Covad Wireless, , has successfully completed a WiMAX lab test and field trial in the San Francisco Bay area. As a result, Covad will move forward with plans to roll out WiMAX service later this year with Santa Barbara-based Axxcelera as its preferred WiMAX equipment vendor.
The trial included field testing for the reach and performance of Covad’s service with Axxcelera’s AB-MAX platform WiMAX equipment. The trial confirmed a total symmetric bandwidth of 8.0+ Mbps at 5+ miles and registered less than one percent packet loss and less than 50ms network latency.
Covad will use Axxcelera’s WiMAX equipment to power its flagship “Super-T” product, which offers up to 6.0 Mbps of symmetric, business-class broadband access. Covad will begin deployment of its new WIMAX equipment at existing base station locations in Los Angeles, Orange County and the San Francisco Bay Area. Deployment will continue throughout 2008 and into 2009.
“Covad has built a profitable, growing wireless broadband business, using pre-WiMAX equipment, in the San Francisco Bay Area, greater Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Chicago. We see great potential in Axxcelera’s WiMAX equipment that will allow us to enhance our existing Internet access services with additional Ethernet-based wireless service features. These features include class of service options, enhanced reliability, and expanded network capacity,” said Lee Gopadze, general manager, Covad Wireless. “This field test is an important step towards Covad’s WiMAX rollout later this year. Axxcelera’s equipment exceeded our expectations.”
“We are pleased that Covad Wireless has chosen us as its preferred WiMAX equipment vendor,” said Jamal Hamdani, CEO of Axxcelera. “Axxcelera has made significant investments in its latest WiMAX platform and we view Covad’s decision as evidence of that quality.”
Covad Wireless operates California’s largest broadband fixed wireless network to serve businesses. Covad Wireless solutions range from DSL and T1 replacement to high-capacity service with data speeds up to 45 Mbps (the speed of a full DS3). These services provide high-speed, high-quality broadband that can be deployed in days, instead of weeks.