Aperto Networks Announces PacketWave™ System for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access

Innovative F-BWA Solution with Dynamic Per-Subscriber Optimization for Multi-service, Multi-Cell 2.5, 3.5, and 5GHz Carrier Networks  

Milpitas, Calif., (February 5, 2001) – Aperto Networks, a developer of second-generation fixed broadband wireless access systems, today announced its scalable, point-to-multipoint PacketWave family of base station, subscriber units, and associated radios and antennas in 2.5, 3.5, 5.3 and 5.8 GHz frequency bands for carrier networks worldwide.  

“Our market entry with PacketWave is the first step towards Aperto’s mission of universal availability of broadband access,” emphasized Aperto CEO and president Dr. Reza Ahy. “PacketWave applies Aperto’s breakthrough technologies - RapidBurst™, ServiceQ™ and OptimaLink™ – to give carriers real-world multi-service network deployment solutions with scalable capacity, coverage, and mass market cost-effectiveness.”   PacketWave’s performance features include  

• Advanced architecture maximizing carriers’ spectrum utilization with high frequency reuse
• Up to 20Mbps burst rates over a 6 MHz channel
• Line-of-sight, obstructed line-of-sight, and non line-of-sight coverage
• Advanced interference mitigation and management for multi-cell networks
• IP-Based multi-service delivery in high capacity QoS-enabled networks
• Dynamic per-subscriber link optimization.

PacketWave Product Family
The PacketWave 1000 Base Station uses advanced TDMA and bi-directional burst mode transmission to achieve the efficiency of bandwidth on demand. Each Base Station is equipped with multiple wireless ports and one 100Mbps Fast Ethernet network port. With plug-in modules, each PacketWave 1000 supports a six-sector cell and OC-3/STM-1 backhaul using ATM or POS. The Base Station is stackable for scalable capacity and redundancy. Combined with innovative implementation of cellular deployment and frequency re-use techniques, the platform enables carriers to support over a thousand subscribers per cell and easily scale up by adding channels.  

The PacketWave 1000 Base Station is designed to operate with adaptive TDD or FDD radios. Initial systems will be available with adaptive TDD radios for 2.5, 3.5, 5.3 and 5.8 GHz bands. Optimizing the wireless connection to each subscriber, OptimaLink dynamically adjusts up to ten PHY and MAC-layer parameters, including antennas with spatial and polarization diversity, modulation, power allocation, retransmission policy and frame size. This ensures that the wireless connection to each subscriber has the optimal throughput and reliability. In addition, the coverage area is expanded to reach subscribers previously inaccessible due to obstructed-line-of-sight or non-line-of-sight conditions.  

PacketWave 100-series subscriber units support between 1 and 200 hosts or individual users, are SNMP-manageable, and include both a compact indoor unit with Ethernet 10/100 interface and a frequency specific integrated radio/antenna unit for 2.5, 3.5, 5.3 and 5.8 GHz bands. Highly modular and user-installable, the units come configured for up to five users (PacketWave 110) with bridging capability, up to 20 users (PacketWave 120) with bridging and network address translation (NAT), and up to 200 users (PacketWave 130) with bridging, NAT and routing.  

Aperto’s product offerings include highly scalable element and subscriber management tools to monitor, configure, and provision the system and deliver multiple services. New subscribers are provisioned in minutes using the JAVA based WaveCenter™ Configuration Manager. Multiple service flows are supported per subscriber, using highly flexible subscriber profiles that work in conjunction with Aperto’s ServiceQ. This gives service providers the ability to offer granular levels of service and bandwidth guarantees appropriate to specific customer applications.  

"Aperto’s new systems appear to offer the ultimate in flexibility for carriers to configure new wireless networks that integrate with legacy architectures, while migrating them to second-generation, more powerful and cost-effective F-BWA," observed Paul Kellett, senior director -research of Pioneer Consulting, a leading global broadband telecommunications market analysis firm.  

General availability for global markets will commence by mid-2001 for all four sub-11GHz frequencies.  

About Aperto Networks

Aperto Networks is a developer of multi-service fixed broadband wireless access systems. The company was founded to provide a breakthrough solution to one of today’s critical network bottlenecks – last-mile broadband access. With practical, scalable systems and patent-pending technology that support new wireless builds and complement existing wireline broadband access technology, Aperto addresses service provider needs for rapid network deployment, multi-service scalability, ease of installation and cost-effectiveness. Aperto will dramatically shorten the lengthy provisioning cycles of broadband services by enabling rapid service provisioning across dense urban to suburban locations. Investors in Aperto include Alliance Ventures, Tyco Ventures, Ridgewood Capital, DMC Stratex Networks, Oki Electric Industry Company, Mitsubishi International Corporation, Satwik Ventures and Redwood Ventures. For more information on Aperto Networks, go to www.apertonet.com.