An older technology, InspiAir was supposed to be the Wi-Fi of its day. It cost less than Wi-Fi and offered a 1 mile signal radius and considerably lower power at about 1MBps. A Dutch company, KMC Systems, bought the rights to the technology, renamed it Max-Fi, and could be rolling it out in the next few months in Europe.

Max-Fi gear was recently chosen by the Port of Antwerp, which has covered 30 square kilometers with just 14 access points. The network, which is currently in test, will support CCTV cameras for harbor control, voice-over-IP for port operations, and Internet access for visiting ships.

Interesting… is WiMax dead in the water? There have been quite a few moves to avoid WiMax in urban situations and even if Xohm takes off, that leaves plenty of room for some sort of Wi-Fi — after all T-Mobile and AT&T bet on the technology over even 3G cellular in most markets.