Centerpoint Broadband Technologies Inc., an optical networking company based in San Jose, Calif., revealed this week it is expanding the reach and capabilities of its core technology to serve the local multipoint distribution services industry.
The company’s new point-to-point technology is capable of delivering data rate speeds of 30-310 Megabits per second in a single radio, with future growth up to 622 Mbps.
Dana Waldman, chief executive officer of Centerpoint, said its wireless offering essentially is a modem technology. The company’s Adaptive Integrated Multi-rate Radios can mix and match Sonet and Internet Protocol traffic, all on the same signal and provide double the capacity at half the cost of similar offerings.
“It’s all about very high capacity, but also flexible capacity,” Waldman said.
The company’s optical technology, upon which the wireless technology is based, is licensed from Lockheed Martin. Centerpoint’s wireless broadband system allows service providers to choose from spectral efficiency or higher systems gain, which yields longer distances, the company said.
In addition to the core equipment, Centerpoint also provides all the software and related network management equipment.
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At this point in the game, most of the LMDS service providers already have network equipment in place and are in the process of launching markets. Centerpoint believes, however, its belated entry into the market will have little impact on its future.
“In this next generation of installation, they (LMDS carriers) will put our radios in … We see us as fulfilling the void in the capacity as they upgrade,” said Mort Cohen, Centerpoint’s senior director of marketing for broadband wireless.
The company plans to formally launch its wireless broadband product during the second quarter.
In related news, Centerpoint said it opened a sales, research and development office in England following the acquisition of selected assets of Fresnel Wireless Systems.
Waldman said the deregulation of the telecommunications sector in Europe and the acquisition of Fresnel will put the company in a strong position to take advantage of the increased demand for bandwidth throughout Europe.
Centerpoint is privately owned and has secured approximately $200 million in funding to date. The company has about 300 employees.