News

Solectek Courts ISPs With New Products

Privately held Solectek Corp. introduces three new Wi-Fi products here at 802.11 Planet Conference & Expo in Boston this week.

by Colin C. Haley of boston.internet.com [June 26, 2003]

BOSTON—Privately held Solectek Corp. is introducing three new Wi-Fi products here at the 802.11 Planet Conference & Expo in Boston this week.

The first two—the CL550 802.11b client-bridge/router and the Skyway 5000 Series—are aimed at Internet service providers.

"The 550 extends the wireless (local area networks) to previously unreachable remote locations," said Dan Sparks, a spokesman for the San Diego firm. "We think this is going to be a very popular item."

In addition to range, the company said the 550 has excellent throughput. The product sells for $375, not including an outdoor antenna. Its first customer shipment was last week to an overseas telecom carrier.

The Skyway 5000 Series can extend the 5.8 GHz range to new levels, which is important in multipoint networks. The company plans to build a line of 5.8 products to complement its current 2.4 GHz offerings.

And for the original equipment manufactuer market, Soectek, is rolling out its Booster 5000 Outdoor Amplifier, an 802.11a compliant outdoor power amplifier.

The gear is designed for applications that need to be outdoors or for improving throughput in hard-to-cover indoor layouts.

Solectek was founded in 1989 and employs about 25 people. The company has always been engineering-focused, passing on marketing to invest in research and development, Sparks said.

The firm, however, is looking to partner with a large U.S. service provider such as SBC or Verizon, which are both advancing large public Wi-Fi deployments. Many of its current deals are with overseas carriers.

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