SAN JOSE, Calif. -- November 15, 1999 -- Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, today announced the first products resulting from the Broadband Fixed Wireless Ecosystem announced last month (see "Cisco Drives Industry Standards for Broadband Wireless Internet Services"). The Cisco WT2700 Wireless Technology Suite is based on New World wireless technology that delivers two-way data, voice and video communications over the air to both homes and businesses, enabling high-speed services in obstructed paths, and increased revenue opportunities for service providers.
With wireless systems, service providers are no longer limited by the availability of physical wires to deliver differentiated broadband services such as Internet access and integrated data, voice and video, to non-traditional wireless markets. These systems install quickly and provide broadband services to areas in less time and at less cost than wire line alternatives. Based on Vector Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (VOFDM), Cisco's WT2700 products work in the MMDS and unlicensed UNII spectrums. VOFDM enables Cisco's wireless products to work well in congested city, suburban and rural environments by overcoming the line-of-sight, distance reach, subscriber coverage, installation, and antenna size problems of existing proprietary wireless systems in the lower frequency microwave bands. Cisco's wireless solutions also make it possible to deploy bypass solutions over existing incumbents, creating competitive solutions for the end user.
"The Cisco WT2700 extends Cisco's New World access portfolio of cable, digital subscriber line and wireless solutions to include broadband wireless connectivity in severely obstructed wireless links," said Paul Bosco, vice president and general manager of Cisco's Cable and Wireless Products and Solutions Group. "As the broadband fixed wireless market grows, this family of products will continue to expand to point-to-multipoint environments, and allow service providers to offer New World services to customers in new markets quicker and more cost-effectively."
The Cisco WT2700 is a wireless Wide Area Network (WAN) interface for the uBR7246 and uBR7223 Universal Broadband Routers (uBR), and enables any service provider to set up a point-to-point broadband connection today, while allowing them to rapidly deploy services and lower infrastructure costs. With the Cisco WT2700, service providers do not have to pay local loop access or costly DS3 backhaul charges, and receive quality, high-speed connectivity as an alternative to fiber or wire line. Service providers can also meet demands in broadband service markets that generate new high-margin revenue streams quickly and easily.
"We are very pleased to be the first provider in Asia Pacific to conduct a broadband fixed wireless network trial using the Cisco VOFDM-based wireless solution," said Paul Cheung, managing director of City Telecom Hong Kong Ltd. "Despite the complexity of the trial system, we managed to commission the whole system in less than three days. The system is easy to install with good reliability and scalability, and has performed to our great satisfaction. We have successfully established multimegabit wireless links providing Voice-over-IP, Video-on-Demand and IP Multicasting applications with limited line-of-sight, an essential capability for extending the service coverage in a densely populated urban area like Hong Kong. With Cisco's VOFDM solution, we have an integrated Cisco IOS software-based solution that will enable new services for our customers as well as a profitable new market segment for CTI."
The Cisco uBR7200 series with WT2700 interface runs native Cisco IOS. software, and seamlessly integrates into Cisco's networking infrastructure, network management and provisioning tools. In addition, the VOFDM technology lowers the cost of provisioning a wireless network while increasing overall subscriber coverage. Consumers and businesses will now be able to receive broadband access in more areas at more affordable costs.
Pricing and Availability
The Cisco WT2700 interface is orderable immediately and is priced starting at $21,850.
Cisco Systems
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