Proxim Wireless Corporation, a leading provider of complete indoor and outdoor wireless broadband systems, today re-entered the licensed wireless backhaul market with the introduction of its Tsunami® GX800 licensed point-to-point microwave backhaul products. With the addition of the GX800 products, Proxim - a pioneer of the point-to-point microwave market - expands its extensive product line to include licensed wireless backhaul capable of delivering ultra-high capacity of 622 Mbps aggregate capacity, frequency agility for deployment in more regions with support of 6-38 GHz and the ease-of-deployment and cost savings of a compact form-factor wireless backhaul solution.
What analysts and customers are saying
"With the ever-increasing need for greater capacity in today's mobile and wireless networks, high-performance and cost-effective wireless backhaul is an essential requirement for carriers - and in many other applications as well," said Craig Mathias, a Principal with the mobile and wireless advisory firm Farpoint Group. "Backhaul can be the weak link in 4G network rollouts without the right products in place. But as we can see in Proxim's new GX800, fixed broadband wireless has the flexibility and cost-effectiveness required to really make these carrier networks fly. And many more applications, including HD-quality streaming video surveillance deployments, campus interconnectivity, transportation and numerous others will benefit from the outstanding performance and value Proxim is bringing to a market they know well."
"The video surveillance industry has seen a dramatic increase in demand for capacity over the past several years, and with the migration to IP video and streaming HD surveillance, that demand will only continue to increase," said Jordan Heilweil, CEO of Total Recall, a leading provider of integrated security & surveillance solutions. "We are excited about Proxim's Tsunami GX800 product as it will provide not only enough backhaul capacity to meet the needs of our bandwidth-intensive deployments today, but will also allow us to scale those deployments in the future."
"We have been providing wireless broadband solutions to the African and South African market for over ten years and in that time we have seen a consistent growth in the demand for greater, more cost-effective wireless backhaul solutions," said Darren Morgan, Sales Manager at Comsol Wireless Solutions. "Proxim has been a great partner in providing unlicensed wireless backhaul solutions, and they are bringing that experience to the licensed market with these new products. The GX800 is a welcome addition to our portfolio, and we anticipate a great deal of traction for these solutions as the demand for backhaul capacity continues to grow throughout Africa and South Africa."
Proxim's IP-centric GX800 products are designed specifically to enable the transition to IP networks and 4G while balancing high-performance and cost-effectiveness - resulting in an overall reduction in operating expense. Key product features and differentiators include: High Performance The Tsunami GX800 products provide 622 Mbps aggregate capacity out of the box (they do not require additional licensing fees to deliver full capacity), which exceeds carriers' requirements of 300 Mbps backhaul for 4G rollouts such as LTE and WiMAX. In addition, the GX800 delivers extremely low latency at less than 100us -- ideal for voice and video backhaul in carrier, enterprise, video surveillance and other deployment scenarios. And with the capability to transmit at 6-28 dBm, the GX800 provides extremely high transmitter output power for greater distance and coverage.
Frequency Agility The GX800 provides a wide range of frequency band support from 6-38 GHz, enabling a wide range of deployment options and protection of spectrum. And with configurable channel bandwidths from 7-56 MHz, the GX800 supports very high data rates.
Ease of deployment
The GX800 utilizes a split-mount architecture consisting of a compact indoor unit (IDU) and outdoor unit (ODU). The product has an extremely small footprint, with the ability to install two IDUs in a single 1U rack. The compact IDU features a universal modem, is frequency independent, includes a Gigabit IP interface, a second 10/100 Ethernet port, USB port, and in/out of band management. Furthermore, it also includes simple plugin modules for SDH/PDH interface expansion. The ODU is also simple to deploy, with both direct mount and remote mount antenna options.
The GX800 also includes a free link design and optimisation tool to optimize the planning and deployment of every link. The included software helps plan the link and predict the performance. Also available are license coordination services to simplify
the RF licensing process.
Ultra Reliable Proxim's GX800 utilizes a combination of advanced modulation techniques - including adaptive code modulation (ACM) with modulation rates of QPSK to 256 QAM - for exceptional link availability. Proxim has also introduced a highly evolved priority-based packet transport system to ensure proper TDM and data handling.
IP-centric for easy migration
The GX800 features extensive Layer 3 protocol support including 802.1q VLAN and 802.1p QoS for easy management and reduced OPEX. The new products are also fully supported by the ProximVisionES network management software, support HTTP, SNMP v2c and Telnet management protocols and include thorough diagnostic tools. The GX800 can be configured for in-band or out-of-band management. All of these features are delivered as a direct result of extensive customer feedback over the years. Proxim's history in the licensed point-to-point market and long-standing involvement in the unlicensed point-to-point microwave backhaul market has provided deep insight into customers' current needs for licensed products in different markets, including:
- Carriers & service providers As carrier and service providers prepare for 4G rollouts such as LTE and WiMAX, licensed wireless backhaul provides an ideal balance of capacity and cost-effectiveness
- Video surveillance As cities, governments and other organizations deploy more and more IP-based video surveillance, wireless backhaul is the most efficient way to scale systems while allowing for HD-quality video streaming
- Enterprises As today's enterprises look to provide greater network capacity to multiple buildings on a particular campus, wireless backhaul is an ideal solution for sharing capacity and avoiding unnecessary recurring leased-line fees for each building
- Transportation As departments of transportation and other transportation organizations throughout the world require greater connectivity options for expanding Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), wireless backhaul enables greater scalability at a fraction of the cost of connecting multiple components with fiber
- WISPs With the increased global focus of delivering broadband to under-served areas, licensed wireless backhaul presents a far greater balance of performance and cost-effectiveness than fiber or copper alternatives, making "broadband for everyone" a more viable goal
"Regardless of the market or the organization, networks throughout the world are facing an extreme capacity crunch. Mobile networks are inundated by the explosion of smartphones that introduce data-heavy applications; video surveillance networks need to support the higher bandwidth demands of HD video and enterprises of all kinds need to accommodate the many bandwidth-intense data, voice and video applications being used today," said Robb Henshaw, Vice President of Marketing for Proxim Wireless. "But despite the greater demand on today's networks, the budgets to build out and increase capacity are by no means unlimited At Proxim, we have been helping organizations cost-effectively scale their networks with unlicensed wireless backhaul for years. With the introduction of these new licensed wireless backhaul products, we are providing our customers with yet another high-performance cost-effective option for expanding their networks so they can not only meet the capacity needs of today, but be prepared for the continued demands of tomorrow."
Pricing and availability
The Proxim Tsunami GX800 licensed point-to-point products are available for order now, and will begin shipping at the end of November, 2010. Pricing for a complete link - with full 622 Mbps aggregate capacity out of the box - is $14,999.
