Ruckus chosen for Ulaanbaatar Wi-Fi network

Ruckus Wireless has announced that Mongolian internet service provider (ISP) Nomsys has selected its Smart Wi-Fi products and technology for the roll out of the country’s largest Wi-Fi access network across the capital Ulaanbaatar. The network, known as the Community Involved Nomad Wi-Fi project, is currently being deployed by Nomsys throughout the city, bringing Wi-Fi service to consumers and businesses via hundreds of hotspots throughout the more underdeveloped rural areas of the capital, where 70% of its one million residents live. Nomsys is deploying hundreds of Ruckus indoor and outdoor access points (APs) in the city’s suburbs, as well as providing free Wi-Fi access points to select families that will, in turn, use the devices to provide paid wireless access to others within a certain area. In the outer parts of Ulaanbaatar, Wi-Fi connectivity has become a necessity as 3G and WiMAX networks have proven to be cost-prohibitive – both for carriers needing to install the required infrastructure, and for users who must purchase special receivers to get connectivity. ‘The rural areas of Ulaanbaatar are very densely populated, and people who live there have very low income,’ said Nomsys founder and CEO, Bat-Erdene Gankhuyag. ‘For a majority of households there is no running water, central heating, and no sewage system. To require them to purchase costly equipment in order to gain cellular connectivity is just not plausible, which is why Wi-Fi is the ideal solution. Also, the involvement of the community itself is the key to success.’ The Nomsys Wi-Fi network is a collection of indoor and outdoor hotspots with APs configured with Ruckus SmartMesh Networking technology, to deliver coverage to the outer reaches of the capital city where fibre is not available.