Littlefeet Unveils Low-Cost Wireless SPICE Products

Littlefeet Inc. rolled out its SPICE (small-profile intelligent coverage/capacity element) network products, which the company hopes will become the next generation of wireless technology.

"We believe our position in life is to make wireless complete and overtake wire-line services," said Malcolm Wood, chief executive and president of Littlefeet, based here.

SPICE products are an alternative to traditional wireless towers and antennae, incorporating clustering technology to provide the same or better coverage as current technology. It takes between three and eight SPICE units to get the same coverage as three cells, at a much lower cost than that of wireless antennae or towers, Wood said.

"These units can be mounted on telephone poles using a public right-of-way access franchise," Wood said. The units derive their power from the photoelectric cells that sit on top of the light sources attached to the pole. Because they are about the size of a small skateboard, the units are unobtrusive, he said.

Because of the small footprint, the cost of installation is nominal compared with traditional wireless transmission methods, Wood said.

"We lease the [telephone] pole for $60 a year, installation of the units costs between $30 and $100, and electricity costs about $35. A company could roll out a SPICE unit fully installed for about $200," Wood said. "You can't do that with a tower."

In an average network, the SPICE units would be spaced out about 500 meters from each other, although with a directional antenna, one SPICE unit could provide coverage up to 12 miles, Wood said.

The SPICE units can carry both voice and data over the wireless network and can be used with any wireless device, including mobile phones, PDAs and wireless modems. "The units are completely agnostic as far as frequency; as long as the device uses a radio wave, it can be used with the SPICE units," Wood said.

Clustering technology is not new in the networking arena, but it has been used mainly with servers to prevent LAN or WAN outages. Littlefeet is the first company to use the clustering technology for wireless applications.

Littlefeet's initial target market is metropolitan areas, said Dan Huslig, vice president of engineering at the company. However, the SPICE system is also applicable to more-rural areas, he said.

"Rural areas are not as congested with clutter in the air,there isn't the signal-to-noise problem that metro areas have,so the SPICE units can be spaced one to three kilometers apart," Huslig said. The units also would need a higher-power source, he said.

The SPICE networking system is currently being used in the Powai Valley area outside of San Diego, an 8-mile-by-5-mile area covered by eight SPICE units. The network handles about 1,000 calls a day, Wood said.

The company initially set its sights on the service provider market, working out business relationships with network operators in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. The next logical step for Littlefeet is to work with network integrators and solution providers in the enterprise market, Wood said.

For more wireless news, go to: www.crn.com/enterprise