Trapeze Networks Reveals New Product Line
Wireless Networking Equipment Designed to Untether Devices in Corporate Networks
 

Trapeze Networks' new Mobility System will enable corporate IT managers to seamlessly integrate wireless networking with their existing local area networks.

By George Walsh
Network Editor

Trapeze Networks, a provider of wireless networking technologies located at 5753 W. Las Positas Blvd., has announced a new kind of wireless data networking equipment that is intended to be used in the buildings of Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 corporations. Trapeze, which was founded in March 2002, occupies about 42,000 square feet and employs over 100 people. The company is backed by Accel Partners and Redpoint Ventures and has received approximately $16 million in first-round funding.

The Trapeze Mobility System will enable people to roam around inside a building and still allow their laptops, wireless PDAs and eventually digital phones to communicate with the corporate network. While supporting the popular 802.11 wireless networking standard, it will also support a number of other standards. “Its got some unique new capabilities that you just don’t find in other products,” says George Prodan, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for Trapeze Networks. “It gives IT managers the ability to really plan and manage the air within a corporation and within a building and actually lay out the entire interior coverage area based on a building floor plan in digital format.”

The Trapeze Mobility System isn’t intended to replace the current network infrastructure already in place within organizations. “One of the fundamental things that we do is enable the IT manager to seamlessly integrate this system with the wired network,” Prodan says. “That’s been one of the hurdles to wireless thus far.” 

One of the other ongoing issues with wireless networking has been security. While it’s relatively simple to allow or deny users access to physical network cables, many are unsure whether shooting data through the airwaves is safe enough to keep outsiders from accessing corporate information. However, Trapeze’s Mobility System is not only user friendly, but secure. “Trapeze Networks Mobility System eliminates all the key concerns of the chief information officers of corporations,” Prodan says. “It will it make it possible for them to seamlessly integrate, plan, and deploy, as well as to provide secure mobility to their corporations.”

Much of the reason that Trapeze chose to place its offices in Hacienda has to do with the large pool of talent in the area. “A lot of the people who work here live in this region and a couple of our co-founders are living in the surrounding area, so it’s easy for them to get to the office,” Prodan says. “It’s easy to recruit  here because so many people who live in this area were making that horrendous commute over the hill into Silicon Valley. They welcome a local office.”
 

Northern California Spine Institute Keeps Backs on Track
Cutting Edge Facility Uses the Latest, Most Innovative, Minimally Invasive Techniques
 

(Left to right) Doctors Kevin C. Booth, James D. Fontaine, and Joseph M. Grant are the staff physicians at NCSI.

By George Walsh
Network Editor

The ValleyCare office building at 5725 West Las Positas at Hacienda was established to house state-of-the-art-medical facilities. Evidence of the caliber of talent being attracted to the complex is the Northern California Spine Institute in Suite 200 of the Las Positas offices. NCSI, which became a part of the Hacienda community in November 2002, provides both surgical and non-surgical treatment of the spine. The institute is integrated with inpatient and outpatient programs that embrace new and advanced technologies to speed the recovery of its patients. Spinal treatments provided by NCSI include minimally invasive spinal surgery, spinal reconstructive surgery, revision surgery, pediatric and adult scoliosis care, treatment of spinal compression fractures, electrodiagnostic consultations, and diagnostic and therapeutic spine injections.

“We moved into our new space in the Hacienda Business Park on November 4th, which gave us more room, more exam rooms, and more accessibility to the patients,” says Michelle Smith, chief operating officer for the Northern California Spine Institute. “ValleyCare is going to be moving occupational medicine and physical therapy into this building, which will be very convenient for our patients. They’ll have access to many of the services they need in addition to those that we provide.” The staff of physicians at NCSI includes James D. Fontaine, MD, an interventional spine specialist; orthopedic spine surgeon Kevin C. Booth MD; and orthopedic spine surgeon Joseph M. Grant MD.

The Northern California Spine Institute was started five years ago by Fontaine, Booth, and Grant to provide the most specialized and modern spine treatments available. NCSI currently has four locations including facilities in San Ramon, Sonora, and Tracy. 

The physicians are affiliated with both ValleyCare Medical Center and the San Ramon Regional Medical Center. The Las Positas office encompasses approximately 6,300 square feet. In addition to the three doctors, NCSI’s new Pleasanton office will employ 16 people and have the capacity to treat between 60 and 100 patients each day.

“We get a lot of patients who have been injured on the job, industrial injuries, and worker’s compensation cases,” Smith says. “Dr. Booth is a scoliosis specialist, so we see some teenagers who require scoliosis surgery as well as a lot of patients who have lower back pain.” NCSI is also involved in research projects. In March, the Institute performed surgery involving the first artificial cervical disk of its kind in California. They’re also involved in performing the most modern types of microscopic surgery. “What we’re trying to do is to remain on the cutting edge and use the latest, most innovative, minimally invasive techniques,” Smith says. For patients suffering from back problems, the forward-looking physicians at the Northern California Spine Institute may be just what the doctor ordered.