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Business Information Group Installs Alvarion Wireless Broadband Systems to Connect Public Agencies Throughout Maryland
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Sep 13, 2004, 10:53
Tel-Aviv, Israel -- September 13, 2004 – Alvarion Ltd, (NASDAQ: ALVR), the global leader in wireless broadband solutions, today announced that Business Information Group (BIG) of York, Pennsylvania is installing a series of countywide wireless broadband networks in Maryland using Alvarion point-to-multipoint solutions. The deployments are occurring in concert with the latest generation of Maryland Public Libraries’ Sailor Project, which connects libraries statewide into a common private network. In this generation of Sailor, a wireless backbone infrastructure that is being installed by BIG, delivers 100 Mbps of capacity to each connected county. Each participating county then provides the funds to extend the infrastructure from the backbone location to various public agencies with the use of last-mile wireless broadband systems that will replace costly leased line methods.
Counties taking advantage of the Sailor network will leverage Alvarion’s BreezeACCESS™ solution, a market-leading system, used to access the new Sailor backbone free of charge, in exchange for hosting Sailor backbone equipment and antennas at county-owned radio towers. In addition, some counties have elected to extend the network to connect public safety vehicles for mobile access. So far, more than $1 million worth of Alvarion network solutions have been installed for the first eight of Maryland’s 24 counties.
BIG selected Alvarion’s BreezeACCESS solution because of its non-line-of-site (NLOS) capabilities, state-of-the-art security, high capacity, low-cost deployment and the ability to add vehicular mobile access for public safety.
“For fixed connectivity, we chose BreezeACCESS because it is the total package,” remarked John Dolmetsch, BIG’s Chief Information Officer. “It creates a cellular architecture that uses next generation multipoint technology from a base station to deliver high bandwidth over long ranges, around buildings, and through trees. And it does this using AES encryption without any impact on throughput. The entire network eliminates the government’s need for leased lines, with payback in as short as one year, while also providing a ten fold improvement in Internet capacity and network speed.”
“What is unique about the BreezeACCESS product family is that it provides one integrated solution for fixed and mobile applications,” said Jim McCormick, Technology Director of Caroline County, Maryland, which is among the first counties to complete installation of the wireless system. “Although we have a population of just 30,000, the county covers over 300 square miles. The system’s fantastic coverage, even through highly foliated areas, is therefore very important, particularly for mobile connectivity to our fairly large public safety fleet of over 100 police, sheriff, and EMS vehicles. With the completion of a successful pilot program, we are well on our way to also deploying the entire mobile piece.”
Established in 1994, the Sailor Network won national acclaim as the first network to connect all state libraries together. Initially using low capacity leased lines, bandwidth needs have increased so the Sailor Operations Center turned to wireless as a cost effective means of expanding both the capacity and reach of the network. To implement its current Sailor expansion, the Sailor Operations Center contracted with BIG to design and install a wireless backbone infrastructure in regions of Maryland where the price of leased services were not competitive.
“We figured wireless would be a win-win scenario for both the Sailor libraries and county governments,” noted Stuart Ragland, Sailor Project Manager. “Our partnership with counties and municipalities typically involves Sailor contributing radios, switches and network management for the point-to-point backbone segments and the counties providing space on radio and water towers. The counties’ point-to-multipoint solution and Sailor point-to-point equipment are collocated on the towers and in the equipment sheds. The counties tap into the Sailor backbone via Ethernet,” added Michael Walsh, Sailor Network Operations Manager.
“Alvarion is proud to be part of this prestigious and ambitious project,” commented Amir Rosenzweig, president of Alvarion, Inc. “As the most expansive public wireless deployment in the country, the network wraps together the diverse needs of multiple schools, libraries and agencies into a single broadband and public safety project. And to be cost effective, a deployment of this scope requires very high capacity, high security, and the ability to deliver it all reliably in a non-line-of-sight environment --challenges which our BreezeACCESS system was expressly designed to overcome. The net result is an enormous benefit to both the local and state agencies and the public.”
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About Alvarion
With more than 2 million units deployed in 130 countries, Alvarion is the worldwide leader in wireless broadband providing systems to carriers, ISPs and private network operators. Leading the WiMAX revolution, Alvarion has the most extensive deployments and proven product portfolio in the industry covering the full range of frequency bands. Alvarion’s products enable the delivery of business and residential broadband access, corporate VPNs, toll quality telephony, mobile base station feeding, Hotspot coverage extension, community interconnection, and public safety communications. Alvarion works with several top OEM providers and over 200 local partners to support its diverse global customer base in solving their last-mile challenges.
As a wireless broadband pioneer, Alvarion has been driving and delivering innovations for over 10 years from core technology developments to creating and promoting industry standards. Leveraging its key roles in the IEEE and HiperMAN standards committees and experience deploying OFDM-based systems, the company's prominent work in the WiMAX Forum is focused on increasing widespread adoption of standards-based products in the wireless broadband market.
For more information, visit Alvarion’s World Wide Web site at www.alvarion.com.
About B.I.G.
Business Information Group (BIG) is a leading Wireless Integration, Security, and Virtual Communications technology firm based in historic York Pennsylvania. BIG supports one of the country's largest certified, high-speed wireless, data & VoIP community broadband networks. BIG reaches over 400,000 square miles of wireless network design and installation. For more information, please visit www.4service.net.
About Sailor
Sailor is a project of Maryland’s Public Libraries providing access to a wide variety of information services via the Sailor Network. The Sailor Network is operated from the Sailor Operations Center at Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore. Established in 1994, the Sailor Network celebrated its 10th anniversary in July. For more information about Sailor, please visit the Sailor website at www.soc.lib.md.us.
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