The business case for WiMAX just got better. Redline Communications Inc. has overcome one of the major hurdles impeding wider deployment of this last mile wireless - interoperability with legacy systems.

The Toronto-based company recently completed interoperability testing with Patapsco Communications, a development that allows conventional TDM communications over WiMAX equipment. And according to Kevin Suitor, VP of marketing and business development at Redline, this is significant on two fronts. First, WiMAX operators will no longer be limited to greenfield opportunities - companies looking to implement IP communications through WiMAX.

They can now try to secure network deployment contracts with organizations that have legacy communications networks. With Redline's gear now interoperable with Patapsco equipment, the two types of networks can now co-exist in a single broader network. "What it does for our WiMAX customers is it provides them with additional usage models that they can now go and propose to their customers and drive additional revenue,"

Suitor tells Report on Wireless. Customers that have legacy services such as frame relay, private line voice or PBX installations can now take advantage of IP communications through WiMAX without having to swap out entire legacy networks, he adds. The need to support both legacy and IP in a single network will be critical in the future as more organizations move to adopt IP. Secondly, enterprises looking to upgrade to an all-IP network can do this in phases by first adding the WiMAX component without sacrificing traditional legacy services.

Suitor provides the example of two school boards in Ontario converting from TDM systems to a voice over IP service that were able to maintain the conventional system while implementing and testing the new VoIP service over a WiMAX network.

"In that conversion, you could actually use these Patapsco boxes to keep older schools on TDM and the voice over IP [traffic] can run over the Ethernet," he says. "And as you're doing the conversion in a single school, you can use this box to manage the conversion process until you're sure you've got it right."

Redline's equipment can also interoperate with Patapsco's gear to provide backup and temporary service in the case of disaster recovery. A large service provider could use WiMAX to provide a backup system to its fibre network, for example.

Suitor explains that as soon as power is lost on the primary fibre network, traffic automatically switches over to the WiMAX network with all the same inherent quality of service characteristics such as 5-9s reliability. "This is just one more tool to provide a redundancy option, for example, for a large legacy customer," he adds. As well, migrating to an all-IP network will reduce the cost of running two networks by replacing extra layers of hardware with software - another reason why Suitor believes this development to be critical.

The interoperability testing with Patapsco was done under the auspices of the Redline Ecosystem Verification (REV) program, an initiative aimed at making sure Redline's equipment interoperates with as many network components, including consumer devices, as possible. Suitor says REV came about as a result of the company's commitment to open standards and listening to customers.

"Customers want to avoid vendor lock whenever possible. They want to be able to maximize their options whenever possible," he says, noting that REV gives customers that choice. Redline is also doing interoperability tests with other firms, including Starent Networks and Cisco Systems on network edge routers, and Tranzeo Wireless Technologies and Siemens on customer premise equipment.

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Redline Communications Inc. Kevin Suitor Vice President, Marketing & Business Development Cell: +1 416.508.1252 Phone: +1 905.948.2299 Skype: ksuitor Fax: +1 647.723.0451 e-mail: ksuitor@redlinecommunications.com