Emerging data connectivity technologies - WiMAX, ADSL2+, 3G, Mid-Band Ethernet
November 2007
Today’s businesses have the choice to connect their WAN over multiple technologies, like WiMAX, 3G, DSL, Ethernet, mobile wireless, DSL, Fibre, frame relay, etc. Which technology do you deploy where? What suits your business needs? And, is it available in your area? Does it fit your budget?
We can build a network that incorporates terminations of various last-mile technologies including WiMAX, 3G, ATM, Ethernet, Frame Relay, DSL, fibre, etc into one quality, managed network.
WiMAX - now launched in Australia
What is WiMAX ?
WiMax, based on the IEEE 802.16 standard, is designed to deliver IP (Internet Protocol) data at multi-megabits per second over a range of several kilometres. WiMax is as fast as traditional broadband but quicker to install and available in areas where DSL is not.
Wi WiMAX?
WiMAX gained credibility in the last few weeks due to three events:
It was approved by the International Telecommunication Union as an official 3G technology in October 2007. "To have WiMax approved as an IMT-2000 technology is a huge win for the WiMax Forum," said Ron Resnick, president of the WiMax Forum, the industry group that certifies interoperability of products using the technology.
Last week, here in Australia, fixed WiMAX (802.16d) services were officially launched with Netforce as one of its partners.
Again in October 2007, Cisco announced a definitive agreement to purchase Navini Networks, a pioneer and a leader in the Mobile WiMAX 802.16e-2005 broadband wireless industry. With Cisco’s backing, the criticism that WiMAX has been over hyped should carry less weight
We are excited by this emerging connectivity due to the reasons below:
| • | Symmetric speeds up to 10Mbps available now |
| • | Range of 10 km |
| • | Supports MPLS |
| • | 99.9% Availability |
| • | < 50ms Network Latency |
| • | < 1% Packet Loss |
| • | Contention ratios of 1:1 or 10:1 options |
| • | Multiple vLAN support |
| • | Simple connection - delivered as Ethernet by the telco-unit which connects wirelessly to a base station. Base stations need to have "near line of sight" to subscriber units, and have a range of at least 10 kilometres for 8Mbps of symmetric access |
| • | 24hr Network Operations Support |
| • | Growing local coverage - Melbourne – 90%, Sydney – 70%, Brisbane – 60%, • Adelaide – 60% |
| • | Secure - Proprietary TDM based protocols , 500,000 key encryption, MAC Address authentication & filtering, GPS based timing, synchronisation & theft protection |
Wi not WiMAX?
There are some situations where WiMAX is not suitable. For example, you need to have line-of-sight to a base station for longer distance connections.
