Sparkplug Taps SMBs with Broadband Wireless

There’s no doubt that wireless fits for the SMB/E market. In short, the hunger for bandwidth is pushing businesses up against the limits of the wired plant. The problem, explained Bill Malloy, chairman at Sparkplug, is the fact that most companies are reliant on copper. “When you get down to the block level, small or midsized businesses generally don't locate into an on-fiber building,” Malloy continued. “This is a phenomenon we see time and time again. So there’s no high-speed access beyond a certain level, and if they want it, it’s very cost-prohibitive to do it via copper.”

Broadband wireless can provide Internet connections in a range of climates, including snowy Chicago.

Source: Motorola Inc.

For instance, businesses might have a T1 but outgrow it, so the next step is generally to go with a bonded solution to get 3mbps, “which is a costly process in both equipment and time,” said Sparkplug’s Brimhall. “Wireless, on the other hand, lets us serve that company that wants to get 2mbps symmetrical and be able to scale it up as needed, but who doesn’t want to pay for more than it needs right now. Our wireless approach allows the network to grow with you without having to add a lot of cost in along the way, and that’s an attractive alternative to the LEC.”

In fact, he added, a Sparkplug solution can serve customers for as much as 30 to 50 percent less in monthly recurring charges than a wired approach.

The wireless alternative, he reiterated, is cost-effective, fast, easily deployable and scalable, providing dedicated broadband access with full diversity. To this last point: “We build our own networks on Motorola equipment and backhaul the traffic to a central PoP, where we have full redundancy with multiple backbone providers,” Malloy noted.

To improve the economics, Sparkplug is using Ethernet over its broadband wireless network. “We made a specific decision to go after Ethernet delivery because of the advantages in class-of-service designations for applications, and it’s a lower cost-per-bit mechanism, which helps with price competition plus its service is feature-rich,” said Malloy.

Sparkplug began by deploying the first generation of Motorola’s point-to-multipoint Canopy equipment, and along the way added equipment for backhaul and point-to-point applications. “We selected Motorola as our infrastructure vendor because you will not find a more reliable, stable, does-everything-it-says-it-should-do radio and product on the market,” said Malloy. “It’s very interference-tolerant as well; Motorola’s gear has to cohabitate with other network elements.”

Sponsored Links	xchange Announcements

Sparkplug Taps SMBs with Broadband Wireless

The Wireless Difference