February 2006

WAYNE, PA: The words "The network is down!" bring panic to workers who fear lost documents and missed deadlines. But when an entire communications infrastructure is down—including the system used by emergency personnel—the shutdown can become a literal matter of life and death.

Rajant Corporation has developed the BreadCrumb line of products—a mobile wireless broadband system with applications in homeland security, public safety, emergency and enterprise networking. Here Rajant employee Joe Parks tests a BreadCrumb unit in the Arizona desert.

Rajant Corporation, developer and manufacturer of wireless broadband systems and components, knows this all too well.

"You can't always count on the current infrastructure to handle disaster," says Robert J. Schena, CEO of Wayne-based Rajant. "That's why we make a device called the BreadCrumb, a wireless, portable, battery-powered mobile access point."

BreadCrumb products provide an instant wireless network for voice, video and data that can be deployed with little to no effort, says Schena. For example, five or six BreadCrumb XLs can be set up to cover a 30- to 40-square-mile area in less than an hour.

Putting It to the Test
Rajant's technology was put to the test—and passed with flying colors—when Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in the fall of 2005.

"When Katrina hit, Congressman Weldon's office called to tell us they were running a relief effort and asked if we wanted to participate," Schena says. "We sent several hundred thousand dollars in equipment and two of our people to the region to set up multiple networks."

Rajant's efforts enabled emergency management services (EMS), state highway patrols and fire departments to send and receive emails, upload reports and update activity blogs online to share vital information long before communications and power were restored to the area.

A full 48 hours after the hurricane hit, City Hall in New Orleans had only one line working to make VoIP [voice-over-internet protocol] calls. According to Schena, situations like this can be completely avoided with a couple of BreadCrumbs and a small satellite dish.

"In just 15 minutes, City Hall's network would have been back up—and many of the issues related to lack of communication could have been mitigated," he says.

Responding Around the World
Katrina wasn't the first time that Rajant has answered the emergency call. When the tsunami hit Southeast Asia in December 2004, Rajant responded by sending equipment and personnel to Thailand, where they quickly set up a BreadCrumb network in a refugee center.

"Forty to sixty people at a time were using the network for VoIP calls," Schena says. "Relief workers and tsunami survivors were able to make phone calls all over the world using the BreadCrumb network."

In a sadly unique application, another BreadCrumb network was set up for a body reclamation and ID network. "For several months, digital pictures of recovered bodies were sent via the BreadCrumb network to a body ID database in Bangkok," Schena says. "Our network was able to make a very painful process much easier by providing a communications infrastructure where there previously was none available."

Rajant refers to their recent volunteer efforts as a "pay it forward" activity.

"We've been supported in a fantastic way by the local community—by BFTP, Congressman Weldon, Senator Arlen Specter and Congressmen Gerlach, Fitzpatrick and Andrews," he says. "Everyone we asked to help us along the way has responded. We are a reflection of the community—and we owe it to the community to give back. If our technology can help, we are happy to provide it."

Keeping It Simple
Rajant formed in 2001, and skepticism in the general market was high. But BFTP saw the potential, providing $80,000 when the company was still in the idea stage, plus an additional $120,000 later on.

"It was the perfect money at the perfect time," Schena says. "BFTP stepped up to fill an important gap and it had a long-lasting positive effect on us."

Schena also credits BFTP for helping with its business and marketing plans and early stage testing of the concept in partnership with Villanova University. One of the key elements during the development stage was to ensure the system could be employed without needing to know much about networking.

"Any network needs a significant amount of integration, and we've engineered all the guesswork and specialized knowledge out of it," Schena says. "At its simplest level, the end-user—first-responder, soldier on a battlefield, city hall employee—simply flips the 'on' switch and immediately has a self-integrating network. If a BreadCrumb breaks, gets run over, the battery runs out, or for some reason it leaves the area, the network reconfigures itself automatically."

A World of Opportunity
"BreadCrumb technology is ideal for places where there is a lack of communications infrastructure—whether there is no existing infrastructure, like in the middle of the desert, of if the infrastructure is damaged or destroyed," Schena says. Rajant equipment has been utilized in Iraq, Afghanistan and Southeast Asia.

It is also ideal for city governments and large businesses or institutions that rely on communications networks. Schena says that for about $20,000, which would include the price of a roof-top satellite dish, a hospital, city hall, police station or anyplace that potentially deals with emergency situations would never have to be without its communications network.