WSN Update

(Wi-FiPlanet.com) - When it comes to introducing 802.15.4 into the marketplace, wireless mesh provider Dust Networks is taking what company executives say will prove to be the easy way.

While others are pushing for consumer adoption of the wireless standard, Dust is targeting the commercial and industrial sectors, where its executives say adoption is likely to come first.

Commercial users have the most to gain from 802.15.4 right now, says Dust's Vice President of Marketing, Rob Conant. In offices and warehouses, engineers are rigging sensors to track motion, temperature, lighting, pressure and other factors, but these are costly deployments. "People are putting these sensor networks out there in the world, but it takes a lot of labor," Conant says. "You have a $10 sensor, and it costs you $400 to install it in a building."

To address the problem, Dust this spring added 802.15.4-compliant radio hardware to its SmartMesh wireless sensor networking product line, in a further effort to target large-scale commercial users worldwide.

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