Gigabit Wireless For TDM and IP Transport

What do you do when you need to get Gigabit bandwidth services into a building that has no fiber connection to your network? If you are XO Communications, you simply add a wireless hop using BridgeWave Communications FlexPort link. No stringing aerial wires on poles. No trenching fiber optic conduit. Just high bandwidth connectivity through the air.

We’re used to thinking of twisted pair copper and microwave wireless as the right solutions for moderate bandwidth needs. Gigabit bandwidth levels obviously require fiber optic strands, right? Not really. Point to point fixed wireless systems can give you fiber optic performance without the fiber or the optics.

I mention optics because there are laser based solutions designed to connect buildings at Gigabit levels. They are especially well suited for connecting networks between two tall office buildings separated by a freeway or river that makes installing fiber prohibitively expensive if even possible. But that’s maybe a thousand feet or so. How about when you need to link networks over a few miles line of sight?

This is the area where BridgeWave shines, so to speak. Actually, they’re using two-way millimeter wave transmissions in the 60 and 80 GHz radio bands. Those frequencies are high, but nowhere near the infrared or visible portion of the spectrum. Here’s something interesting, though. Oxygen attenuates signals in the 60 GHz band, a property unique to that portion of the spectrum. That limits transmission distance, but it also works to ensure that multiple users on the same frequency are unlikely to interfere with each other. The signal is simply absorbed by the air on either side of the narrow beam and past the receiving antenna.

If you’ve had a bad experience with RF links in the WiFi band or other microwave and UHF frequencies, you can appreciate both the interference avoidance and inherent security of the millimeter wave band. It’s likely that anyone trying to intercept a 60 GHz transmission would have to insert themselves in the path to such an extent that they would affect the strength of the signal at the intended receiver and give themselves away.

The 80 GHz band doesn’t have the oxygen absorption characteristics of the 60 GHz band, so it is better suited to medium haul rather than short haul links despite the higher frequencies. Still, the interference is minimized and security is enhanced due to the narrow beam width of the millimeter wavelength system.

The BridgeWave FlexPort80 link that XO is deploying is available in the 80 GHz millimeter wave band plus the licensed 18 and 23 GHz microwave bands for longer links. One of the attractive aspects of the BridgeWave equipment is that it is an all-outdoor solution. Some competing systems simply have an outdoor antenna with rack mounted transmission gear needed inside the building.

Another feature especially valuable for today’s corporate networks is the ability to transmit both TDM and IP traffic. The TDM capability is also being used by mobile carriers to backhaul their 3G and 4G networks from isolated base stations. It should be noted that FlexPort80 delivers simultaneous TDM + IP connectivity, making it truly a “flex port.”

Do you have a location that has been particularly difficult to supply with high bandwidth telecom services? Perhaps a combination of fiber optics and millimeter or microwave wireless transmission can get you the Gigabit connectivity you need at a cost you can afford. Discuss your situation now with one of our Telarus bandwidth consultants to get pricing and availability for high bandwidth business connectivity solutions.



Note: Graphic based on skyscraper image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

Celairo Offers Gigabit Wireless MWAN Services

Is your organization bandwidth frustrated? You need telecom network throughput and lots of it. Gigabit Ethernet would be nice, but it’s just not available for your location. Bonded copper solutions can’t deliver anything near the speed you require. Fiber optic line service would surely work, but that costs a fortune to build-out and will take forever even if you have the capital funding, which you don’t. What to do? How about carrier-grade gigabit wireless?

Wow! Gigabit wireless connections for businesses and other large organizations? Is there really such a thing?

Oh, yes, there is. Celairo Wireless Solutions specializes in just such high bandwidth point-to-point and Dedicated Internet Access services. They are experts in MWAN or Metropolitan Wide-Area Networks. They can give you the bandwidth you need from 1 Mbps to 3 Gbps without having to worry about how the wires are going to get to you. That’s because there are no wires. No wires means quick turn up times and often cost savings as well.

Celairo employs a combination of licensed and unlicensed WiMAX technology to deliver their high capacity services that include wireless Ethernet, high speed Internet, metropolitan point-to-point and multi-point services, and temporary high speed Internet for city events, emergency services and conventions. Bandwidth is symmetrical, scalable, reliable and secure. All connections are fully managed from Celairo network operating centers.

You may be familiar with the consumer oriented WiMAX services that are being built-out around the nation by Clearwire. But did you know that WiMAX technology isn’t just limited to wireless consumer broadband? WiMAX, meaning Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a set of technical standards for wireless transmission that’s ideal for feeding WISPs (Wireless Internet Service Providers), campus WiFi networks, hospitality or hotel and motel broadband Internet, healthcare and general business. With high reliability and security, WiMAX connections are every bit as capable as wireline and fiber optic connections.

Another Celairo service is called the HotZone Mesh Network. This is a wireless system that can scale up to 1000 nodes that automatically form the mesh network and overcome line-of-sight obstacles. This system is perfect for temporary or portable networks, like you might need for fairs and festivals, sporting events, concerts or even emergency situations.

Are you stymied by a lack of wide area connectivity, or limited by wireline services that simply can’t provide the bandwidth you need or be provisioned fast enough to support your special project? If so, Celairo may have wireless solution that is just what you need. For pricing and availability on high capacity voice and data service from Celairo and other high reliability carriers, speak with a bandwidth consultant toll free or enter a quick request for quote at our GigaPackets service.

Tripping the LTE Fantastic

While a lot of attention is being lavished on fiber optic build-outs and mobile WiMAX, the next dominant technology in broadband communications could be LTE. Would you believe gigabit wireless communications?

For everyone frustrated with sluggish 1G connections or the poky first generation iPhone, the idea of 1,000 Mbps at their fingertips while on the go seems fanciful. After all, there's just so much bandwidth coming off one of those cell towers. Or is there? Apparently, new technical approaches can boost wireless bandwidth a lot more than we ever suspected.

Nokia Siemens Networks recently demonstrated something they call LTE-Advanced. By combining a 2x2 MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) antenna system and an in-band relay station, Nokia claims to have boosted the bandwidth available over LTE to 1 Gbps. And who knows what the real limit will be?

LTE stands for Long Term Evolution. It's a technology being specified by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a collaboration between various telecommunications associations. The group's name may be the most limiting aspect of this work, as LTE is seen as a 4G or 4th generation technology and LTE-Advanced should probably be called 5G.

These "G's" are coming at us faster than CPU upgrades a generation ago. Most cellular broadband is now at the 3G level, using EV-DO (EVolution Data Optimized) and HSDPA (High Speed Download Packet Access) with DSL-like speeds typically around 700 Kbps. EV-DO is a CDMA cellular network technology used by Verizon and Sprint. HSDPA is for GSM networks such as AT&T.

LTE was developed as a GSM technology for use worldwide. But, Verizon has already announced it is defecting from its evolutionary path with EV-DO and moving over to LTE for its future build-outs. So eager are they to get a piece of that 4G action that Verizon is expected to deploy LTE on their network as early as the coming year. LTE promises download speeds exceeding 100 Mbps and could be ramped up to several times that without having to wait for LTE-Advanced development. Those are fiber optic speeds or better at today's technology levels.

Why the big rush to switch protocols? Mobile video for one thing. Video is quickly replacing voice and even data as the "kill ap" for digital. Another is the possibility of providing speedy Internet service, also with video in mind, to fixed location business and residential users, as well as mobile. Clearwire is deploying WiMAX with that in mind, so now's the time to capture that market before they get too invested in WiMAX technology.

Both WiMAX and LTE are in the early ramp-up phase of their deployments. For users who want mobile broadband now, there is wide availability of 3G cellular broadband services for smartphones and aircards from AT&T, Sprint, Verizon.