Touching Base

These articles originally appeared in the Sept. 2011 issue of Next Gen Mobility

BridgeWave (News - Alert): Wireless Carriers May Pair Small Cells & the Cloud

By Paula Bernier

Small cells are almost certainly coming to a cellular network near you, and the cloud could come into play as part of this new architecture as well. That could create new opportunities for alternative backhaul solutions, says Amir Makleff (News - Alert), president and CEO of BridgeWave.

Whether cellular operators are deploying remote antennae or small cells, it’s clear that fiber is not going to be available everywhere for backhaul, says Makleff, adding that products provided by BridgeWave are an alternate option for backhaul.

Makleff adds that the new angle on this small cell concept is mixing small cells with the cloud. The idea is that not all small cells will have full functionality, but rather will be more antenna implementations with high-speed connections that allow for load balancing in environments such as office areas and shopping malls.

Traditionally, he continues, the problem with remote antennae was that you had to take the analog signal from the antenna, over sample it digitally and transfer that to the cloud. That required an intensive high-speed connection that was supported only until now by fiber, he says.

While BridgeWave hasn’t announced a solution to this challenge, he says, the company is looking at the concept of using its 60- or 80-gHz solutions to transport signals from remote antennae heads into the cloud in a cost-effective manner.

Makleff goes on to note that BridgeWave recently did a trial involving its 60gHz product with a tier 1 U.S. carrier. He says it went well and that the carrier is now considering this solution for its small cell evolution. BridgeWave, which several months ago introduced a wireless backhaul product, also is now talking with three additional carriers about trials, he adds.

Array Networks (News - Alert) Addresses Enterprise Mobility with DesktopDirect

By Paula Bernier

Application delivery solutions provider Array Networks is addressing the bring-your-own-endpoint trend in the business space with a new module called DesktopDirect.

DesktopDirect, a new feature of the company’s universal access controller appliance, extends the environment out to any device – whether an iPad, an iPhone (News - Alert), or an Android device, explains Paul Andersen, Array Networks marketing manager. Businesses are provided with a URL to register all endpoints, and the solution appears as an application on the employee’s device of choice.

The company started out delivering DesktopDirect for the Apple devices. New as of last month is support for Android (News - Alert).

The solution makes it “secure, simple and cost-effective to deploy mobile applications,” Andersen says.

He goes on to say that some organizations are struggling with how to deploy mobile apps. They can do it, he says, but it’s costly and they need to choose one device to develop to, which means they then need to buy those devices for their employees. Then there’s the issue of security, he adds. The Array Networks solution, however, can enable organizations to support mobile apps at a fraction of the price, across multiple devices, and with better security.

In addition to its universal access controllers (the SPX Series) – which provide a single gateway that does authentication, authorization and some security at the endpoint, and can extend VPNs to remote users, Array Networks sells a line of application delivery controllers (the APV Series), which provide always-on performance and enable organizations to get the most of their data center infrastructure.

The company’s customers consist primarily of enterprises. But organizations in the public sector, as well as service providers like cloud outfits that want to accelerate their services, also are among the users of its technology. Just last week Array Networks announced that Central Ohio Primary Care Physicians has deployed Array’s DesktopDirect and SPX SSL VPN secure remote access solutions. COPCP is using them to enable its physicians, who are spread across 47 locations, and local doctors from partner networks, to access patient records securely.