NEXTNET WIRELESS PROVES NON LINE-OF-SIGHT MMDS SYSTEM IN OLYMPIA, WA FIELD TEST
NEW OFDM BASED PLATFORM THRIVES IN DENSE PINE TREE ENVIRONMENT OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Minneapolis, MN — March 14, 2001 — NextNet Wireless, developer of the industry’s
first non line-of-sight broadband wireless access system, with self-installable
indoor customer premise equipment (CPE), announced today that it has successfully
completed field trials of its Expedience™ system over MMDS frequencies
owned by US Wirefree, in Olympia, WA. The non line-of-sight field trials
confirmed that the Expedience system effectively delivers high-speed fixed
wireless services over MMDS frequencies in densely populated, and highly
obstructed areas, such as the Pacific Northwest.
Propagation and end-to-end performance tests were conducted using the
Expedience MMDS broadband access platform and off-the-shelf network performance
measurement software. The Expedience base station, designed for multi-cellular
market deployments, was installed on a local hospital building. Measurements
were taken from over fifty locations within a five-mile radius, through
a proliferation of pine and fir trees, hilly terrain, and dense fog and
rain.
“We tried to find the toughest environment in the country to prove
our non line-of-sight solution,” stated NextNet vice president of
marketing Chuck Riggle. “The Pacific Northwest was chosen because
it is a highly populated area, and not conducive to good radio signal
propagation, where hilly terrain, dense pine trees, and rain combine to
absorb RF energy and create severe multipath interference. Our unique
combination of multi-carrier OFDM, and advanced equalization techniques
(both upstream and downstream), enable the Expedience platform to operate
robustly in truly non line-of-sight indoor CPE environments. We are extremely
pleased with the outstanding performance that was consistently recorded
from numerous points within the coverage area of our base station,”
Riggle concluded.
The non line-of-sight Expedience solution is designed for MMDS service
providers, and their small office/home office and residential subscribers.
The end-to-end system consists of a fully-integrated, self-installable,
indoor CPE (modem-transceiver-antenna unit), and a highly integrated base
station. The compact base station design mounts easily at the base of
existing cell sites, towers or on buildings. The non line-of-sight system
uniquely eliminates rooftop antennas and truck-roll installations to the
home, making it extremely cost effective to deploy, even in those markets
currently served by cable, DSL or other wireless solutions.
NextNet will roll out its MMDS Expedience™
system in the first quarter of this year, shipping
in limited quantities to beta partners, with full
production targeted for the second quarter of 2001.
About NextNet Wireless
NextNet Wireless is a privately held start-up company focused on building
MMDS non line-of-sight broadband wireless access systems for rapid deployment
of high-speed, two-way voice and data services over the “last mile”
of the communications network. The Company’s end-to-end Expedience™
system enables MMDS service providers to deliver low-cost, converged services
to small office/home office and residential subscribers over a single
multi-service network. This technology will initially be applied to the
MMDS band (2.5 to 2.686 GHz), and later leveraged to other frequency bands
and applications.
NextNet’s primary investors include ZAMBA Corporation (NASDAQ: ZMBA),
Globespan Capital Partners, DCM-Doll Capital Management, Cabletron Systems, Inc. (NYSE:
CS), and others.
About US Wirefree
US Wirefree (USW) is a privately held, vertically integrated carrier,
focused on providing metropolitan area services. In the fixed wireless
community network, USW will use licensed MMDS spectrum to deliver non
line-of-sight broadband wireless access, allowing consumers to receive
seamless full-time connectivity over multi-megabit bandwidth. US Wirefree
is preparing to deliver breakthrough solutions for consumer and business
services.
Media contact: Don Roat, Marketing Manager; droat@uswirefree.com;
Telephone: 877-781-1121; Fax: 760-770-4723.
