Vivato Adds 802.11g

Despite problems over the last year from layoffs to losing management to stiff competition, Vivato of San Francisco continues to plug away. The company’s latest salvo in the Wi-Fi “switch” wars is the introduction of its second-generation product, a wall-mountable indoor base station unit that reduces the size from the original and ups the connection speed.

The new Vivato VP2200 supports 802.11g, the 54Mbps Wi-Fi standard that’s backwards compatible with the 11Mbps 802.11b. The previous Vivato Indoor Base Station, the VP1200, only supported 802.11b for client connections.

The new unit is also smaller, measuring 26 by 26 inches; the VP1200 was almost double that at 48 x 25 inches. Each is about 3 inches deep.

Like the previous indoor and outdoor versions, the VP2200 uses a smart antenna feature called PacketSteering to extend Wi-Fi signals. For network security it will support both the current Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and the future WPA2/802.11i when available. It can use Power over Ethernet (PoE) at its 10/100 Ethernet ports to get electricity, it doesn’t need to be hardwired or near an AC outlet.

The unit received certification from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last month.

Vivato did not announce pricing for the unit, which will be sold through the company’s VARs and resellers. The original VP1200 sold for $8,995 MSRP.