Beyond Mobile and Public Safety, Microwave Finds its Niche

Posted on by Aviat Networks

As we have seen recently, microwave radio continues to find new and niche applications beyond the archetypical mobile operator and public safety markets. Long time Aviat partner/customer Vertel has been working on microwave broadband in the Australian healthcare sector for many years. And with the recent emphasis placed on servicing the healthcare sector by the rollout of the National Broadband Network across Australia—as NBN lumbers along toward a 2019 completion date—Vertel has been able to re-energize this niche application in microwave radio for its support of telemedicine and telehealth, as outlined recently in Pulse + IT Magazine. Continue reading →

Securing the Mobile Network: Why it’s Critical for All

Posted on by Aviat Networks
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Photo credit: jeff_golden / Foter.com / CC BY-SA

In an era of ubiquitous broadband communication at work and home, the issue of security in mobile backhaul is more important than ever. The new generation of LTE wireless technology is an enabler for applications such as mobile commerce, voice over IP (VoIP) and high-definition video delivery to smartphones, but it has also opened some sinkholes in the foundation that pre-LTE architectures and applications have established.

Impact of an Unsecure Mobile Network
Security incidents can have severe consequences for mobile network operators (MNOs). Short-term public relations hiccups can be dealt with, but over the long term, carriers are subject to subscriber churn, which can significantly influence profitability. Softpedia.com cited a study performed by Opinion Matters, whereby it was determined that 75 percent of smartphone users in the UK would likely change mobile providers if a security breach occurred on their current network.

In addition to subscriber churn, MNOs can face litigation and legal problems, especially when a security breach affects enterprise service. The economic impact can be several hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. In a report presented by McAfee at the World Economic Forum, it was found that more than half of 600 IT executives surveyed have suffered large-scale incidents that have associated downtime costs of over $6.5 million per day. For more on this topic, see the complete white paper below, which discusses the burgeoning need for security in mobile backhaul in terms of benefits to mobile network operators and society.

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Microwave Radios Extend Wide Area Network for Healthcare Provider

Posted on by Aviat Networks

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Aged care provider Life Care decided not to wait seven years for Australia’s National Broadband Network to reach the Adelaide suburbs. Instead, it commissioned an Aviat microwave radio high-capacity WAN. Photo credit: Douglas Barber [CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Microwave radio is many things: It is an enabling technology in support of the mobile phone revolution and all its dependent social networks. It is a dedicated system that provides the skeleton and musculature (i.e. infrastructure) that allows police, firefighters and other first responders to react in a coordinated fashion to both routine and emergency public safety incidents. But it also serves in lower profile but nonetheless very important niche applications around the world. Take for example the experience of a regional healthcare provider in South Australia.

In a recent article in the national newspaper The Australian, the networking story of Life Care, the umbrella organization for a series of five aged care facilities and 12 retirement “villages” in and around Adelaide, Australia, was detailed. With the rollout of the National Broadband Network slowly progressing across Australia and not anticipated to reach the Adelaide suburbs for seven years, Life Care decided it could not wait so long to connect its locations via high-capacity telecoms. It chose to bid out a project for its own private Wide Area Network (WAN). Aviat Networks partner MIMP Connecting Solutions won the contract as the incumbent vendor. The clincher on the deal: the capability of Aviat radios to connect the farthest outlying facility, at some 50 kilometers, in Aldinga with high-bandwidth wireless. Furthermore, MIMP could offer a licensed spectrum solution, free from interference, whereas the competitors could not. And with a breakeven ROI of just two years, an Aviat-powered microwave WAN was a no-brainer—the others were four-years-plus to payback. Continue reading →