NexGen City has developed technology to allow IEEE Standard 802.xx (both WiMax and WiFi) communications on its NexLink Network. This gives municipal workers the option of using either the company's NexCard wireless interface product in a highly mobile environment or a standard 802.xx card in a low-speed nomadic scenario.
The 802.xx bridge product, a single unit housed within a NexLink wireless router or access gateway, enables 802.11 a, b, and g nodes to communicate with the NexLink node and then utilize the NexLink Network as the wireless backhaul for that communications traffic. Testing is well underway. Availability of production units is planned for the fourth quarter of 2004.
The 802.xx product addition gives municipalities options not readily available in the past with such a network. The NexCard interface functionality delivers broadband connections to both municipal and public safety wireless users while traveling at moderate to high speeds. Additionally, cities and counties can now offer both households and businesses Internet access in an 802.xx environment, ubiquitously, across the city. This enhances the effectiveness and breadth of the network and increases its value to cities as a return on their investment.
The new 802.xx capability is yet another product that continues to enhance and round out NexGen City NexLink products including: the NexPaq handheld communicator, the NexCard wireless interface for laptops, and the fixed NexLink intelligent wireless routers and access gateways. Within a NexLink network, both mobile and fixed infrastructure devices are "network nodes" acting as repeaters and routers. This creates a self-forming and self-healing network with ad hoc peer-to-peer networking capabilities.