Dragonwave to Provide Licensed Wireless Ethernet Backhaul

( 1 Jan 2007 )

DragonWave Inc., a leading global supplier of next-generation wireless networks, today announced EarthLink has selected the company’s AirPair solution for Licensed Wireless Ethernet backhaul in their municipal wireless network deployments. EarthLink has already been selected as the operator in Philadelphia, New Orleans as well as Anaheim and Milpitas, California.

"EarthLink is one of the leaders in municipal wireless broadband, and DragonWave's AirPair service will help us continue building state-of-theart networks," said Donald Berryman, executive vice president of EarthLink and president of the ISP's municipal networks unit. "Our solution will provide residents, visitors and business users in cities across the United States with an affordable and portable broadband service."

The DragonWave solution provides a wireless backhaul solution, allowing Earthlink to roll out new high-bandwidth services such as free internet access in some parks and public spaces, roaming capabilities for providers of hot spot access and daily or weekly access for occasional users across the United States.

"The advantages of a single interferencefree IP network combined with the advantages of GigE wireless mesh backhaul meet exactly the requirements for the Municipal Networks," said Peter Allen, President and CEO of DragonWave. "EarthLink is a leading operator in the municipal market, and is building best-in-class networks. We look forward to working with them to deliver municipal wireless networks across the United States."

DragonWave's AirPair product operates within both licensed and unlicensed radio frequencies of 11-to-38-GHz range, ensuring interference-free performance for customers' traffic and EarthLink will deploy the solution in the backhaul layer of the company’s wireless networks. The DragonWave solution provides scalable, ultra-low latency, wirespeed native Ethernet connectivity up to 500 Mbps full duplex.

The system is extremely easy to deploy and manage, with a full suite of network management options. AirPair has indoor and outdoor deployment options, and is a highly reliable platform enabling 99.999% service availability.