Last Mile Access: Challenges and Wireless Solutions

As total Internet access subscriber rates rise by leaps and bounds each year – DSL and Cable subscriptions grow 10% quarter-over-quarter in the US alone* – Internet Service Providers of all sizes and kinds are facing a challenge: differentiation of service offering in a competitive market. Further, providers must address customer demand for quick service delivery and high-speed network access at a low cost. The price associated with customer acquisition costs and ongoing last mile maintenance puts pressure on service providers to find new ways to cost-effectively deploy differentiated Internet access services to large numbers of customers.

Proxim’s broadband wireless solutions give wireless ISPs and DSL/cable providers today’s fastest pathway to new markets and revenue. Whether well-established and looking to expand, or smaller and newly established – service providers of all types can immediately and cost-effectively create wireless networks or reach out from established points-of-presence to capture new customers. Without the delays and costs of leasing or building a wired infrastructure, Proxim’s wireless networks allow secure and reliable access to high-speed data, voice and video services. Internet access can be extended to business parks, apartment complexes, school districts, even rural communities up to 11 miles away – all in a matter of days.

Advantages:

• Faster time to market and lower Total Cost of Ownership than traditional leased lines
• Flexibility in service delivery using shared or dedicated bandwidth
• Scalability to handle rural and urban subscriber densities on the same infrastructure
• Meets or exceeds security, performance and reliability of leased line networks
• Part of the end-to-end family of Proxim wireless solutions

With Proxim, your wireless network can grow in all directions - from Point of Presence to building to laptop. Adding capacity or extending your network into new areas is simple when you work with Proxim - because we are the only company to offer all the components in an end-to-end wireless solution.

Please review the other five solution sections of the web site for more information on other components in an end-to-end wireless network from Proxim.

Click here for complete Proxim Product line

Proxim’s Last Mile Solution Components

From business parks and apartment complexes to school districts and even rural communities up to 11miles away, Proxim’s last mile solutions provide reliable, high bandwidth connectivity and Internet access. With Proxim’s Tsunami broadband wireless systems and ORiNOCO Wi-Fi equipment, service providers can offer their subscribers complete last mile solutions that differentiate them from their competitors.

Proxim’s Tsunami Broadband Wireless Solutions

	Tsunami QuickBridge	Tsunami Point-to-Point	Tsunami MP.11	Tsunami MP
Description	Wireless Ethernet solution with superior price performance and capacity of 11-60 Mbps	Wireless Ethernet bridges with carrier-class reliability and capacity of 20-860 Mbps	Economical multipoint system offering 11-54 Mbps capacity	High-bandwidth multipoint system offering 20-60 Mbps
Positioning	For providing dedicated bandwidth to select customers	For backhauling data on large networks	For connecting small businesses and residences	For large scale deployments

Proxim’s ORiNOCO Wi-Fi Access Points

	AP-600b/g Access Point	AP-2500 Access Point	AP-4000 Access Point
Description	Enterprise-class access point with either 802.11a, 802.11b or 802.11b/g mode operation	Hot-spot-in-a-box – all in one access point and Internet gateway	Enterprise-class access point with automatic tri-mode (simultaneous 802.11a/b/g) operation
Positioning	Entry-level unit for enterprises or for medium to large hot spots without a high degree of client diversity	For small public hot spots	For enterprises and large hot spots requiring automatic support of all Wi-Fi client types

Last Mile Access

Proxim’s broadband wireless solutions give wireless Internet Service Providers and DSL/cable providers today’s fastest pathway to new markets and revenue. Whether well-established and looking to expand, or smaller and newly established – service providers of all types can immediately and cost-effectively create wireless networks or reach out from established points-ofpresence to capture new customers. Without the delays and costs of leasing or building a wired infrastructure, Proxim’s wireless networks allow secure and reliable access to high-speed data, voice and video services. And with Proxim’s upcoming WiMAX solutions, service providers will soon be able to scale their networks even more easily and cost-effectively to address rising subscriber growth rates.

Proxim Last Mile Solution Advantages:

• Faster time to market and lower Total Cost of Ownership than traditional leased lines
• Flexibility in service delivery using shared or dedicated bandwidth
• Scalability to handle rural and urban subscriber densities on the same infrastructure
• Meets or exceeds security, performance and reliability of leased line networks

Faster Time to Market, Lower Total Cost of Ownership

For both incumbent telecommunications providers and wireless ISPs, leasing lines and fiber trenching to expand market reach cut heavily into profit margins, take too long to provision and often cannot reach customer locations. Proxim’s broadband wireless networks offer service providers a profitable business model with solutions that can deploy within hours and have an average payback period of 12 months. Easy installation and management capabilities further reduce network costs. And with Proxim’s extremely affordable and robust residential CPEs, bringing last mile access to individual homes or small businesses is finally profitable.

Applications:

• Reaching home subscribers in new geographies
• Providing competitive commercial broadband access
• Connectivity for school buildings and districts
• High-bandwidth connectivity for public hot spots
• Broadband service for multi-dwelling residences
• Public safety and transportation

Last Mile Market Growth

Global Information, Inc. estimates that by the end of this decade, over 700 million broadband access lines will be in operation globally – with broadband requirements per household doubling every 18-24 months. Despite this accelerating demand for broadband access around the world, lack of infrastructure remains a formidable barrier to addressing customer needs. Broadband wireless networks will increasingly provide the solution. By 2010, Global Information, Inc. predicts that 15%-20% of broadband connections in markets with well-developed fixed infrastructure will be based on wireless networks. In all other countries, over 50% of broadband will use wireless.

High Bandwidth, Flexible Service Offerings

Using Proxim’s broadband wireless point-to-point and multipoint solutions, service providers can easily and cost-effectively provide a rich selection of high-capacity, high-speed services including video on demand, IP telephony and IP surveillance. Ranging from 11 to 860 Mbps, Proxim’s last mile solutions come in capacity variations to enable tiered subscriber plans that can fit every customer’s budget and business requirements. Corporate customers, for instance, may benefit from a dedicated high-bandwidth link provided through a Service Level Agreement, instead of a sharing a connection. Features, such as Dynamic Data Rate Selection and Subscriber Unit to Subscriber Unit blocking give service providers complete control over bandwidth allocation and enhance their ability to optimally charge for their services.

Cost-Effective Scalability for Easy Growth

Whether you’re serving sparsely populated rural communities or denser urban areas, Proxim’s scalable bandwidth options and remote equipment maintenance make servicing new geographies feasible. A centrally located point-topoint link can be easily set up as a high-speed backbone while multipoint systems can quickly build the network out to a broad subscriber base. Supporting up to 250 subscribers per base station, multipoint solutions enable providers to easily expand their services as customers grow – without having to invest in additional infrastructure. A host of features such as NAT/DHCP, which dynamically assigns multiple users per IP address, ensure cost-effective growth.

Network Reliability and Guaranteed Service

Proxim’s last mile solutions provide maximum security and are designed to provide carrier-class RF link availability. A unique DDRS feature in Proxim’s multipoint subscriber units automatically selects the best transmission rate per subscriber, guaranteeing all customers receive maximum bandwidth and continuous service. For densely populated areas, base stations are available with Proxim’s patented Active Interference Rejection technology to nullify potential interference from other RF devices operating within the same range. Advanced features such as these result in highly reliable networks that provide superior service for subscribers.

Expanded Revenue Opportunities

Proxim’s portfolio of wireless solutions enables service providers to generate revenue from new applications that extend beyond traditional last mile services. With Proxim’s Wi-Fi equipment, providers can offer mobile network access as an add-on service for their hot spot and enterprise customers. New roaming capabilities in Proxim’s broadband subscriber units provide continuous connectivity while moving between base stations - and open new opportunities in markets such as public safety and transportation. By facilitating large-scale deployments of interoperable wireless networks, Proxim’s upcoming WiMAX solutions will further service provider growth into more and more markets.