Arcadian launches national wireless data network

A new national service provider is moving out of stealth mode today, offering a private broadband wireless data network for companies with dispersed assets, including rural areas.

Venture-funded Arcadian Networks holds licenses in the 700 Megahertz spectrum in 23 states, covering about 60 percent of the U.S. population. The company is targeting utility companies, gas companies, government agencies and other operations who need to have real-time communications with widely flung assets for security monitoring, data collection and other purposes, said Gil Perez, chief executive officer of the new company, which has been in existence about a year. The company is particularly targeting rural areas, where a wireless approach makes strong economic sense.

“We are focused on the need of companies to really address the needs of the real-time economy,” Perez said. “Companies now need Google-like responses on everything. They need to be able to monitor everything at that kind of responsiveness. In the wake of 9/11, there is the fear of terrorism, and companies need to make sure their assets are not exposed, but they won’t [set up networks] just for security. It also has to improve their bottom line. It is the combination of those things that is powerful. We believe there is a whole lot of money to be spent on this right now.”

Today, there is a patchwork quilt of options for utility companies and others who have towers, drilling rigs, generators and other facilities widely scattered over hundreds of miles, Perez said. “What they are looking for, and what we believe we can give them, is a bullet-proof solution,” he said. As these companies move their communications systems onto Internet Protocol backbones, it is easier to create a single communications network for them, using wireless access points, Perez said.

Arcadian’s first publicly announced customer, Great River Energy, provides wholesale electric service to 28 distribution cooperatives serving about 1.7 million people in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

“The service that Arcadian Networks provides us with significant cost advantages to our current solution,” said Jim Jones, chief information officer, Great River Energy, in a prepared statement. “In today’s environment, provisioning, monitoring and controlling mission critical assets must be done in real-time. Arcadian Networks is the only network provider who is focused on the requirements of building and maintaining a full network for mission critical assets in rural America. The fact that they bring the spectrum and the equipment helps mitigate our risk.”

Arcadian continues to build out its wireless network, using an anchor tenant approach, Perez said. Working with its vendors, Cisco Systems and Vyyo, the company will build a network in an area where it holds spectrum licenses once it has an anchor tenant, such as GRE, and then be in position to sell to others in the same geographic region, Perez said.

“With anchor tenants, it is a lengthy process because we first do the buildout and then conduct a trial,” he said. “Once that is complete, we can add other customers much more quickly.”

The company is venture funded, having completed a first round of $50 million in funding from Goldman, Sachs and Co. and Gilo Ventures, and soon preparing to do a second round. The company has other trials underway with potential anchor tenants, Perez said.