes into play,
said Nigel Ballard, a manager with
Intel's state and local government unit.
"They were missing a very vital _ and
some would say expensive _ piece of the
jigsaw, and that's the ability to put up
a wireless solution to actually get the
signal in and out of a fairly
substantial Air Force base," he said.
The WiMax equipment will be able to
handle carry signals about 15 miles to
what's known as a Point of Presence on
the Internet. The bandwidth both
upstream and downstream is expected to
be about 45 megabits per second _ 30
times the speed of a standard 1.5
megabit per second DSL connection.
Similar efforts involving WiMax are
underway in the disaster area as well,
and Intel has donated equipment for use
in other parts of the Gulf Coast.
WiMax, short for Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave Access,
has been mentioned as a possible
alternative to cable modem and Digital
Subscriber Line services offered by
cable and telephone companies. It's also
touted as a tool to connect emerging
markets to the Internet.
But its potential in the United States
has been clouded by spectrum questions.
The 3.5-gigahertz band that's being used
in tests elsewhere has been reserved for
the military in the U.S. In addition, no
WiMax equipment has been certified for
compliance with the WiMax standard that
was set just last year.
For the disaster recovery, the airwaves
are not a problem, Ballard said. The
Federal Communications Commission
granted an emergency license for the
spectrum use on Thursday.
___
On the Net:
Part-15.org:
http://www.part-15.org/emergencyrelief/katrina.html
