John:
Here's my working definition of "carrier grade":
Designed for use by carriers
Suitable for use by carriers
Sufficiently reliable for use by carriers
There is MUCH that goes into a product designed for use by carriers.
It's expensive and a tough market, so a lot of vendors don't try. Here
are just a few features that are "carrier grade requirements" from my
perspective:
* Designed for use in all conceivable weather elements
* Designed for long operational use with minimal attention (in the WISP
market, one measure is that it doesn't reboot itself, or require
regular reboots)
* Designed for easy and fast repair
* The vendor stocks ample replacement units deployed geographically for
fast supply.
* Support expertise by the vendor is readily available (excellent,
easy-to-access tech support). Note that such support is almost never
free, and carriers don't expect it to be. When they need help, they
need it NOW and need to get their systems back online fast. (Carriers
often have mandated time-to-repair maximums by regulatory agencies.)
* Subtle features like strain relief on all connectors, meeting the
telecom industry requirements for rack mounting, built-in protection
for power line surges and lightning.
* Superb monitoring and remote control capabilities
* Offer continuous VERY-in-depth training programs at the factory so
that carriers can get their personnel FULLY up to speed on a product.
Again, this almost never free, and carriers don't expect it to be.
* Offer continuous product improvement, bug fixes, recalls when
appropriate, and does so proactively when an issue is identified, and
does so in a way to minimize downtime such as offering proactive
replacement units.
Etc.
Regarding "Alvarion versus WISPs"... it's pretty simple. By offering
"more like carrier-grade" products, Alvarion saw FAR more market demand
by carriers, public safety, enterprise than they saw in the WISP
market. They are willing to sell to WISPs, but few WISPs are willing to
take the time to truly understand Alvarion's value proposition which
involves FAR more than mere price of the product. You've finally come
around to this view John, and you'll discover that you have a lot of
company in that view - which isn't (widely) represented on this list or
necessarily within WISPA. That's because operators who have spent the
money for quality gear like Alvarion's generally don't have NEARLY as
many issues with such gear that require "group support"... and such
operators don't wish to associate their businesses with the "we'll just
hack up a Linksys AP and have cheap gear" attitude that a lot of people
in the telecom industry equate with WISPs.
Is Alvarion arrogant? Yes, at times, and certain individuals. But I
think that's mostly a lot of pride and recognition that they were one
of the pioneering companies in making it possible to offer
carrier-grade services in license-exempt spectrum - something that the
telecom industry KNEW could NOT be done. It's also the case that
Alvarion offers the broadest product line in Broadband Wireless
Internet Access - licensed and license-exempt, fixed and mobile,
high-capacity and low-capacity, etc. Alvarion has very capable
competitors in various segments, but I can't think of any company that
competes head-to-head with Alvarion in all segments, even Airspan.
Thanks,
Steve
On Apr 11, 2006, at 20:51, John Scrivner wrote:
I decided to do some reading on the term "carrier-grade" and have
found the following to be what is considered a definition in relation
to our industry. One random source on the web refers to this as, "A
term that implies a system that is designed to have increased
availability and timeliness to meet the requirements of a modern
communications network element." I saw this quantified on one site as
being, a network device which has a sustained uptime of over 99.999%.
This was as close to a quantifiable definition as I have found though
it gives no length of time or other parameters to use for calculation
of this percentage. According to Hughes Software Systems in regard to
"Carrier-grade" they state that equipment can only be considered
"Carrier-grade" after several years of real field use shows that it is
highly available and reliable. In the end it is a very subjective term
and one I will not use in the future unless I can quantify the
classification. Basically there is no firm definition but I have heard
of Alvarion referred to as "Carrier-grade" by others and mistakingly
assumed it was a clearly defined characteristic. My apologies for this
error in wording.
With that said I still think Alvarion is a far better platform than
Canopy which is strictly my opinion and has no basis in fact. In the
past I have been put-off by a perceived arrogance I have seen by some
Alvarion representatives who have insisted previously that they had
the "only" viable solution for wireless broadband and seemed as though
they were claiming almost a "holier than thou" behavior toward anyone
stating another opinion than their own. I have also seen a terribly
biased negative attitude toward Alvarion by many WISPs who wanted to
drive home the "WISP=Cheap" mentality to the point of alienating
Alvarion from our entire market segment. Both Alvarion and most WISPs
have lost a great ally in each other and I suspect both sides have
suffered from such negativity. I am hoping to see this division closed
between the typical WISP operator and Alvarion.
---
Steve Stroh
425-939-0076 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | www.stevestroh.com
--
WISPA Wireless List: [email protected]
Subscribe/Unsubscribe:
http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless
Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
