Wireless Broadband Solution Increases Communication Among Satellite Offices

Edmonton Economic Development Corporation's (EEDC) (Edmonton, Alberta) headquarters in Edmonton's Shaw Conference Center was having trouble electronically communicating with its nearby satellite locations. Data servers were housed at the Shaw Conference Center, but employees in EEDC's Advanced Technology Center (ATC), 6.2 miles away, require frequent access to those servers. The 1 Mbps throughput VPN (virtual private network) used by the ATC didn't provide the bandwidth needed to ensure fast access for multiple users and applications. Also, EEDC's Visitor Information Center, an additional 3 miles from the ATC, used a dial-up connection to access headquarters.

After considering a fiber-optic connection and finding it cost-prohibitive, EEDC consulted Glentel, Inc. (Burnaby, British Columbia), a wireless networking VAR. Glentel recommended purchasing a point-to-point wireless solution from Electro-Comm Distributing, Inc. (Denver). Electro-Comm sold Glentel a broadband wireless Ethernet bridge, OS-Gemini, from Orthogon Systems (Waltham, MA). The OS-Gemini provides carrier-grade availability and accommodates non-line-of-sight connections.

Glentel completed the installation in 16 hours, placing two OS-Gemini point-to-point links on apartment buildings to connect the ATC. The new connection provides 15 Mbps of throughput, both upstream and downstream, with 99.9% availability. This is 10 times more bandwidth than a fiber-optic solution would have provided and at a lower cost. Glentel placed another OS-Gemini link between the ATC and the visitor center, enabling broadband where a dial-up connection had existed, thereby connecting the three sites in a high-speed extended LAN environment.