Telecom NZ Picks RoamAD

AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- Telecom New Zealand, the largest integrated telecommunications provider in New Zealand, and RoamAD, the leading supplier of carrier-grade wireless networking software for citywide Wi-Fi networks, today announced that Telecom has selected RoamAD’s platform to roll-out a campus-wide Wi-Fi mesh network at Southland Institute of Technology (SIT).

All students, faculty, and visitors to SIT will soon be able to access the Internet and roam around campus with any Wi-Fi enabled laptop, PDA or the new dual-mode Wi-Fi/3G mobile phones, thanks to Telecom’s move to cover most of the campus with a Wi-Fi mesh network.

“SIT is always looking for ways to enhance the campus for students and for its faculty staff. The new network will complement our existing technology while providing another option for how people connect to the Internet and where they work,” SIT IT Co-ordinator Paul Jennings said.

The SIT Wi-Fi mesh hotzone will form part of Telecom’s growing nationwide network of more than 250 wireless hotspots and will be created using RoamAD’s leading-edge software platform.

“After assessing the available mesh networking solutions against Telecom’s carrier-grade criteria, we settled on RoamAD’s feature rich, standards based, remotely upgradeable platform,” said Telecom WiFi Innovation Manager Kriv Naicker.

“There are a lot of mesh vendors out there and RoamAD is one of our platforms of choice as we work towards convergence. RoamAD also has a very clear WiMAX roadmap, which is also important to Telecom.”

Telecom will work with Gen-i and HP to roll-out and integrate the mesh network.

Colin Henderson, Director of HP New Zealand Communications, Media and Entertainment practice confirmed that HP was pleased to extend its partnership with Telecom in support of their mesh network initiative with RoamAD.

“This incorporates HP’s developed payment solution for WiFi networks, mesh networks and WiMAX solutions such as that to be deployed at SIT” he said.

“Convergence is on our doorstep. It is pleasing to see Telecom at the forefront of New Zealand’s mobile data market deploying campus-wide mesh networks that will complement and converge with the mobile networks,” said Martyn Levy, RoamAD’s VP Business Development.

RoamAD