First Deployment Unwires the Alamo Plaza in San Antonio, Texas
Baltimore, MD – Voice over Wi-Fi Planet – June 15, 2005 – Pronto Networks, a leading provider of carrier-class operations support systems (OSS) for managing large scale Wi-Fi networks, and BelAir Networks, the first company to offer scalable wide-area wireless broadband solutions for metro-scale deployments, today announced a partnership that offers service providers solutions to cost-effectively and easily deploy complete large scale wireless networks. The companies’ first joint deployment covers the downtown/Alamo Plaza area of San Antonio, Texas.
The joint offering gives service providers the ability to deploy metro-region wireless networks quickly, and in a way that guarantees users the highest quality experience. It combines the BelAir100 and BelAir200 Multi-service Switch Routers with the Pronto OSS for a robust end-to-end metro scale solution. The Pronto/BelAir partnership enables the companies’ sales and marketing teams to work together on channel programs, cross training, joint marketing and sales, and customer opportunities.
“The primary advantage of the BelAir/Pronto offering is our strong presence and experience in the municipal market and BelAir’s innovative wireless multi-service architecture to deliver next generation services to cities and businesses,” said Jasbir Singh, president and CEO of Pronto Networks. “Municipal broadband deployments are growing at a rapid rate, and we can help service providers cost-effectively deploy carrier-grade, metro-scale broadband networks to meet their individual needs today and into the future.”
Working with SA Unwired.net, a local San Antonio area service provider, Hotzone Integrators (www.hotzoneintegrators.com), a full service consulting and integration firm, and NAS Wireless (www.naswireless.com), one of the leading integrators of turnkey Wi-Fi wireless LAN (WLAN) and outdoor WAN networks in the United States, designed and deployed the wireless hot zone that spans several blocks of shops, restaurants and businesses in the Alamo Plaza, located just across the street from the Mission San Antonio de Valero - The Alamo. It took SA Unwired, Hotzone Integrators and NAS Wireless less than a day to install a network that provides ubiquitous coverage to the plaza. More than 2.5 million people a year visit the Alamo and the surrounding plaza. With the new network, residents, visitors and tourists can wirelessly access the Internet anywhere in the hot zone.
“We conducted a rigorous review of solutions before settling on the BelAir/Pronto solution,” said Hank Austin of SA Unwired. “We are working to expand the network beyond the immediate area, and needed a solution that could scale to include multiple applications running on multiple networks leveraging a variety of wireless standards. BelAir’s modular design, and high throughput, combined with Pronto’s comprehensive subscriber billing and management capabilities created a solution that was head and shoulders above the alternatives.”
The initial BelAir/Pronto installation in the Alamo Plaza area includes 4 BelAir100 and 1 BelAir200 Wireless Multi-service Nodes mounted on buildings in the downtown area. Hotzone Integrators’ extensive experience in designing outdoor networks ensured that the functionalities of the BelAir/Pronto solution would be utilized optimally. Initially, SA Unwired plans to charge users $3 dollars per hour, or $10 dollars a day for wireless Internet access. As the network grows in functionality and users, SA Unwired expects pricing to change.
“Working with Pronto enables us to provide our customers with an integrated management and billing solution capable of handling the complex wireless deployments that are BelAir’s sweet spot,” said Phil Belanger, Vice President of Marketing, BelAir Networks Inc. “It is the perfect complement for our broadband wireless infrastructure.”
SA Unwired selected Pronto’s OSS on its Managed Services platform, hosted at Pronto’s data center. With Pronto’s Managed Services, service providers have access to Pronto’s complete OSS solution for a low, fixed monthly fee, and can enter the market and capture share quickly as they focus on acquiring customers. As they grow, the hosted service scales to meet their needs and easily transitions to an in-house owned and managed model at any time. SA Unwired is also using Pronto’s customer support center to provide end user phone and email support.
The Pronto OSSTM offers an end-to-end solution that manages the user experience, branding, and authentication, monitors system availability and performance, offers Quality of Service (QoS) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs), provides customer care, billing, reporting and roaming settlement functions, enables remote management of the network and is a platform for next generation services such as VoIP, community content and more. Pronto’s OSS is deployed in 16 cities today, with more evaluations underway. Pronto is deployed in Corpus Christi, TX, an Intel Digital Cities showcase city and is a key component of the Digital Cities ecosystem.
BelAir offerings include the BelAir100, a two-radio, wireless multi-service node that accepts the same radio modules as the BelAir200, and can be used to terminate a BelAir mesh, as a mesh edge node, or to provide wireless broadband access to single buildings. The BelAir200, a four-radio, wireless multi-service switch router is built specifically for outdoor deployments and the BelAir50c, is a single-radio, wireless node that uses 802.11b/g for access and backhaul. With the addition of the new BelAir BelView Network Management System, BelAir now offers the most comprehensive family of wireless mesh infrastructure products in the industry for wide-area Wi-Fi today, and the unique multi-radio wireless backhaul mesh architecture can also be applied to other wireless technologies such as WiMAX and cellular.
About Pronto Networks
Pronto Networks, based in Pleasanton, Calif., provides carrier-class Operations Support Systems (OSS) that enable network operators to deploy and manage large public hot spot and hot zone networks. The company’s software handles provisioning, configuration, authentication, access control, security, pre-paid and post-paid billing, and roaming settlement for large public WLAN networks, in addition to remotely managing and updating multi-vendor hardware and Wi-Fi switches. Pronto Networks is funded by BV Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and the Intel Communications Fund. Pronto Networks was recently named to the AlwaysOn List of Top 100 Private Companies for the second consecutive year and in 2003 received Wired Magazine’s Top 25 Wi-Fi Companies to Watch and Computerworld’s Innovative Technology Awards. For more information about Pronto Networks, please visit www.prontonetworks.com
About BelAir Networks
BelAir Networks is the first company to offer scalable, wide-area wireless broadband solutions with the highest quality for data, voice and video. BelAir’s wireless networking solutions are built on the only multi-service architecture for wide -area wireless broadband deployments of Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and 3G Cellular networks. Built specifically for outdoor deployments, BelAir Networks’ patented solution delivers the lowest cost per user and deploys in days, blending into the physical infrastructure of downtown business districts, hotels and resorts, and college campuses. Founded in 2001, BelAir Networks is a privately held company headquartered in Kanata, Ontario. For more information, please visit www.belairnetworks.com.
About Hotzone Integrators
Hotzone Integrators, a Pleasanton, Calif. based company, provides complete site surveys, network designs, equipment sales, installation, training and follow-up maintenance for wireless data networks. Hotzone Integrators specializes in developing wireless networks for Law Enforcement, Government, Education, and Commercial applications. Hotzone Integrators deploys leading-edge technologies and applications to ensure longevity within a rapidly changing marketplace. For more information, please visit www.hotzoneintegrators.com Contacts:
Joe Aragona
BelAir Networks
613-254-7070 ext. 134
jaragona@belairnetworks.com
Emily Swanson
Breakaway Communications for BelAir
415-377-9766
eswanson@breakawaycom.com
Kristie Heins Fox for Pronto Networks
Ruder Finn, Inc.
312-329-3985
heinsfoxk@ruderfinn.com
Bryan Jacobs
Hotzone Integrators
925-389-6303
bryan.jacobs@hotzoneintegrators.com
Jim Bradfield
NAS Wireless
925-382-0410
jbjr@naswireless.com
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