Proxim Tsunami mobile backhaul helps secure Villefontaine, France

Proxim Wireless Corporation announced that it deployed a mobile backhaul solution for the security and surveillance systems of Villefontaine, France. The French town deployed a wireless HD video surveillance system that leveraged Tsunami QB-8150 wireless backhaul products.

The Community of Villefontaine is a suburb of the City of Lyon. A relatively young town, it is located in the Rhone-Alps Region.

Villefontaine local government dispersed its facilities all across the town to best serve its population. However, this made it difficult for the local police force to regularly patrol such a large area, not to mention quickly responding to emergency incidents. Therefore, Villefontaine authorities decided to deploy a video surveillance system that could assist local law enforcement in protecting and maintaining the safety of the community.

For the Villefontaine mobile backhaul project, Proxim Wireless tapped its certified regional partner, Libertylan, to perform a detailed wireless site survey and serve as project integrator. Proxim Wireless and Libertylan then replaced existing leased lines with secure wireless links. The completed high capacity radio network now provides secure wireless transmission of video images, data transfer services, and VoIP services to Villefontaine.

Thierry Gouin, IT director for the Community Council of Villefontaine, stated that the mobile backhaul system installed by Proxim Wireless performed flawlessly and proved very secure. The Council was thus able to save money by canceling its leases on several fiber lines which had now become superfluous.

Qualcom buys DesignArt Networks for more than $100 million

Chip maker Qualcomm Incorporated made an unofficial announcement that it has purchased mobile backhaul infrastructure designer DesignArt Networks for more than $100 million.

An Israeli start-up company founded in 2006, DesignArt creates infrastructure solutions for 3G/4G mobile backhaul networks. It focuses on creating data-centric mobile radio access networks for wireless backhaul infrastructure using integrated system-on-chip platforms and embedded SW solutions.

Back in April, Intel and Qualcomm had both expressed interest in purchasing DesignArt. Qualcomm beat its chip maker rival to the reported tune of around $120-140 million.

Qualcomm is expected to make an official announcement soon. DesignArt will probably be integrated into its new owner's Atheros Division, which was originally semiconductor developer Atheros before Qualcomm purchased it in 2011 for $3.1 billion.

Qualcomm Incorporated received the 2012 U.S. Fleet Manager's Choice Award. It is considered to be the best supplier of advanced telematics services by Frost & Sullivan and more than 90% of Qualcomm's customers. Its recent acquisition of DesignArts further enhances its expertise in mobile backhaul products.

Windstream picks Goodman Networks as preferred FttT supplier

Wireless network service provider Goodman Networks Inc. will serve as the preferred supplier of Windstream Corp. while the latter company deploys Fiber to the Tower (FttT) mobile backhaul solutions in the U.S.

Goodman Networks is a leading U.S. company that designs, engineers, deploys, integrates, and maintains wireless networks in the United States. It helps Windstream generate the additional backhaul bandwidth needed for LTE/4G growth by delivering fiber connectivity from Windstream’s network to the cellular towers of leading wireless service providers.

Goodman Networks' backhauling solutions aim to create efficient processes and establish program planning between Windstream and its wireless service customers. Backhauling will lower deployment costs and, incidentally, reduce Windstream’s carbon footprint as fewer number of trips are needed to upgrade the network for LTE/4G applications.

“We believe that Windstream’s leading-edge FttT solution provides wireless carriers a unique ability to meet their growing need for wireless backhaul," said Josh Shipman, EVP of Sales and Business Development at Goodman Networks. "We share many of the same wireless customers as Windstream and look forward to helping them deliver this technology to these customers.”

Interested in another article? Why not try this one: Mobile backhaul industry expected to be worth $9 billion by 2016

Ruckus Smart Mesh: Leveraging small cell mobile backhauling

Small cells are a new architectural approach to increase capacity of service provider networks. Essentially miniaturized base stations, they combine licensed and unlicensed radio technology with wireless backhaul. The result: Short-ranged, lower-powered wireless signals that deliver better signal coverage, improved voice quality, and higher data performance to mobile users.

Small cell technology can be used to generate high-quality mobile signals indoors and at remote outdoor locations. It can also satisfy the growing demand for mobile data by expanding a macro network’s data capacity at a fraction of the cost.

Robert Joyce, chief radio engineer at Telefonica UK, noted that the major obstacle to deploying small cell was finding a reliable and yet inexpensive way to backhaul traffic from hundreds or even thousands of small cell nodes.

That is where Ruckus Wireless’ Smart Mesh technology comes in. Smart Mesh combines advanced self-organizing network (SON) principles with Ruckus-patented adaptive antenna arrays and predictive channel management techniques. The synergized technologies and techniques result in Wi-Fi mesh backbone links between nodes that are highly resilient and rated at speeds of 5 GHz.

These links automatically adapt to changes in environmental conditions. Wireless service providers like O2 and its owner, Telefonica UK, can use those links to mesh traffic. The innovative method will allow delivery of reliable backhaul for licensed cellular and unlicensed Wi-Fi traffic in both line of sight and non-line of site environments.

The Ruckus SmartCell system allows the innovative use of LTE small cells to give mobile operators a boost in capacity. By co-locating and combining LTE small cells with Wi-Fi access points, which allows LTE small cells to share site-lease agreements and backhaul, wireless network operators can simplify operations and save money.

In addition, by integrating Wi-Fi and LTE small cells within the cellular core, operators can better optimize network utilization across the radio access network. Subscribers will get to enjoy further improvement in performance and a seamless Wi-Fi experience.

Mr. Joyce can attest to the effectiveness of the SmartMesh-empowered mobile backhauling services. "With Smart Mesh,” said the Telefonica chief radio engineer, “we are running fiber to just one of every five nodes.” Reducing the amount of fiber led to savings in capital and OPEX. It also allowed faster deployment of the system and similarly speedy delivery of the wireless service.

Wireless Broadband Services now from Cablevision

Over the years, Cablevision has been offering digital TV, high-speed internet, as well as home phone services to its customers. Now, the company is extending its services to fixed wireless broadband called OMGFAST in Florida. For a 50 mbps connection, customers are charged at a competitive $29.95.


Since 2004, Cablevision has been working in acquiring several broadband license in more than 45 markets, all through the subsidiary DTV Norwich, bidding in an auction by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Multichannel Video Data Distribution Services or MVDDS spectrum. 


The MVDDS spectrum delivers Internet services, as well as wireless video and voice to fixed receivers. Cablevision hopes to use the technology to also provide mobile backhaul services to wireless phone carriers. The company has already requested the FCC to increase the power levels of MVDSS transmitters. Since the release of powerful smartphones running on the Android platform courtesy of Google, and the seeming ubiquitous quality of iPhone's, the demands for mobile data has increased.


Mobile backhaul solutions are becoming more and more important with the proliferation of powerful, wireless gadgets. Just recently, the Farmers Mutual Telephone Company partnered with ADTRAN for the deployment of wireless backhaul communications. 

NSR: HTS, O3b shakes up wireless backhaul market

In its recently-released Wireless Backhaul via Satellite, 6th Edition, NSR identified significant short- and long-term shift from legacy SCPC and TDMA wireless backhaul systems to satellite-based systems that use High Throughput Satellites (HTS) and O3b.

According to the NSR, market players involved in space segment capacity and end-to-end services will encounter new opportunities and threats will arise as the market shifts. The same applies for companies who handle the equipment segment.

The global satellite backhaul market currently has a $800 million annual revenue base. But the NSR report expected the market's revenue to hit $2.3 billion in 2021.

In addition to their long-term effects, HTS and O3b will impose significant short-term changes in the wireless backhaul industry.

According to Jose Del Rosario, Senior Analyst for NSR and author of the wireless backhaul study, OPEX considerations brought about high bandwidth costs that slowed down the wireless backhaul market's adoption of satellite solutions.

HTs and 03b will make bandwidth much cheaper.  Coupled with the needs of the mobile workforce, market players will benefit from higher penetration levels in key markets for both developing and developed countries.

Furthermore, new programs may lead to a new look at currently-deployed solutions, which may then be abandoned for newer, more cost-efficient platforms. The space segment side has HTS and O3b; del Rosario also looks at cheaper, modestly-sized picocells. These picocells come with the benefit of lower CAPEX, which makes them more attractive for deployment on ground towers, maritime vessels, and commercial aircraft.

Cisco Routers in More Mobile Backhaul Facilities

Frontier Communications has began deploying Cisco ultra-fast router, making a great improvement on its carrier-grade 4G mobile backhaul facilities.

Cisco's Aggregation Services Router 9000 Series (ASR 9000) is expected to significantly improve Frontier's mobile backhaul performance in up to 20 US service areas. Frontier Communications is a broadband provider focusing in underserved regions. The embattled company is struggling to reverse declining sales. Its profit declined by 50% year-on-year last quarter as itloses more clients. 


Reallocation of resources from rural broadband to wireless backhaul business seems to be the most logical step to do to revive sales. China Telecom is also deploying Cisco routers. The telco will be rolling out IPTV services via ASR 9000, offering converged IPTV and VPN services. China Telecom is the country's biggest mobile telecommunications firm. The router will first be deployed in Chinese coastal areas, such as Shanghai, Guangdong and Fujian.Last year, Kabel Deutschland (KDG) also announced plans to deploy ASR 9000 for aggregation and distribution of video, voice and data services across its IP architecture, paving the way for enhanced services like 3-D TVchannels.


Other Backhaul Industry News


Belden will buy Miranda Technologies for about $330 million. The deal is seen as the end of the long battle between Miranda's management and investors, who believe that the firm is undervalued. Miranda elected a board member who finalized the sale at a price of $17 a share, amounting to C$345million or U.S. $330 million in total. For the most part of 2011, Miranda shares traded at $8. But share price rose late last year as stockholders called for partnership or a sale. 


Belden said Miranda's current operations , such as manufacturing and R&D, are so far not subject to planned changes.With no significant product overlap, the main concern is to maintain the continuity of supply and support for customers of both companies, said Belden. Miranda Technologies President Strath Goodship said Belden benefits from long list of successful businesses. The company has served a number of broadcast customers and is a highly reputed company in Canada and Montreal. He said collaborative efforts between Belden and Miranda will deliver value for all parties involved. He claims that the deal is fully supported by the management team of Miranda. 


In March, Miranda sided with dissidentinvestment group to endorse Tim Thorsteinson for inclusion to the board as areplacement of Thomas Cantwell. Miranda issued a separate release to affirmtheir support to Cantwell.