Tuesday, December 21, 2010
It's here: the day that content-providers dreaded and that ISP's thought would never come.  The FCC is expected to approve a new set of regulations affecting what's known as "Net-Neutrality" -- the idea that all content on the internet is treated equally.  The regulations protect the limited bandwidth of wireless providers by enabling more granular control of their packets, while still protecting the freedom to compete among wireline providers.

Broadband providers servicing customers through terrestrial network will be, for all intents and purposes, required to uphold net neutrality.  Under the new rules, fixed-line providers will not be able to charge content-providers such as Skype,YouTube, or any other high-bandwidth providers, for preferential delivery of their packets.  Nor can they inhibit their packets.  In particular, fixed-line providers cannot de-prioritize traffic from their competitors.

Fixed Wireless Broadband providers on the other hand have a little more lenience.  Under the new rules, wireless broadband providers will be permitted to charge additional fees to content providers for faster delivery to the broadband consumer, or block the service altogether.  The competitive restriction remains, however, disallowing any broadband provider--wireless or otherwise--from de-prioritizing or blocking content from their competitors.

What does this mean for the average Internet consumer?  Costs for broadband services may stabilize or even drop as broadband providers find new revenue through charging the most bandwidth-intensive companies for delivery of their packets.  However, it remains to be seen whether those same costs will pass along to the consumer in other forms via fees levied by services such as Hulu or YouTube for accessing it's content.

Will this change the user experience of the Internet forever?  Will the Gen-X'ers "back in my day" stories be about the old internet told to starry-eyed kids who can hardly believe life really used to work that way? 

Labels: FCC, Fixed Wireless Broadband, Net Neutrality

posted by Unknown at 5:35 AM Link to this Article  0 Comments

Friday, December 17, 2010
To the average citizen, the term GIS doesn't mean much.  Some who have heard it tossed around in conversation associate it synonymously with GPS, which is not altogether accurate.  In fact, I have to admit, when I was a sales rep for ESRI software, the leader in GIS solutions, I barely understood it.

Here is what I finally came to understand... Government, particularly municipalities and counties, have resources all over the place--fire hydrants, street signs, barricades, lights, cameras, sewer pipes, water lines, power grid, etc.  Inventorying these items isn't enough.  They fall into jurisdictions, plots, neighborhoods, townships, etc.  So how do you know what you have and where you have it?  Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

So, why the vocab lesson? The State of Hawaii recently launched an interactive broadband mapping website based on a familiar name: Esri technology. Visitors can view broadband coverage throughout the state. This will be an important resource for consumers in Hawaii, enabling them to identify and choose from the growing number of broadband services that are becoming available in the state.

The coverage maps are built with BroadbandStat, an application developed by Esri that enables the user to map information from a variety of sources and provide a visual way of exploring the results. The idea is to provide data that states can can use to pinpoint where the expansion of new broadband services will support local economic development. The data is also a useful resource for policy makers, grant writers, and companies doing broadband investment research.

But aside from just geeking out on the cool new technology, there's one more thing that got me excited about this new map.  Go to it.  Check it out (http://www.hibroadbandmap.org/).  And... compare "Wireless" coverage to all the other options on the map combined.  Tell me what you see :-)

Labels: Coverage, Fixed Wireless Broadband, GIS

posted by Unknown at 6:44 AM Link to this Article  0 Comments

Tuesday, December 7, 2010
It's no secret that the fixed wireless broadband solutions that we provide depend heavily on the quality of our partners' products and services as well.  We've been blessed to form partnerships with companies who help us to build a reputation for excellence we can be proud of.  This includes, of course, our carriers who provide the broadband connection, as well as the hardware that interfaces with our proprietary antenna technology.

Sierra Wireless is one of those top-notch partners.  It is for that reason that we are very happy to share the announcement about our co-marketing agreement.  In November, a press release officially announced our joint marketing agreement to promote secure, reliable cellular solutions for customers deploying retail transaction and networking applications. This agreement formalized a long-time relationship that has enabled Accel to deploy PCI-compliant fixed wireless broadband solutions for primary and back-up connectivity. Utilizing Sierra Wireless AirLink™ intelligent gateways and routers has been a crucial component to our ability to provide reliable and secure solutions for several major national retail customers and food service chains.

The combination of our proprietary antenna technology and monitoring platforms with Sierra Wireless’s best-in-class intelligent wireless gateways and routers makes cellular fixed wireless an effective enterprise-wide solution for mission-critical applications and enables enterprise customers to expand into areas where wired broadband connections are not available or not practical. Powered by ALEOS™ embedded intelligence and managed by AirLink management software, AirLink devices provide a persistent, secure data connection and can be easily configured and controlled from any location with an internet connection. Moreover, the reliability and ease of integration offered by the Sierra Wireless devices made AirLink an easy choice for our standard connectivity platform.

The announcement of this solidified partnership with Sierra Wireless coincided with the Customer Engagement Technology World (CETW) show.  That timing was no accident.  We're particularly excited about our offering to the CETW attendees because we are confident there is no better connectivity solution for kiosks and digital signage than Accel’s fixed cellular solution complete with Sierra Wireless technology. 

As more and more businesses in retail, restaurants, c-stores, and now kiosk retail are coming to rely on Accel for fixed wireless broadband, we're confident in our ability to provide the service they expect thanks to partners like Sierra.

Labels: Fixed Wireless Broadband, Sierra Wireless, wireless carriers

posted by Unknown at 7:03 AM Link to this Article  0 Comments