Wireless Aid
Red Herring reports on efforts to restore (and improve?) telecom infrastructure in the tsunami zone. An excerpt:
As reports of the tsunami death toll seem to double daily - the latest count exceeded 120,000 - the demand for communications rises almost as fast as the need for food and water. But where wires have washed away, wireless broadband can bring crucial communications for disaster relief, and a variety of companies are gearing up to offer wireless aid.
This week Cisco Systems announced just such an effort. Working with the NetHope consortium, an alliance of companies and relief organizations, Cisco plans to make NetRelief Kits for the devastated South Asian regions. The kits create an easy-to-use wireless connection with core access coming from satellite company Inmarsat. The kits were created specifically for real-time disaster management and NetHope is currently trying to determine the best locations for deployment.
"A satellite signal is particularly useful in a desperate situation," says Julie Ask, a senior analyst with Jupiter Research. Ms. Ask says that using a satellite signal to create a core to a wireless network, and then deploying wi-fi access or extending the range through a mesh network, would be an ideal way to get information infrastructure to residents and first responders. Users could access the wi-fi connection for VoIP or data services, and because of the high bandwidth, the network could move data-rich content like maps of the terrain, schematics of buildings, or satellite photos of the landscape.