Thales selects BelAir Networks Wi-Fi for Bergen Light Rail Project

Thales has selected BelAir Networks for both onboard and trackside Wi-Fi infrastructure for mass transit deployments, including the Bergen Light Rail project in Norway. BelAir Networks is the global market share leader in mesh Wi-Fi for the last eight quarters and is the Wi-Fi equipment provider to North America's largest Wi-Fi networks. The new Bergen Light Rail project, which will serve 380,000 citizens in Norway's second largest city, is slated to launch in 2010.

For the Bergen
Light Rail project, Thales is supplying and integrating rail signalling,
telecommunications, passenger information, traffic priority and traffic control
and supervision systems. The Wi-Fi network consists of 40 BelAir100 nodes along
the 12-kilometer (7.5-mile)
tram network and 24 BelAir20M mobile access points installed in the initial 12
train cars.

Testing completed
earlier this year in Portugal, Berlin and Bergen confirmed high-performance
connectivity at high-speed and contiguous coverage through tunnels. The BelAir20M also
underwent extensive vibration, shock and bump testing to meet the demanding
regulatory requirements for railway installations. The BelAir20M is mounted on
the ceiling or interior wall of the train car providing 802.11 n/b/g Wi-Fi
access for iPhones^TM and other smartphones, laptops, netbooks, game
consoles and other Wi-Fi enabled devices. Traffic from onboard devices is
backhauled from the second radio of the BelAir20M to the BelAir100 trackside
infrastructure.

"We are proud to
have earned the opportunity to work with Thales on mass transit deployments
including the Bergen Light Rail project," said Bernard Herscovich, president
and CEO, BelAir Networks. "BelAir Networks customers around the world are
focussing on mass transit Wi-Fi as a key market, so we’ve developed a market-leading
solution for both onboard and trackside Wi-Fi infrastructure."