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Until very recently, wireless systems have largely operated within the standard 2.4 and 5.8 GHZ frequency bands. With this ubiquity has come tremendous quality, speed and interference issues typically associated with overcrowding. Today, home networks, wireless cafes, office buildings and the like are suffering from pirated signals, spotty reception and challenges with signal interference. Although still relatively new in its adoption, the emergence of the 60 GHZ wireless band is gaining prominence across much of the United States and Canada. This license-free frequency is open for use by anyone with wireless receivers capable of transmitting the high-end frequency.

Furthermore, the 60 GHZ frequency band has many unique characteristics that afford a multitude of benefits over traditional lower-end frequencies in use today. These include:

A.SECURITY: It is virtually impossible to pirate or highjack a signal because the beam itself is so extremely narrow (an average of one degree in width). In order to do so, someone would have to be directly in line with the one-degree beam and would also need to know the mac address of the receiving radio.

B.QUALITY: The 60 GHZ signal range has a very high oxygen absorption rate, which keeps the signal closely contained and free from external interference. This also enables collocation of signals in close proximity to one another.

C.SPEED: This frequency offers very high data throughput levels at a fiber-performance rate up to 2.25 GPS using a point-to-point link, covering almost five miles. This makes it a viable solution for businesses with large bandwidth needs such as engineering companies, design firms, advertising agencies, etc.

D.CONTROL: system management using SNMP allows an administrator to review real time statistics of the wireless radio and be quickly notified if a network problem arises.

E.RELIABILITY: The FCC allocated 7 GHZ of spectrum at the 60 GHZ range which is the most ever allotted and far greater in bandwidth than the 0.5 GHZ of spectrum afforded between 2-6 GHZ (used largely today for wifi, etc.)

F.LICENSE-FREE: Since the 60 GHZ range is unlicensed, companies dont have to purchase an expensive federal license to be able to deploy wireless links.

While there arent any home-based or WiFi-compliant products available in the 60 GHZ band for the consumer market today, there are many equipment providers offering 60 GHZ wireless equipment for the business sector. Like wifi and 802.11, the 60 GHZ band is already becoming the next big thing in wireless networking.

If you are considering a 60 GHZ wireless solution, be sure to select an equipment provider and system installer that has a history of providing quality products and services at an affordable price.

Steve White
Senior Engineer
WirelessGuys
http://www.wirelessguys.com