Nortel and the other members of the Wi-Mesh Alliance are working together to help standardize mesh wireless local area networks (WLAN) around the world to promote interoperability of a wide range of wireless communication devices and services. As a result of extensive technical collaboration with its partners, the Wi-Mesh Alliance has presented its proposal for a new global mesh WLAN standard to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE) 802.11 Task Group S (TGs). The Wi-Mesh Alliance is a group of companies with a common view toward rapidly achieving a mesh WLAN standard that will enable seamless communications for wireless users regardless of equipment vendor. The Wi-Mesh Alliance proposal was developed under the guidelines of the IEEE Standards Association. It builds on existing and pending 802.11 protocols to maximize technology re-use and compatibility. The Alliance is a diverse set of industry leaders, including Accton Technology Corporation, ComNets RWTH Aachen University, InterDigital Communications Corporation, NextHop Technologies Inc, Nortel, Thomson (NYSE: TMS), and others. The Wi-Mesh Alliance proposal's design intent is to be extensible with the future 802.11n high throughput amendment. This approach will provide support for the existing worldwide Wi-Fi network installed base, while extending Wi-Fi network deployments within designated radio frequency (RF) spectrum.
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