Customer demand for more Mbps pushes IEC to upgrade wireless network
Illinois Electric Cooperative (IEC) has recently selected Proxim Wireless’ solutions to upgrade its network infrastructure delivering upwards of 50Mbps to each customer.
Established in 1936 and covering a territory of about 2300 square miles, IEC provides public utility services including broadband services for residents and organizations across 10 counties in west-central Illinois. IEC was looking for a reliable solution to provide a rich broadband experience to its users.
“When we started our fixed wireless internet service in 2006, a 1MB connection was more than adequate. Today, that won’t even adequately run their Netflix. We feel there is a constant need to keep pace with consumer expectations on bandwidth,” said Sean Middleton, Manager of Engineering, IEC, “We already owned substantial tower infrastructure with legacy products at lower bandwidth capacity. We needed more bandwidth for the same base station and CPE price point as our legacy system.”
“Proxim offered us bandwidth speeds greater than our legacy offerings with better noise mitigation. We were also very impressed with Proxim’s provisioning platform and ProximVision® Advanced (PVA) software for management. None of the other wireless manufacturers had the same carrier class connectivity and throughput we were looking for with an organizing package such as PVA,” Sean Middleton concluded.
Upgrading the network involved not only higher capacities to the end users, but increased throughput in the backbone was also necessary. The Tsunami QuickBridge® 10100 product with up to 650Mbps of useable throughput was deployed in the backbone. CPEs and Base Stations, over 1200 units to date, provide last mile connectivity.
In addition to the Tsunami upgrades performed, IEC also began deploying Proxim’s outdoor rated WiFi AP, the ORiNOCO® AP-9100R. All of this is managed with ProximVision Advanced, a carrier class hybrid network controller.
“In the recent years, we have taken our wireless solutions to a whole new level in terms of noise mitigation and higher QoS. We also realized the importance of an advanced carrier management and controller system. PVA gives experienced Service Providers like IEC the power to manage and differentiate their client offerings,” said Greg Marzullo, CEO and President, Proxim Wireless.
