Wireless broadband solutions provider Alvarion has introduced two new converged solutions combining Wi-Fi functionality with both WiMAX and pre-WiMAX products.
The BreezeMAX WI2 and BreezeACCESS WI2 enable carriers to capture additional revenues, while moving toward advanced personal broadband services, providing a cost-effective, converged network that combines high performance Wi-Fi portability for IEEE 802.11b/g devices with WiMAX quality-of-service, according to company executives.
Each solution consists of an outdoor Wi-Fi access point with an integrated power module capable of connecting to various commercial power sources, either a BreezeMAX or BreezeACCESS VL unit for backhaul, and system and network management software.
Using the WI2 product as a fully ruggedized, all-outdoor Wi-Fi access point solution for hot-zone applications, service providers deploying WiMAX networks can extend their BreezeMAX networks in 2.3, 2.5 or 3.X GHz and BreezeACCESS VL networks in 5 GHz with Wi-Fi hot-spot coverage.
Company officials say the result is full support in a single broadband network for both WiMAX users and subscribers using standard Wi-Fi devices such as laptops, PDAs, smart phones, and portable gaming devices.
'Wi-Fi supported by WiMAX QoS answers the many demands of both public and private sector including public broadband access, traffic management, video surveillance, connecting city offices, homeland security, as well as growing number of personal broadband applications,' said Rudy Leser, Alvarion's corporate VP of strategy and marketing.
'And with both WI2 products, existing broadband wireless operators can now leverage their current infrastructure to capture consumer and business/government segments for bandwidth-intensive applications in a mobile environment. This gives them an early market advantage towards mobile broadband services and the offering of personal broadband.'
BreezeMAX is Alvarion's WiMAX-certified platform designed from the ground up according to the IEEE 802.16 standards, using OFDM technology for advanced non-line-of-sight (NLOS) functionality.
Its carrier-class design supports broadband speeds and quality of service to enable carriers to offer triple-play broadband services to thousands of subscribers in a single base station. Since its launch in mid-2004, BreezeMAX has been successfully deployed in over 180 installations in more than 80 countries around the world, according to Alvarion.