August 20th, 2010
Wireless Interference is not a problem with proper spectrum planning. It can be a real issue if the proper planning isn’t done. In basic terms, spectrum is to wireless like pipes are to plumbing, and you just can’t put two pipes in the same place.
Across our spectrum plan, we have products that range from 2GHz to 90GHz. At 2GHz the spectrum is omni-directional and perfect for multipoint connections and mobility. Conversely at 70/80GHz, we have hyper narrow beams that look like strings between the Campbell soup cans (with much higher capacity of course) and are a wonderful extension/compliment/alternative to fiber optic cable.
To help our customers with this rather complicated issue, GigaBeam has invested in planning tools, worked in concert with regulatory bodies globally to provide counsel on best practices and has an internal organization that specializes in system/network integration and planning so that the wireless component of any network we participate in is properly planned and executed. We also have created a broad portfolio so that if you live in a region where one band is clogged you can choose another one.
It is all about careful planning, and while wireless can experience interference let me close with a corollary thought, which is that interference is a part of the wired industry, in a sense, as well. Statistics show that everyday a backhoe inadvertently “interferes” with (i.e. cuts through) fiber optic cables every single day.
Tags: 70/80 GHz, interference, narrow beam, spectrum interference, spectrum planning, wireless backhaul, wireless implementation, wireless network
Posted in GigaBeam Advice, GigaBeam CEO, GigaBeam Products, Myths About Wireless, Wireless Urban Legends | No Comments »
May 28th, 2010
The real question is why would you? Wireless is a great tool for enhancing telecommunication systems. There are some things that wireless can do more effectively than wire-line systems and visa versa. We, at GigaBeam, have been a part of some “all wireless” networks and they work just fine. We do, however, look to our customers’ real needs when recommending technologies to affect a solution. Sometimes that might mean expanding an existing wire line infrastructure.
We champion the need for cooperation and co-existence and to that effect have created within our business a wide variety of wireless solutions where GigaBeam is a subject and technology expert. We have also teamed and partnered with companies in the Wire-line world as we really do need each other to maximize success for our customers and for our independent businesses.
Tags: all wireless, co-existence, cooperation, gigabeam, telecommunication systems, wire line infrastructure, wire-line, wireless, wireless backhaul, wireless network
Posted in GigaBeam Advice, GigaBeam CEO, GigaBeam Products, Myths About Wireless, Uncategorized, gigabeam | No Comments »
March 17th, 2010
#8: Wireless Cannot Really Achieve 5-9’s
This is a real hot button for me because the power grid isn’t even 5-9’s. There are a number of issues with this metric as follows:
- For it to be statistically relevant it must be evaluated over years not just weeks or months.
- Common sense should dictate that anything that is singular is susceptible to and in time likely to have some form of failure.
- Many wireless providers make 5-9’s claims but do not properly explain what it means clearly (i.e. at what distance, under what weather conditions, etc.) and as a result an expectation is created that cannot be met.
Think of this for a moment. If you were to encapsulate a strand of fiber cable under glass, light it up and watch it for 10 years, do you think the circuit would stay intact for all but 50 minutes in that time period? The answer is absolutely no. The Power system itself isn’t 5-9s so this can’t be true, unless there are back up systems, redundancies and a network to ensure that when something does go wrong the customer of the service is not impacted. And, in fact, if you recall the years that fiber optic cable was first deployed the arguments against it were that it was not reliable. If you evaluate Sprint as the pioneer in the Fiber Optics space, it was nothing short of a miracle when their first cross country all Fiber Optic call was made. Today Sprint and others have determined that they needed to build redundancy into the system to make it more reliable. And that is exactly the same thing that we do with our wireless networks. We build in redundancy. The application in this example is different but the principals remain the same.
The bottom line is that nothing in life is inherently 5-9’s and the key mechanism to achieving ultra high availability is proper planning, understanding the technology at hand and designing a system/network that has the best chance of performing with ultra high availability.
Tags: 5 9s, broadband wireless, fiber optic, five nines, gigabeam, metro ethernet networks, power grid, redundancy, reliability, Sprint, wireless
Posted in Gi-CORE, GigaBeam Advice, GigaBeam Products, Myths About Wireless, Uncategorized, Wireless Urban Legends, gigabeam | No Comments »
February 24th, 2010
Myth #9: Wireless cannot handle ultra broadband capacities
Wireless solutions today can achieve Gigabit Ethernet (1.25Gb/s) full duplex capacities and at GigaBeam we are developing solutions that will achieve 10 times this capacity in the near term. There are many benefits to new wireless technologies that are the sum of innovations in chipset, software and regulatory policy improvements.
There is truth that Fiber cable can handle more capacity via DWDM technologies. This brings to light one of the real truths of the benefit of fiber and wireless cooperating. Each technology in its own right has a place within various applications in the telecommunications environment. The most simple example being that Fiber Optic is typically a better long haul solution and wireless is often more desirable in last/middle/first mile applications. There are scores of examples of cooperation between technologies, but the bottom line is that wireless can handle ultra broadband right now and the capacity reach of both wireless and fiber will increase materially in time.
Tags: broadband wireless, broadband wireless networks, fiber, fiber vs wireless, gigabit ethernet, last mile, long haul, middle mile, ultra broadband, wireless capacity
Posted in GigaBeam Advice, GigaBeam CEO, GigaBeam Products, Myths About Wireless, Uncategorized, Wireless Urban Legends, gigabeam | No Comments »
December 11th, 2009
Greetings,
I am starting the second of our blog series today, entitled “Did You Know . . ?” In this series we are going to spend some time spotlighting each of our solutions. We will take the opportunity to discuss particular challenges our products have solved, features you may not know about, or other news about our products.
I am opening this series with our granddaddy product, the Gi-CORE. This product put us on the map, so to speak, as we were the first company to bring a 70/80GHz gigabit radio to the commercial market. So, without further ado, I ask:
Did you know . . . . ?
- Gi-CORE is our 70/80GHz product
- Gi-CORE is capable of sustaining throughput of 1.25Gb/s
- Gi-CORE offers Automatic Transmission Power Control (ATPC) to sustain throughput
- Gi-CORE is the 70/80GHz product that has been on the market the longest, has the most deployments, is the most reliable and simply outperforms other providers
But don’t take my word for it . . . let’s go directly to the source—our customers. There are hundreds of examples I could choose from, but I will just focus on the most recent Gi-CORE deployment: an order we placed for a telecommunications services provider with their own private wireless network that delivers services to business and enterprise and some retail clients in the Pacific Northwest.
This particular company came to us after being disillusioned by another provider—they found that the power/link budget was not as advertised. The adaptive rate function (a feature that throttles down the data rate throughput during rain to keep the link up) caused latency and throughput issues contributing to numerous network and customer satisfaction problems. GigaBeam was asked to step in. Upon hearing what we had to offer, they purchased a Gi-CORE link to evaluate for 30 days. The link was up and running immediately and ran flawlessly for the entire evaluation period.
Now, please note, this deployment is in the Pacific Northwest – i.e. rain capital of American (I should know I grew up there.) However, despite all rumors that 70/80GHz products do not perform in the rain, the kind of rain that falls so persistently in the PNW is not the kind of rain that will effect our Gi-CORE—Automatic Transmit Power Control aka “ATPC” accounts for that. In fact, in order for rain to affect one of our links the rate has to exceed 4” per hour. And, in Seattle, while rain is the most reliable weather condition, it rarely reaches that rate, hence our links perform beautifully.
Our CEO visited Seattle the other day to meet with the customer. The customer professed to being extremely pleased with GigaBeam and over a cup of coffee (probably Starbucks – to get out of the rain) signed up for a half a dozen more.
Smiles,
Marijke McCandless
Vice President, Corporate Communications
Tags: 1 Gbps, 1000 mbps, 70/80 GHz, ATPC, automatic transmission power control, customer satisfaction, easy installation, Gi-CORE, link, link budget, microwave, millimeter wave, power budget, quick deployment, rain, weather, wireless backhaul
Posted in Gi-CORE, GigaBeam Products, Uncategorized, gigabeam | No Comments »
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