Thailand Royal Irrigation Department Named a 2013 Computerworld Honors Laureate for Wireless Flood Management Network

BANGKOK & LOS GATOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Thailand Royal Irrigation Department and Firetide, Inc., the leading provider of high-performance wireless infrastructure mesh networks, today announced that IDG’s Computerworld Honors Program has selected Thailand Royal Irrigation Department as a 2013 Laureate. The annual award program honors visionary applications of information technology promoting positive social, economic and educational change.

“Providing a state-of-the-art wireless network has helped improve the lives of our citizens by protecting them and their property during devastating annual monsoon flooding”

“Technology continues to play a pivotal role in transforming how business and society functions. For the past 25 years the Computerworld Honors Program has had the privilege of celebrating innovative IT achievements,” said John Amato, vice president & publisher, Computerworld. “Computerworld is honored to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of the 2013 class of Laureates and to share their work. These projects demonstrate how IT can advance organizations' ability to compete, innovate, communicate and prosper.”

Thailand’s Royal Irrigation Department (TRID) is being honored for its deployment of the world’s first public safety wireless mesh network capable of delivering live high-definition (HD) wireless video feeds of river water levels and telemetry data for real-time flood forecasting and historical data collection.

“Providing a state-of-the-art wireless network has helped improve the lives of our citizens by protecting them and their property during devastating annual monsoon flooding,” said Mr. Chachawal Punyavateenun, project creator and deputy director general of Thailand Royal Irrigation Department. “We are extremely honored to be recognized as a Laureate by the Computerworld Honors Program for this important project.”

In addition to the live HD video feeds to TRID’s control room, the Firetide wireless infrastructure mesh network delivers live VGA resolution video feeds of the Chao Phraya River to the public via the Internet. This provides the people of Thailand with an advance flood warning system to mitigate property damage and save lives.

Each Firetide node links wirelessly to adjacent nodes upstream and downstream to form the mesh network. With link distances, or “hops,” of 20-45 km between nodes, the system delivers up to 240 Mbps bandwidth with less than a one millisecond delay per hop for smooth, real-time data and video delivery for the entire length of the network. The Firetide mesh network also provides full redundancy so if a link fails, another link takes over immediately with no noticeable interruption in service. The actual combined length of all links, including redundant links, deployed within the 372 km geographical distance totals 550 km or 341 miles, making the Firetide network the world’s largest and longest wireless mesh network.

The Computerworld Honors Program awards will be presented at the Gala Evening and Awards Ceremony on June 3, 2013 at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C.

Editor’s Note: For more information about the Thailand Royal Irrigation Departments wireless infrastructure mesh network please visit: http://www.firetide.com/news/2012/thailandflood.aspx

About The Computerworld Honors Program

Founded by International Data Group (IDG) in 1988, The Computerworld Honors Program is governed by the not-for-profit Computerworld Information Technology Awards Foundation. Computerworld Honors is the longest running global program to honor individuals and organizations that use information technology to promote positive social, economic and educational change. Additional information about the program and a Global Archive of past Laureate case studies, as well as oral histories of Leadership Award recipients can be found at the Computerworld Honors website.

About Firetide Inc.

Firetide is the leading provider of wireless infrastructure mesh networks that enable concurrent video, voice, and data applications for municipal, public safety, government, transportation and industrial customers worldwide. Firetide is unmatched in providing reliable, high-performance wireless infrastructure mesh and access solutions for video surveillance, Internet access, public safety and temporary networks wherever rapid deployment, mobility and ease of installation are required. Headquartered in Los Gatos, Calif., Firetide is a privately held company with thousands of customers in more than 40 countries across the globe. For more information, visit www.firetide.com or follow Firetide on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/firetide).

Note: All product and company names are trademarks of their respective companies.