• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Vanu, Inc. Announces the First Commercial Software Radio Deployment in Canada

Posted on: Wednesday, 21 September 2005, 09:00 CDT

Ice Wireless rollout of Anywave GSM system extends cellular reach to remote communities; roughly half will experience cellular service for the first time

Vanu, Inc today announced that Ice Wireless of Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada, is deploying the Vanu Anywave(TM) GSM Base Station system to introduce cellular service to many remote Canadian communities. This deployment will bring much anticipated GSM service across Canada's extreme Northern region; an operating area that is roughly two thirds the size of the continental United States. The initial system installation will cover 10 remote communities with additional locations being deployed over the next 24 months. In addition to providing wireless service to local subscribers, the Ice Wireless network will also carry roaming traffic for other wireless operators.

The Ice Wireless network will rely on Vanu's innovative software radio solution that runs as a software application on industry standard servers; in this case, off-the-shelf servers from Dell and HP will serve as the base station platforms. The flexibility in choice of computing platforms underscores the value of portable software for wireless carriers and enables them to no longer be locked into expensive, proprietary hardware solutions. In addition to providing rural carriers with a more cost effective means for deploying new services, Anywave's ability to simultaneously implement multiple wireless standards on a single network presents a significant cost benefit and new revenue generating opportunities for operators of any size.

"After much consideration, we chose the Anywave solution from Vanu because it enables us to cost effectively offer new GSM services to markets and territories that were cost prohibitive before," stated Tom Zubko, President of Ice Wireless. "Adding support for new standards and services in the future will be simple software downloads, not hardware upgrades, which should significantly reduce our capital and operating costs."

Future wireless networks that will simultaneously support combinations of GSM/GPRS, EDGE, CDMA, 3G and 4G standards, will allow rural carriers to enter into roaming agreements with multiple nationwide operators, and support a myriad of circuit switch, packet and multimedia services. The Anywave software orientation and IP architecture also allows for other innovative capabilities such as remote network monitoring and the ability to work with a range of backhaul solutions including T1, microwave, fiber, satellite, cable modem and DSL. Anywave can also be integrated to both legacy MSC switch configurations as well as the new generation of emerging soft switches.

"The deployment of the Anywave solution with Ice Wireless is yet another proof point that Vanu's software radio technology represents a viable alternative to a traditional legacy network approach and that the Vanu brand of software radio is well on its way to widespread adoption," said John Winn, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Vanu Inc. "Software radio enables a radically different approach to wireless communications and has broad market applicability beyond rural carriers as well."

Vanu offers the Anywave Base Station as a turnkey system fully implemented, tested and optimized for each deployment by the company's expert service professionals. Pricing is customized for each customer based upon the underlying hardware, network complexity and services required.

About Vanu, Inc.

Vanu, Inc. is the developer of the Anywave(TM) Base Station, the world's first U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)-certified software radio. The Anywave Base Station affords greater flexibility than traditional radios and offers wireless network operators the ability to lower CAPEX and OPEX and to use their spectrum more efficiently. Vanu applies modern software engineering techniques to the high-speed signal processing elements at the core of wireless devices to create portable software radio applications increasing the pace of innovation in wireless devices. The company licenses software radio components and applications and provides design-consulting services to wireless OEMs, system integrators and service providers. Vanu was founded in 1998 and is based in Cambridge, Mass. www.vanu.com

About Ice Wireless

ICE Wireless is northern Canadian company that is a partnership between New North Networks of Inuvik, the Vuntut Development Corporation of Old Crow, Yukon and the Yukon Indian Development Corporation located in Whitehorse. Through commitment and innovation, this joint venture company provides affordable service to communities in the Yukon, NWT and Nunavut.

Source: Business Wire

More News in this Category