Monday, July 10, 2006

SkyPilot Raises $21 Million for Wireless Mesh

SkyPilot Networks, a start-up based in Santa Clara, California, announced a $21 million round of funding for its carrier-class broadband wireless mesh networking solutions. The SkyPilot solution utilizes a patent-pending synchronous mesh architecture with high-speed switched directional antenna arrays that extends reach, mitigates interference, and maximizes spectral reuse. The company says it has over 15,000 units shipped to more than 200 customers in 40 countries.



SkyPilot said it would use the funds to continue to expand sales, marketing, engineering and customer service efforts for its growing customer base.



August Capital led the financing. Current investors joining August in the round include Mobius Venture Capital, INVESCO Private Capital, Palo Alto Investors, Nexit Ventures and Selby Venture Partners. With this investment, SkyPilot's funding since inception now totals $68 million.




http://www.skypilot.com











Redefining
Broadband Wireless Economics through Synchronous Mesh Networking
Mesh
networking provides a completely new way of looking at wireless networking
economics. Mesh networks can address the two major areas of cost for
traditional point-to-multipoint topologies. First, mesh networks can use
wire

Wireless backhaul to
minimize the expense of leased facilities and eliminate trenching. Second,
mesh base stations are a fraction of the cost of macro-cell base stations,
which makes extending coverage out to suburban and rural areas incremental
and profitable.