VIVATO SMART WI-FI SYSTEM GIVES COLUMBIA DISTRIBUTING REAL-TIME INVENTORY CONTROL AT SEATTLE-AREA WAREHOUSE
Hundreds of Rows of Beer and Wine Pose No Signal Transmission Problems for Vivato's Patented Signal Steering Technology and Phased-Array Antenna Architecture

SPOKANE, Wash., August 10, 2005 - Vivato, Inc., a leading provider of extended-range Wi-Fi solutions, announced today that its equipment has resolved a major warehouse inventory management problem for Columbia Distributing, the nation's largest purveyor of micro-brewed beer and the largest fine wine distributor in the Northwest, marketing beverages to 85 percent of the Pacific Northwest region.

After installing 25 low-powered Access Points to manage inventory and customer business in its cavernous, 356,000 square-foot warehouse in the Seattle suburb of Renton, Columbia discovered that those radios couldn't transmit a signal throughout the hundreds of rows of beer and wine, making instantaneous inventory reports impossible. To resolve the problem, Columbia chose to implement Vivato's Smart Wi-Fi architecture, which provides an extended reach, cellular-like solution to wireless communications on economical Wi-Fi frequencies.

Columbia warehouse personnel now rely on two Vivato Indoor Base Stations and four Microcell AP (Access Point) to monitor supplies for Columbia's extensive Pacific Northwest customer base. The base stations, measuring about two-feet square, combine patented signal steering technology and a phased-array antenna to cover up to 12 times the area of other solutions. With the Vivato technology, signal loss is minimal compared to traditional systems with scores of low-powered transmitting sites. Because less equipment and network connections are required, Vivato can provide a much lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) to the customer.

Shanuj Sarin, Vivato senior systems engineer, said the entire Columbia installation, from site survey to full deployment, took less than four days. "We first did a comprehensive site survey to determine how to best cover the huge warehouse," said Sarin. "The numerous glass bottles stacked on metal shelves produced a very high multi-path environment, which can be a problem for wireless signals, and the 40-foot high ceilings were another cause of signal weakness." To overcome these obstacles, Sarin recommended installing two Vivato Base Stations and four Microcells to maintain a signal-to-noise ratio of 25db, which he considered necessary to maintain network connectivity.

"Columbia prides itself on using technology to better serve our customers," said Marna McCuen, information services manager. "All ordering and management of customer business is done by hand-held devices, and we just couldn't get them to work at the Renton warehouse. The Vivato equipment has completely turned the situation around, and now we can update our inventory as often as necessary."

About Vivato
Vivato, Inc. is a wireless systems infrastructure company with technology that is based upon an innovative signal processing and antenna design. Vivato's unique system architecture enables cost-effective, large-scale outdoor and indoor wireless deployments for metros, rural communities, airports, seaports, warehouses and universities. Vivato is headquartered in Spokane, Washington. For more information, please visit www.vivato.com or call 1-214-264-1001.

Back to Press