Newbridge to offer LMCS access

Newbridge Networks has expanded its access network capabilities into the broadband wireless realm and announced a contract with WIC Connexus, which holds 47 local multipoint communication systems licenses in Canada.

Newbridge views broadband wireless access and wireline access techniques such as digital subscriber line as similar methods for delivering multiple services to customers, said Dave Gellerman, vice president of carrier marketing at Newbridge. The emphasis for carriers should be on access platforms as a whole rather than as radio systems, he said.

"Wireless to us is a mechanism to extend the existing managed services capability to customers that can't be reached via landline," Gellerman said. Newbridge is providing WIC Connexus with its MainStreetXpress multiservice access platform and radio equipment from an unnamed supplier, Gellerman said.

WIC Connexus chose Newbridge's solution based on the vendor's expertise in asynchronous transfer mode switching, which the carrier views as the mechanism that drives the network's capabilities and features.

"The key thing here is the intelligence of the network," said Kirk Hamilton, vice president of sales and marketing at WIC Connexus. "That's coming from the ATM switches, which really provide the heart and backbone of these networks."