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Telecommunications equipment industry

Breakthrough Product Line Provides Broadband Access Alternative to Costly Fiber for Bandwidth-Hungry Markets

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

Western Multiplex Corporation, a leader in broadband fixed-wireless communication systems, has announced its carrier-grade Tsunami Wireless Gigabit Ethernet Bridge. This breakthrough product gives multi-tenant units/multi-dwelling units outside the fiber ring access to broadband gigabit speed for voice, video, and data through wireless communication. The bridge provides a cost-effective alternative to fiber-optic cable for extending corporate Gigabit Ethernet connectivity between campus buildings, remote company sites, and central server "farms." The Tsunami Wireless Gigabit Ethernet Bridge is also an excellent network backup and disaster recovery system, capable of handling communication traffic rerouted from accidentally severed fiber-optic cables.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Tsunami Wireless Gigabit Ethernet Bridge is a carrier-grade system that provides broadband gigabit speed for voice, video, and data through wireless communication, giving multi-tenant units/multi-dwelling units outside the fiber ring access to high-speed internet services.
  • The bridge is a cost-effective alternative to fiber-optic cable for extending corporate Gigabit Ethernet connectivity between campus buildings, remote company sites, and central server "farms."
  • The Tsunami Wireless Gigabit Ethernet Bridge is suitable for applications such as networking for national retail chains, emerging Internet-based video distributors, streaming media content providers, and ISP and Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) wireless network backbones and customer access.
  • The product has a 99.999% link availability, ensuring less than five minutes of outage per year, compared to leased line connections which result in 524 minutes of outage per year.
  • The bridge supports wireless communications over distances under one mile to over five miles and is VPN (IEEE 802.1Q) compatible, capable of handling jumbo packets/frame sizes up to and beyond 1538 bytes.
  • Western Multiplex is announcing two models of the Tsunami Wireless Gigabit Ethernet Bridge: the Tsunami 720 and Tsunami 480, with units for field trials available in 2001 and the fourth quarter of 2001, respectively.
  • The Tsunami Wireless Gigabit Ethernet Bridge offers high-bandwidth capacity for downloads and uploads, such as downloading a full-length feature film in approximately 30 seconds.
  • The product provides four wayside T1 ports, dedicated phone connections, and has identical features such as 4x T1 wayside, orderwire, HTML user interface, SNMP management, integral antenna, and mounting hardware.

Statistics:

  • The U.S. Market for multi-tenant broadband equipment and services is projected to grow from $371 million in 2000 to nearly $2 billion in 2004 (Source: Cahners In-Stat Group).
  • The Tsunami Wireless Gigabit Ethernet Bridge has a 99.999% link availability, ensuring less than five minutes of outage per year.
  • Leased line connections average 99.7% availability, resulting in 524 minutes of outage per year.
  • The bridge supports wireless communications over distances under one mile to over five miles.
  • The product is VPN (IEEE 802.1Q) compatible and can handle jumbo packets/frame sizes up to and beyond 1538 bytes.

Sources:

  • Western Multiplex Corporation press release, Sept. 20 (PRNewswire)
  • Cahners In-Stat Group, U.S. Market for multi-tenant broadband equipment and services (no date mentioned)

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