Telsima's 50km broadband Internet connection at 450MHz

Telsima Corporation announced that is has successfully demonstrated a 50km (30mile) high capacity broadband connection using its Sub-GHz WiMAX system in a 3 MHz channel under near line of sight conditions in the 450 MHz frequency band. Telsima’s Sub-GHz solution is able to accommodate any carrier frequency from 400MHz to 1000MHz, enabling operators to rapidly deploy a tunable solution to suit their allocated frequency band.

The tests, conducted under over a period of several days in the months of February and March of 2008 in Slovenia, stimulated significant commercial interest for using 450MHz and other sub-GHz frequencies carrier grade frequency bands. The base station was located at Vir Domžale silos with a vertically polarized antenna with 10.15 dBi gain. The subscriber station, using a Yagi antenna with a 10.65 dBi gain, was installed in a car that drove across terrain that included dense foliage and wooded hills. At a distance of 50 km, at Javornik, the WiMAX system communication link yielded excellent results; modulating at 64QAM in the downlink and 16QAM in the uplink; providing over 6Mbps throughput over the wireless link.

Wolfgang Mack, CMO Telsima commented, “Compared to higher frequency systems, the Sub-GHz solutions are technically and economically suited for covering large areas where the foliage is dense and the terrain does not allow for line of sight communications between the subscriber station and base station. We are very optimistic in our Sub-GHz solution’s capability to address the needs of high coverage, low density markets with high modulation rate capacity”.

Burcak Beser, CTO Telsima, explains, “These lower frequencies perform better in wooded and hilly environments because of their superior wave propagation characteristics enabling large sectors and wave diffraction around interfering objects such as hills and buildings. Rural areas in global markets, where the subscriber density is lower, are therefore more efficiently served using these sub-GHz frequencies. Of particular significance of our system demonstration is the excellent connection quality; sustaining modulation rates of 64QAM in the downlink and 16QAM in the uplink in a WiMAX system configuration suitable for wireline replacement voice quality services.

Telsima’s 450/700 MHz solution includes Base Stations, Subscriber Stations, NMS and Service Provisioning. Telsima’s Sub-GHz systems are able to deliver Internet, Voice and Multimedia services over a wireless broadband connection to remote users where coverage is more important than initial system capacity. This solution was unveiled in December 2007 and is expected to be in commercial deployments in the second half of 2008.

Telsima’s mobile WiMAX product portfolio allows operators to offer mobile services, MIMO antenna diversity and ASN network control today while smoothly migrating to 802.16e-2005 and NWG ASN solutions once commercially available.

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133 Million WiMAX Users by 2012

The WiMAX Forum announced it projects more than 133 million WiMAX users globally by 2012. The forecast is based on the results of an independently commissioned research study to be published in April 2008. Additional data from the study estimates that approximately 70 percent of the forecasted WiMAX users by 2012 will utilize mobile and portable WiMAX devices to access broadband Internet services.

The report entitled, WiMAX Forum Worldwide Subscriber and User Forecasts, examines the progress of WiMAX service providers, equipment vendors, content developers and users in regions around the world. The preliminary results released at CTIA Wireless in Las Vegas reflect the accelerated growth of the WiMAX ecosystem, the acceptance of WiMAX technology and demand for mobile Internet services across the world.

"WiMAX is here now and is the catalyst in the global marketplace to grow demand for mobile broadband Internet access," said Ron Resnick, president of the WiMAX Forum. "This new subscriber and user forecast is a solid proof point of the future growth of the thriving mobile Internet ecosystem and presents reasonable predictions of the positive progress our industry is working to achieve."

According to the study, a key driver of WiMAX subscriber and user growth will be the ambitious adoption of WiMAX technology in specific regions, including Asia Pacific and the Americas, where WiMAX technology is anticipated to be the leading technology selected to deliver broadband Internet access to a greater geography of these regional populations.

Further signifying the rapid growth of the WiMAX ecosystem, the first Mobile WiMAX Certified products are expected to achieve certification in Q2 2008. This milestone will foster additional growth for the more than 260 service providers deploying WiMAX services in 110 countries worldwide. The WiMAX Forum estimates that by 2011 there will be more than 1,000 Mobile WiMAX Forum Certified products found throughout the world.

Trapeze launches RingMaster-200

Wi-Fi network maker Trapeze Networks has launched a pre-configured appliance that can manage up to 5000 wireless access points or 1000 wireless switches - and won a giant contract for 802.11n Wi-Fi.

The RingMaster-200 is a hardware version of Trapeze's RingMaster network management software, and is pre-tuned to manage wireless LANs. “Today, it’s common for enterprise Wi-Fi networks to include thousands of access points cover hundreds of acres and span multiple sites," said Ahmet Tuncay, Trapeze's marketing vice president.

Before this product, Trapeze's largest hardware device managed around 200 access points, while rival Aruba was ahead with its MMC-6000 which can manage 2048 APs. Both companies use software to manage larger installations, which has normally run on general purpose servers. Aruba's recently purchased AirWave management platform uses software to go up to 50,000 APs. Trapeze's appliance will make the process of design and management simpler, says Trapeze, saving hundreds of IT hours.

Ringmaster was central to Trapeze's recent success in winning what it calls "the world’s largest deployment" of the new 802.11n standard, a $15 million, five-year upgrade to the wireless LANs at the University of Minnesota. The upgrade will include $3 million on access points alone, swapping out existing APs from D-Link, Cisco and other vendors for around 9,500 of Trapeze's 802.11n access points. Ringmaster "…allowed us to quickly import our own CAD drawings and immediately begin Wi-Fi planning for 300 buildings, including 1,300-plus floors," according to Steve Cawley, the university’s vice president of IT.

RingMaster has been a big part of Trapeze's WLAN strategy from the beginning, for dealing with Wi-Fi propagation issues, and managing the lifecycle of WLANs. The appliance can make a "virtual" site survey based on architectural drawings, and configure access points for specific locations before they are installed.

The appliance is based on a Linux OS, and has two redundant 250GB hard drives to gather monitoring and performance data. The basic unit costs $19,000 (£9,515) including a licence to support 250 APs, which can be extended in steps of ten to 1000, up to 5000, if users buy software keys.

Trapeze's claims - like most claims in the ever-competitive Wi-Fi world - have already been disputed. Aruba told us that it already has an appliance that manages 5000 APs, called the MM-200. We have been unable to find this product on Aruba's site, however.
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Earthlink puts municipal WiFi business up for sale

It looks like Earthlink was talking about plenty more than just Helio and revenue figures during its recent earnings call, with CNET News.com now reporting that the company also dropped word that it's selling off its much-hyped and significantly-scaled-back municipal WiFi business.

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