STRIX SYSTEMS’ ACCESS/ONE OUTDOOR WIRELESS SYSTEM DEPLOYED BY KOREA TELECOM FOR NESPOT WI-FI INTERNET SERVICE

Strix Solution Provides Seamless Mobile Internet Access for Leading Deployment at Hotel Resort Area


CALABASAS, Calif., July 24, 2007
Strix Systems, the leader in high-performance wireless mesh networking, today announced that KT Corp., the largest high-speed internet operator in Korea, is deploying Strix’s Access/One® Network Outdoor Wireless Systems (OWS).  The Strix wireless mesh network enables seamless mobile access to KT’s NESPOT Wi-Fi internet service; NESPOT integrates fixed-line and wireless services, offering wireless internet access to laptops, PDAs, and homes.  In this first wave of deployments, Strix distributor Broadwave, Inc., of Korea installed the Strix network in cooperation with its sales partner, Hyundai HDS, at the award-winning Westin Chosun Hotel Busan beachfront hotel in Busan, Korea. 

The Westin Chosun Hotel Busan, located in the tourist area of Haeundae Beach, is a venue for national and international events and functions that attracts visitors from Korea and abroad.  The hotel hosted the 2005 APEC Economic Leader’s Meeting and was selected as the home base for President George W. Bush and his contingent during the conference.

“The Strix OWS will help users enjoy seamless wireless internet access whether they are indoors or outdoors,” said Kim Leesu, NESPOT Business Team Manager at KT Corp.  “Starting from the beach hotel, we’ll deploy Strix wireless mesh networks in other hotels as well as in the nearby airport.”

KT selected Strix’s wireless mesh solution to extend the high-speed NESPOT service area beyond its current limits and to offer a variety of wireless network services such as VoIP, surveillance, and sensor applications throughout Busan’s Haeundae Beach area.  While high-speed wired internet access is already available indoors, the Strix OWS offers roaming and mobility that the wired internet cannot offer.  The OWS network at the Westin Chosun Hotel Busan enables hotel guests and visitors to access NESPOT service even when they are outdoors. KT will serve any shadow areas with Strix’s Access/One Network Edge Wireless System 150 (EWS 150), which provides a high-performance backhaul Wi-Fi connection to Strix’s OWS and Indoor Wireless Systems (IWS), enabling an end-to-end wireless experience and seamless inside/outside roaming.

“The Korean market has begun to be impressed with the seamless roaming, free mobility, and other benefits that mesh networks can offer,” said Henry Jung, Marketing Director, Broadwave.  “KT chose Strix because its performance and reliability have been proven worldwide, and we expect the installation at the Westin Chosun Hotel Busan will lead to the deployment of Strix mesh networks in other cities.”

Since launching the NESPOT service in February 2002, KT has deployed about 27,000 access points at 12,000 sites, including universities, banks, airports, and transportation terminals, and has gained more than 440,000 subscribers.  In addition to installing Strix OWS mesh networks at hotels, airports, and major metro areas such as Seoul, Incheon, and Dangjin that KT serves, Broadwave expects to install the Strix networks for many customers in factories, on islands, in coastal areas, and in any other areas that can benefit from a wireless mesh network.
The Strix Access/One OWS and IWS modular mesh products deliver the largest capacity (up to six radios and 768 users per node, three to six times the norm), highest throughput (five times the norm at 35 Mbps), and best scalability (users can add more radio boards or new technologies). An independent wireless mesh test, sponsored by Light Reading and completed in June 2006, found Strix’s OWS 2400-30 delivers the best throughput and capacity and the greatest scalability for voice applications and mobility/roaming.  Strix networks scale to 10 or more wireless hops with near-zero throughput loss and latency, enabling customers to deliver real-time applications with a minimum of wired connections for a given area, which reduces CapEx and OpEx.
Strix Systems is the worldwide leader in wireless mesh networking. Strix’s Access/One products are the industry’s only modular (chassis-based) mesh systems, delivering the largest capacity, highest throughput and best scalability.  This new generation of products provides the broadband mobility and reach to support voice, video, and data applications. Sold globally by a network of first-class distributors and integrators, Access/One solutions have been deployed in hundreds of networks worldwide, outdoor and indoor, for service providers, metros, public safety, government, energy, transportation, hospitality, education, enterprises, and residential markets. For more information about Strix Systems, please visit www.strixsystems.com .
KT Corp., Korea’s largest phone company, provides fixed-line telephone services, including local, domestic long-distance, and international long distance services; interconnection services to other telecommunications companies; and business and data communications services, including broadband internet access service, leased line services, and other internet-related services.  KT Corp. carries 94 percent of the country’s local fixed-line calls and half of all broadband connections.  The company also provides wireless local area network service under the brand name NESPOT, which integrates fixed-line and wireless services by offering wireless internet access to laptops, PDAs, and homes.  The company has deployed 12,000 antennas at hotels, universities, subways, airports, and other high-traffic areas across Korea that allow people to shop, play games, and swap video clips on their wireless devices.