Mesh technology was developed on this side of the Atlantic and has been slow to gain a beachhead in Europe. It is beginning to do so. HiTel Italia and RoamAD announced an OEM partnership to respond to the growing demand for metro WiFi mesh solutions in the European market. HiTel is already selling RoamAD-based metro WiFi systems in Europe and expects to be able to announce its first metro WiFi deployment in Europe within the next 30 days. HiTel said it was gearing up to be a major player in European metro-WiFi, and that it was initially going to concentrate on providing WiFi services for public transportation systems, small communities and inner city commercial and residential districts.

Patrick Scarlata, managing director of HiTel, said: "As European carriers and ISPs are developing a better understanding of the capabilities of large-scale WiFi networks, they are increasingly demanding mobile VoIP/VoWiFi as well as mobile data as core requirements on their networks. We are therefore pleased to be partnering with RoamAD, the leader in mobile WiFi network technology."

For more on the HiTel-RoamAD deal:
- see this RoamAD press release (.pdf)

ALSO: Telecom Italia has decided to conduct field trials of Korea's home-grown WiBro wireless broadband implementation of the 802.16 standard. WiBro competes directly with Europe's HiperMAN implementation of 802.16 from the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI), which these days is being hyped around the world under the brand name WiMax, which itself is not a standard. Report