Mesh networking technology is picking up after dropping the ball two or three years ago (it faced problems of security and scalability). Cisco is about to release a mesh product, and now Nortel is teaming up with service provider SimplySurf Wireless Network to offer wireless broadband through a mesh network in rural Ontario. The firm will add other networks in and around Ottawa over time.

Nortel is demonstrating another rural mesh network in the small Canadian town of Chapleau. As broadband deployments go, we are talking of something rather small--the Dunrobin deployment uses fewer than 20 APs--but pushing into rural areas is central to Nortel's mesh strategy. Dan Jones quotes a Nortel VP as saying that the company is also targeting citywide wireless deployments, campuses, and the "homeland security" market with its indoor and outdoor mesh nodes and wireless bridge equipment.

On the other side of the scale: Nortel's mesh network in Taipei will be the biggest metropolitan public access network ever built, with 10,000 access points offering WiFi to 3 million citizens.

For more in the rural mesh deployment:
- see SimplySurf's press release
- read Dan Jones' Unstrung report