Aironet Wi-Fi Networks Bridging Technology Divide in Europe

March 27, 2003

By Charles Waltner, News@Cisco

Cisco's Aironet wireless networking technology is helping to expand the Internet's reach to all corners within Europe.

Whether it's an inner city neighborhood in England or a remote mountain village in Spain, technologically disadvantaged communities across Europe are gaining broadband Internet access thanks to wireless networking.

All these communities are part of the "have-nots' of the Internet revolution. They are either too far way, have too few people, or are too poor to get the fiber connections they need to boost education, business and community activities through the power of multimedia communications over the global Internet.

Cisco's Aironet wireless networking equipment, however, is playing a key role in helping these communities take their digital destiny into their own hands by helping them build their own broadband access. Wireless--or "Wi-Fi"--local area networks (WLANs) powered by Cisco's Aironet equipment are bringing affordable and easily deployed broadband access to nearly a dozen communities across Europe.

In the UK, Cisco's Aironet wireless technology is helping enable districts such as those in the Greater Manchester area, some of which have high-unemployment and average incomes below the UK norm, bypass what would have been a very long wait for fixed-line broadband service. The area, with over 400,000 inhabitants is not generally serviced by traditional broadband service providers. But in a project funded by various agencies, including the British government and the European Union, Manchester is using wireless technology to bring broadband Internet access and a chance for economic renewal to East Manchester. It's a case of Wi-Fi technology delivering the Internet to those most in need of its benefits.

The project, dubbed EastServe and costing over $3 million, will be the largest wireless LAN deployment in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in the world. Though the ambitious project is not cheap, wireless technology is far more affordable than alternative terrestrial infrastructure options.

"The local authorities could have spent up to three times as much to set up DSL (digital subscriber line) in all the homes, but then they would have also faced much higher capital costs compared to the ease and simplicity of managing a wireless LAN," says Alan Salisbury, a consultant with Gaia Technologies, the project's manager.

Thanks to the low deployment and management costs of the wireless network, along with some subsidization, East Manchester residents can have full Internet access for about $20 a month. Given the economic conditions in the area, low-cost access is a crucial component of the EastServe project.

Wi-Fi technology is also providing the people of East Manchester affordable broadband access without sacrificing performance. Cisco Aironet 802.11b-based wireless equipment delivers bandwidth that is equal to or better than that offered by DSL or cable modems. 802.11b signals can run at up to 11 megabits per second (Mbps), but because the links are shared, each user typically gets several hundred kilobits per second (Kbps), still faster than the 100-200 Kbps typical of DSL.

EastServe has already linked 27 local schools and community centers over a 5-square-mile area. Over the next six months, Gaia will build wireless links to homes and businesses in the various East Manchester neighborhoods. Gaia has already connected 350 of those homes and plans to reach over 1,200 by mid-summer. The project could potentially rollout to all 15,000 homes in East Manchester.

The EastServe wireless network operates through a series of antennas much like mobile phone networks. The antennas, connected to Cisco Aironet access points and bridges, broadcast radio signals up to a mile away. End users pick up the signals with antennas connected to a building or home. Each user needs a wireless receiver on their computer to complete the link.

Salisbury also notes that wireless technology lets the local council control the Internet service, thereby helping to ensure it is designed best for the community's needs. By being in charge of the network, the council can not only put the subscription revenues back into the community, but also provide local residents with valuable IT skills training and employment to run the network.

The EastServe wireless network is also proving far faster and easier to deploy than fixed-line Internet services.

"Wireless lends itself quite well to the terrain," Salisbury says. "We don't have to go through the expense and hassle tearing up streets to lay fiber."

But 802.11b wireless technology is not just proving a viable broadband option in the inner city but also in rural towns far away from the nearest fiber optic line. Though denied broadband access because of geography, these remote villages need broadband links for the same economic and development reasons as inner city neighborhoods such as those in Manchester.

The small, post-card pastoral town of Somiedo in Spain's Asturias region is a prime example of how wireless broadband networks are democratizing high-speed access. Somiedo, a town of 1,600 people, is one of two communities chosen for trials by Neo-Sky, a Spanish broadband service provider, which was given a contract to supply high-speed Internet connectivity to rural communities in the country. The experience in Somiedo could prove a model for more than 8,000 rural areas in Spain that today have little or no broadband access.

Somiedo is so remote that it must get its Internet backbone connection via satellite. From there, a network of Cisco Aironet 350 Series wireless access points creates a broadband wireless network to the city hall, businesses, and residents.

The new wireless network lets citizens and students access the outside world through email and the Net. Local businesses such as hotels can now affordably run Web sites advertising their services to tourists. And the area's farmers can link to governmental sites to access agricultural regulations and electronically register livestock.

As in other communities now benefiting from broadband wireless LANs, the inhabitants and businesses in Somiedo are not wealthy, making cost a key factor in Internet access. Again, Wi-Fi technology's low deployment costs and easy management are making all the difference.

"People shouldn't be punished for living in rural areas," says Rafael Perez, manager for area sales with Cisco in Spain.

Certainly, the citizens of Somiedo are glad Cisco broadband wireless technology is helping them avoid that fate.

"The Cisco wireless technology and the broadband Internet access it enables has changed our lives for the better," says Somiedo's Mayor Belarmino Fernandez.

Charles Waltner is a freelance writer based in northern California.