Message #19 From:
Stock News Bot Date: October 17, 2006 05:09:00 AM
GGBM News GigaBeam WiFiber(R) To Be Deployed in Boston WiFi Pilot By MetroNext
HERNDON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GigaBeam Corporation (NASDAQ:GGBM) announced today that its WiFiber®
wireless fiber links, to be provided by MetroNext Inc., will be the
backhaul for the City of Boston’s WiFi pilot
project in Roxbury’s Grove Hall and Dudley
Station neighborhoods of Boston. As described in the attached City of
Boston press release, Boston is taking the first steps in implementing
the recommendations of its Wireless Task Force. The Task Force
recommended setting up a city wide wholesale non-profit organization to
sell WiFi access to any retail entity, and the retailers will provide
access to consumers and businesses in Boston. MetroNext Inc. is a “next
generation” metropolitan network service
provider offering high capacity services for voice, video, data and
Internet access.
The City of Boston press release said, “MetroNext
will provide the network’s Internet backhaul
connection; GigaBeam Corp. will provide ultra high-speed radio equipment
to facilitate the transmittal of the Internet backhaul.”
Tom Wetmore, MetroNext’s founder, said, “We
are enthusiastic about the opportunity to provide the City of Boston
with fiber speed communications services critical to meeting its
laudable objectives.” Mr. Wetmore added, “The
Grove Hall and Dudley Square neighborhood pilot gives all of us the
opportunity to demonstrate that we can provide underserved metro area
residents and businesses in Boston and throughout the United States with
vital high-speed communications services at affordable prices.”
Lou Slaughter, GigaBeam’s Chairman and CEO,
stated, “We are thrilled to be working with
MetroNext and the Boston Wireless Initiative in the Grove Hall and
Dudley Square area of Boston. This pilot project is a perfect venue to
demonstrate the benefits of our 1 Gbps WiFiber product and its
advantages to Boston and other cities developing similar WiFi networks.
The very high data rate of WiFiber is ideal for the backhaul
requirements of the network, including the inevitable peak loadings of
WiFi networks supporting many users. We anticipate there will also be
additional bandwidth capacity on our links to support other City
applications such as administrative, security, video monitoring, large
file transfer and storage. We expect this pilot to demonstrate how our
WiFiber, with its fiber equivalent capacity, is critical to the
deployment of efficient and effective city wide WiFi networks.”
GigaBeam WiFiber products operate in the 71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz radio
spectrum bands. This portion of the radio frequency spectrum has been
authorized by the Federal Communications Commission and the European
Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) for
wireless point-to-point commercial use. Use of these frequency bands for
commercial use was pioneered by GigaBeam’s
founders.
GigaBeam’s technology, utilizing these large
blocks of authorized contiguous spectrum, enables
multi-Gigabit-per-second communications through use of Gigabit Ethernet
and other standard protocols. The current speed achieved by GigaBeam’s
WiFiber G-1.25 product series is full duplex at one Gigabit-per-second
(equivalent to 647 T1 lines or 1,000 DSL connections) which supports
GigE protocol. GigaBeam recently announced its WiFiber G-2.7 series, to
be released in Q4, 2006, which will operate at 2.7 Gbps. The protocols
to be supported by the G-2.7 product series include 2 x GigE (2 x 1
Gbps); OC-48 / STM-16 (2.488 Gbps); SMPTE 292M (1.485 Gbps) and both 1
and 2 Gbps fiber channel. GigaBeam also plans deployment of future
products capable of 10 Gigabits-per-second utilizing either the 10
Gigabit Ethernet or OC-192 protocol standards.
GigaBeam’s WiFiber technology is similar to
terrestrial fiber in terms of speed and reliability for deployment in
Metropolitan Area Networks (MANS). However, WiFiber has a substantial
advantage over terrestrial fiber because WiFiber can be deployed in a
day and costs less to deploy than terrestrial fiber. Terrestrial fiber
can take months to deploy and also require significant regulatory and
environmental approvals prior to installation.
GigaBeam is a provider of high-performance wireless point-to-point
communications access solutions that operate in the licensed 71-76 GHz
and 81-86 GHz radio spectrum bands. GigaBeam equipment operates at
multi-gigabit-per-second speeds. GigaBeam Corporation headquarters is
located at 470 Springpark Place, Suite 900, Herndon, VA 20170. For more
information, visit www.gigabeam.com.
About MetroNext, Inc.
MetroNext, Inc. is a “next generation”
metropolitan network service provider offering high capacity services
for voice, video, data and Internet transport and access at one Gigabit
per second and beyond. MetroNext’s backbone
completely bypasses local land-line networks. Medium to large scale users—including
governments, enterprises, and other carriers—now
have their first true network service alternative for primary and
back-up communications, as well as disaster recovery. MetroNext
high-speed carrier-class Ethernet-based communications services are less
costly, just as reliable, and more flexible than current competitive
offerings utilizing advanced wireless technology from GigaBeam and
MetroNext’s fault tolerant deployment
architecture. The equipment and network designs being deployed by
MetroNext in the Northeast have already been successfully implemented
throughout the US and around the world. For more information, visit www.metronext.com
Safe Harbor Statement
Statements in this press release regarding GigaBeam's products,
services, capabilities, performance, opportunities, development and
business outlook that are forward-looking involve and are subject to
known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which
are beyond GigaBeam's control and difficult to predict, and could cause
actual results to differ materially from these anticipated, expressed or
forecasted in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and
uncertainties may include, but are not limited to: lack of operating
history, transitioning from a development company to an operating
company, difficulties in distinguishing GigaBeam's products and
services, ability to manufacture and deploy GigaBeam's products, lack of
or delay in market acceptance and fluctuations in customer demand,
dependence on a limited number of significant customers, reliance on
third party vendors and strategic partners, availability of raw
materials, subassemblies and components, ability to meet future capital
requirements on acceptable terms, continuing uncertainty in the
telecommunications industry and the global economy, intense competition
in the telecommunications equipment industry and resulting impact on
pricing and general financial performance, compliance with federal and
state regulatory requirements, timing, availability and success of new
technology and product introductions and the other factors discussed in
GigaBeam's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Menino Announces City's First WiFi Pilot Project
Grove Hall, Dudley Square Area to Host First Demonstration;
Mayor Also Lights Two Downtown WiFi Hot Spots as
City's Wireless Initiative Takes Off
Mayor Thomas Menino today announced that the city’s
wireless initiative will begin work immediately on its first
demonstration program, a square-mile network in Roxbury’s
Grove Hall and Dudley Square neighborhoods. The mayor also today lit two
wireless hot spots in Quincy Market and in the North End’s
Columbus Park, making it possible for business people, tourists, and
residents who visit the areas to access the Internet anytime.
“We said we would move quickly and we have,”
Mayor Menino said. “The Boston Wireless
Initiative is up and running.”
The Quincy Market hot spot will provide service throughout the
marketplace area and will also cover the area around City Hall Plaza.
Two companies, Galaxy Internet Services and SkyPilot, donated the
service and equipment. The International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers Local 103 (IBEW) donated time and labor for the radio
installation. The Columbus Park hot spot is the result of a
collaboration among Verizon, Cisco, Inc., the Boston Redevelopment
Authority, and the Boston Parks Department.
“The downtown locations will help boost
economic growth by making the city an even more attractive place to work
and visit,” Mayor Menino said. “But
the Grove Hall and Dudley Square initiative –
which is really a network, not just a hot spot –
sends a clear message to the neighborhoods that bringing service to
everyone is our number one priority.”
In its report last summer, the mayor’s
Wireless Task Force found that only 43 percent of Boston residents have
high-speed Internet service and city officials estimate that access in
less affluent areas like Grove Hall is far below that percentage. What’s
more, as many as 80 percent of Boston Public Schools students do not
have access at home.
In order to bridge this so-called “digital
divide” while at the same time jump-starting
economic growth, the task force recommended a unique model that relies
on a non-profit entity to build the citywide wireless system. The
non-profit will build a wholesale network open to any Internet Service
Provider, thus creating a hotbed for competition and innovation. Prices
for the service are expected to be as low as $10 - $15 a month.
According to Menino, the Roxbury demonstration project will cover about
one square mile and will reach about 5000 households. The service, which
will be 25 times faster than dial-up, will initially be offered free but
eventually will move to the fee-based structure envisioned by the task
force.
Four companies have agreed to donate time and service to the Grove Hall
and Dudley Square project: BelAir Networks will provide Wi-Fi mesh radio
nodes, antennae and other equipment; MetroNext, Inc. will provide the
network’s Internet backhaul connection;
GigaBeam Corp. will provide ultra high-speed radio equipment to
facilitate the transmittal of the Internet backhaul; and Charys will
install and operate the network. In addition, Galaxy and US Internet
have agreed to be retail ISPs for the demonstration project.
“Building an actual neighborhood network so
quickly would not have been possible without the support of these
companies and Local 103,” said Pam Reeve, a
former software executive who was tapped by Menino in July to serve as
interim chief executive of the wireless initiative. Reeve said
installation of the equipment is expected to begin later this year.
Menino was joined at the formal ceremony at Quincy Market by Reeve, City
officials, representatives of the companies working on both projects,
community representatives from the Grove Hall Dudley Square areas, and
students from TechBoston Academy and the Trotter Elementary School in
Grove Hall.
Among the Grove Hall area community members leaders who joined Mayor
Menino were Reverend Greg Groover from Charles AME Church; Darnell
William, from the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts; Sister Virginia
Morrison, Executive Director of the Grove Hall Neighborhood Development
Corporation; Jeanne Pinado, Executive Director of Madison Park
Development Corporation; Frederica Williams, Executive Director of the
Whittier Health Center; Jeanne DuBois, Executive Director of the
Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation; Jose Duran, Executive
Director of the Hispanic Office for Planning and Evaluation (HOPE);
Ricardo Neal, Executive Director of Freedom House; Claudia Smith-Reid,
Executive Director of the Roxbury Multi Service Center; Vanessa
Calderon, Executive Director of Inquilinos Boriquas en Accion (IBA); and
Curtis Henderson, President of the Timothy Smith Network.
