Not another Next Big Thing.

I’m constantly being asked what the next big thing for wireless mesh is. Well standardization is the main focus and most of new Linux distribution will have the latest component built into the OS. I like the UNIX and FreeBSD and the next release of FreeBSD® Version 8.0 focuses include wireless networking, virtualization, and storage technology. I am currently using FreeNAS for network area storage (excellent.)

802.11 wireless networking has been overhauled to add Virtual Access Points (VAP) support, which allows multiple wireless networks to be hosted from a single access point. Draft 802.11 mesh networking support allows FreeBSD-based devices to dynamically link together to create a larger wireless network. Other notable updates in FreeBSD Version 8.0 include: FreeBSD 8.0's wireless network stack is the industry leader, and makes FreeBSD the platform of choice for a future generation of networking products.

FreeBSD 8.0's network stack also offers multiprocessing optimizations: a revised link layer subsystem, per-CPU flow cache, multi-queue transmit support, and significant UDP and TCP protocol scalability improvements. Zero-copy buffer extensions to BPF improve high volume packet capture performance.

In FreeBSD 8.0, virtual machine administrators in FreeBSD's ground-breaking lightweight "Jails" can now create their own nested jails. FreeBSD now supports host and guest modes in VirtualBox, and can run as a 32-bit Xen DomU guest.

The Network File System (NFS) implementation has been enhanced with GSSAPI encryption, and also experimental NFSv4 client and server support. In addition to ZFS moving from experimental to production status, FreeBSD 8.0 introduces GPT boot support.
Yeah, so if you looking for a good OS to start to build your Wireless Mesh you may want to look at FreeBSD 8.0.