BelAir architecture supporting virtual network links

BelAir Networks this week released the latest version of its wide-area Wi-Fi access gear, allowing for the first time multiple private and public links to same mesh Wi-Fi network.

BelAir’s architecture uses high-powered access points to blanket a building, a campus or other dense urban area with 802.11x coverage, providing pervading connectivity while still allowing a provider to handle multiple customers, both public and private. Its latest iteration of the equipment, the BelAir200 now supports not only these multi-sessions but adds rogue access point detection, new backhaul security features and more intuitive network management capabilities.

"We literally blast the building with radio waves on the outside until it’s bathed in Wi-Fi," said Phil Belanger, vice president of marketing. "But instead of just one Wi-Fi network, you can run multiple virtual networks on one set of hardware."

The mesh architecture uses the cylindrical BelAir200 to broadcast directional radio signals from several radio bays, and connects each cylinder back to the network hub using the upper 5.8 GHz unlicensed band, where a T-1 line or fast DSL connection provides the link to the Internet. The network identifies and authenticates individual groups of users, allowing several companies on the same network to connect their separate corporate LANs to virtual wireless LANs on the same Wi-Fi infrastructure, Belanger said.

In addition, the network provider can use the BelAir infrastructure as a public hotspot, shunting public users off to the public Internet while its business users are directed into their own private networks, Belanger said.