Fluidmesh Unveils VOLO

• Apr 01, 2013

Fluidmesh Networks, a solution provider of wireless backhauling systems for security, industrial, and mission-critical applications, is pleased to announce the release of their newest radio offering - the FM1200 VOLO.

"This is the latest generation of Fluidmesh radios engineered for outdoor, wireless, IP backhauling, the result of a decade of ground-breaking research in wireless communication," said Cosimo Malesci, co-founder and vice president of marketing for Fluidmesh. "We have worked hard to deliver the most powerful wireless radio in the market, and we are glad to be able to share this amazing result with the industry. We dream of a world where every data packet will travel across wireless and where fiber will be only needed to keep your diet healthy."

The FM 1200 VOLO is a 2x2 MIMO-based (Multiple Inputs Multiple Outputs), wireless radio designed for backhauling mission-critical video, voice and data. With a fully redesigned hardware platform, FM1200 VOLO is a data processing powerhouse that's intuitive and easy to deploy. With 30 degrees beam width and 16.5 dBi antenna, the FM1200 VOLO combines ease of alignment and high gain.

The FM 1200 VOLO embeds the first, revolutionary, MPLS-based, wireless, switching engine: Prodigy 2.0.

Prodigy 2.0 has been written from the ground up and represents a paradigm shift in the whole wireless mesh industry. The packets are no longer routed from a source to a destination using slow, old-style, routing algorithms. Rather MPLS tunnels are pre-installed at the network bootstrap and packets are switched within the MPLS tunnels at an extremely fast speed. Prodigy 2.0 is twice as fast as its predecessor, Prodigy 1.0, with a mind-blowing, 0.4 ms per-hop latency and more than double packet switching capability (Benchmarks are based on the same VOLO hardware.) Together with dramatically increased performance, Prodigy 2.0 liberates a new wide spectrum of networking capabilities and features that were simply not possible in the past.

FM 1200 VOLO supports new features:

• The new Fluidmesh mobility framework, Fluidity, is based on Prodigy 2.0 to offer broadband connectivity in high-speed mobile environments. Now, a connection of up to 100 Mbps to vehicles travelling at up to 200mph/320Kmh speeds is just a few radios away. This is achieved by exploiting the unique feature of the Prodigy 2.0 MPLS-based engine to create and pre-install virtual tunnels prior to any network operation. When a mobile unit handoffs from one point of access to another, the network does not need to be reconfigured, thus leading to a new industry reference handoff time of 3ms.


• VIRTUAL GIGABIT, the 100 Mb/s limitation of the Ethernet port is now eliminated by aggregating the 2 Ethernet ports of the VOLO as a single, virtual, Gigabit interface. Prodigy 2.0 introduces the possibility to reach 180 Mb/s of real throughput on a wireless link through a simple software plugin and without the need of additional hardware equipment.


• BAZOOKA extends the virtual Gigabit features across multiple point-to-point links. Multiple point-to-point links can be aggregated to form a single, super high-speed link with capacity of hundreds of Mbps, with no additional hardware equipment.


• ADVANCED QoS, the new quality of service framework available with Prodigy 2.0, brings all the benefits of an MPLS-cabled network to the wireless mesh. Fine-grained traffic prioritization based on parameters like source and destination IP and protocol type is now possible. Prodigy 2.0 now natively supports VLANs and VPN. Traffic engineering and fast-rerouting are built-in.

For fast and low-cost servicing, the option is now available to wirelessly connect to the FM1200 VOLO via a secure WiFi 802.11n hotspot built-in with the standard mesh, point-to-point and point-to-multipoint operation. The Service Set Identifier (SSID) is hidden by default and password protected with AES encryption. Say goodbye to getting up on the pole.

The small form factor of the FM1200 VOLO is designed for low visual impact and easy installation. The two-cord, watertight, cable gland and the NPT-1 threaded bottom enable the running of outdoor CAT5/6 shielded cables or conduit directly to it, making FM1200 VOLO one of the smallest, rugged, IP66-rated, wireless device in the industry. The visible LEDs convey the LAN activity and signal strength, while the low-power POE injector comes supplied and guarantees an easy setup.

"Making FM1200 VOLO an industry-grade, rugged, IP66-rated device did not stop Fluidmesh from creating the most aesthetically pleasant device in the industry," Malesci added. "The FM1200 VOLO design has been inspired by the natural habitat the radios are meant to be deployed in, which are high points in urban and countryside environments. At Fluidmesh, we thought how nice it would be to build a radio that could fit that installation environment. FM1200 VOLO is the first and only bird-shaped radio in the industry."

For more information, please visit www.fluidmesh.com.