Drug Forfeitures Afford
Riviera Beach to Join Over a Dozen Cities Deploying MOTOMESH for City-Wide
Wireless Connectivity
Riviera Beach, FL – January 23, 2006 – Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today
announced general availability of MOTOMESH, its multi-radio, high performance
mesh networking system that delivers a total municipal wireless communications
solution. The system addresses the needs of public safety, public works and
public access in a single network by leveraging multiple radios in both
licensed and unlicensed frequency bands. Motorola also announced that the city
of Riviera Beach, FL has been added to the list of over a dozen municipalities
to deploy MOTOMESH as its metro-area wireless network.
The MOTOMESH™ multi-radio broadband solution, whose architecture supports up to
four radio networks in a single access point, enables complete municipal-wide
wireless connectivity. By combining radios in the unlicensed 2.4GHz and the
newly licensed 4.9GHz public safety spectrum in single network architecture,
MOTOMESH allows municipalities to provide WiFi access to public users,
license-free mobile broadband to public works users, and dedicated licensed
network connectivity and security to public safety users over a single network.
“By delivering state-of-the-art applications into the field, officers have the
resources they need to proactively reduce crime and serve the Riviera Beach community,”
said Riviera Beach Chief of Police Clarence Williams. “With MOTOMESH we have
the ability to expand the network to bring on other municipal agencies, as well
as provide residents, businesses and tourists with wireless internet access in
the future. This flexibility allows us to more efficiently address the needs of
our citizens while staying within our budget.”
Since MOTOMESH supports the newly licensed 4.9GHz public safety band in
addition to municipal WiFi, it can qualify for grants available through
homeland security funding, as well as other public safety related grants. The
Riviera Beach Police Department (RBPD) was able to utilize seized drug money to
purchase the MOTOMESH system and reduce the city’s dependence on low-speed
cellular data services. The new mesh system offers higher-speed connections and
is able to support the mission critical data and video needs of officers in the
field. For example, the MOTOMESH network allows RBPD officers to monitor
high-quality video feeds from cameras placed in heavy traffic and high-crime
areas. Officers also now have mobile broadband access to county criminal
justice databases, Amber Alerts, and the county mug shot and fingerprint system
(CAL-ID).
The MOTOMESH system also allows RBPD officers and other first responders to
better prepare and react to hurricanes and other disasters. In addition, the
RBPD plans to form a partnership with local officials from the Department of
Homeland Security and the Port of Palm Beach to achieve an entire metro-area deployment
of Motorola’s mesh technology.
“Riviera Beach’s creative approach to funding and deploying a mesh-enabled
video and data system demonstrates the forward thinking that is needed to keep
our communities safe and secure,” said Richard Licursi, Vice President of
Motorola’s Mesh Networks Product Group. “Motorola is excited to provide Riviera
Beach with the tools it needs to achieve seamless mobility for mission critical
and community critical broadband access.”
A Technical View Of MOTOMESH
Every MOTOMESH access point contains two
standards-based 802.11 (WiFi) radios and two of Motorola's widely acclaimed
Mesh Enabled Architecture (MEA®) mobile broadband radios. One set of WiFi and
MEA radios operate in the unlicensed 2.4GHz band, and one set operates in the
licensed 4.9GHz public safety band. This minimizes potential interference
between first responders and public WiFi users and enhances the security of
mission critical communications. Many competing solutions rely on “virtual
private networking,” which means municipal workers, first responders and the
public have to compete with each other for bandwidth and access over an
unlicensed WiFi network. MOTOMESH allows municipalities to serve diverse
communities of interest without the risk of public WiFi users interfering with
Public Safety users.
Users equipped with MEA radios can also form wireless broadband networks
directly between themselves, by leveraging MEA’s client meshing capabilities
that enable instant tactical networks to be formed on demand. Users do not have
to set-up or pre-engineer these instant networks since the mesh is self-forming
and self-healing. In addition, Motorola’s unique Multi-Hopping® technology
turns each user into a router/repeater, allowing them to hop through other
users to reach MOTOMESH access points. As a result, every user makes the
network stronger - extending network coverage and creating more data paths
through the network. As with all MEA radio based systems, fast and accurate
tracking capabilities are available without the use of GPS satellites. This
feature can improve asset deployment and management around the city or at an
incident. Together, Motorola’s one of a kind Multi-Hopping, client meshing and
inherent position location capabilities offer a complete incident
communications solution, anytime and anywhere.
About Motorola Mesh Networks Product Group
Motorola’s mesh networking technology was originally developed for the military
battlefield in order to provide instant, ad-hoc communication networks where
fixed infrastructure was not available or deployable. As a result, users
receive a robust mobile broadband communications network that is self-forming
and self-healing. The technology is capable of delivering seamless broadband
data connections and real-time video transfers to vehicles moving at highways
speeds. Motorola’s unique Multi-Hopping® technology turns every mesh-enabled
user into a router/repeater, so every user makes the network stronger. It also
allows users to hop through each other and form instant ad hoc peer-to-peer
networks among themselves, anytime, anywhere. The system also features fast and
accurate tracking capabilities without relying on GPS equipment or satellites.
Source: Motorola press release
