[January 08, 2013]

Siklu EtherHaul E-Band Radio System Survives Hurricane's Wrath, Keeps Customer Connected

Hurricane Sandy tore a path of destruction across New Jersey, New York, and other sections of the Northeast in late October, but there were occasional bright spots, where parts of the communications infrastructure emerged unscathed and allowed companies to resume business sooner than expected.

For one southern New Jersey financial services company, one consolation was that its wireless link survived intact. That allowed it to continue in business by using a generator for power, and then get back to normal operations once electrical power was fully restored.

The company, which services loans for banks, has an EtherHaul system from Siklu Communication. The gigabit-speed EtherHaul radio operates in the licensed E-band spectrum, ideal for shorter-distance high-bandwidth connections where fiber is not available.

Meridian Microwave, a Siklu channel partner, provided the EtherHaul system to the customer, and reported that the microwave link continued unbroken troughout the storm. "It was a real mess here, and we were on generator at the main site, but never got any alarms that the dish link had any downtime at all. We were very impressed," said one executive with the company.

"We were concerned about reliability for this customer, since they run a critical, 24-hour financial services business," said David Theodore, president of Meridian Microwave. "But true to Siklu's link availability claims, the link withstood the storm without dropping a single packet. Along with the customer, we were delighted by the performance, not only in Hurricane Sandy, but also in a nor'easter storm that came in two weeks later."

"The EtherHaul system had previously proven itself in a lengthy trial during India's monsoon season in 2011," said Gaby Junowicz (News - Alert), vice president of marketing and business development at Siklu. "But Hurricane Sandy was an even more extreme test, and we're glad for our customer's sake that it survived the storm with no downtime."

Junowicz noted that several design elements of the EtherHaul system work together to enhance its survivability. Its small form factor and antenna size minimize wind load on the unit, and its center pole mounting kit provides a high level of stability.

Siklu's EtherHaul system is installed in scores of operator and enterprise networks in Europe and North America. Its innovative all-silicon design enables Siklu to offer the system at a price point that is as low as one-third that of competitors' offerings. Siklu has grown to become the E-band market leader, with triple-digit year-over-year sales of the system in 2012, thanks to its proven reliability and technology excellence.

About Siklu

Siklu builds gigabit millimeter-wave wireless backhaul solutions over the 70-80 GHz E-band and 60 GHz V-band. Based on a unique all-silicon design that reduces price and increases reliability, Siklu's radios are ideal for LTE (News - Alert) macro and small cell backhaul, fiber extension and business service delivery. The field-proven radios are the top choice of tier one operators for gigabit backhaul worldwide, and thousands of units have been deployed and are operating reliably in all weather conditions. Serving the needs of service providers around the world, Siklu Communication is based near Tel Aviv, Israel. Learn more at www.siklu.com.

About Meridian Microwave

Meridian Microwave serves the Northeast, providing point-to-point wireless WAN, VoIP, last mile bypass, and backup solutions. Meridian has been in business since 1985, founded originally as Microwave Bypass, a pioneer in wireless Ethernet. The company provides, installs, and supports solutions from a variety of microwave radio manufacturers. More information is available at www.meridianmicrowave.com.

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