DFN PICKS APERTO FOR OREGON MOUNTAIN ROUTE

Douglas Fast Network, a broadband wireless/wireline carrier and utility company in Oregon, is announcing this week that it has deployed 5 GHz point-to-multipoint technology from Aperto Networks to serve a mountainous portion of the state's Interstate 5 corridor.

DFN is using the vendor's PacketWave system to offer wireless-based transparent LAN services to business users. Though the carrier also offers service on fiber network facilities, “it often costs us about 12 times more to deploy fiber than broadband wireless,” said Jared Pickrell, chief technology officer of DFN. “We can also deliver service to customers the same week that they place orders, at a performance level on par with fiber. Broadband wireless access is an integral part of our business model and success.”

The Roseburg, Ore., carrier actually integrates fiber and broadband wireless technologies on a Layer 2 virtual LAN-based switched Ethernet topology to create single virtual campuses for corporate users, such as community-wide medical facilities.

The effective hybrid network technology approach is one that other broadband providers might want to follow, according to Reza Ahy, CEO of Aperto Networks.