Sentech's recent launch of its BizNet Xpress portfolio of fixed wireless access solutions has heralded a new age of carrier-class network services, and promises to deliver a host of benefits to the South African business community.
BizNet Xpress is Sentech's business-grade alternative to the traditional wired access media that are present in most businesses today. Using non-line of site wireless capabilities, it connects high-sites on the Sentech backbone with antennae at subscribing businesses, at speeds up to 2Mbps over ranges of up to 20km.
"Furthermore, since BizNet has been designed on a Cisco-powered, carrier-lass broadband IP/MPLS network, we are able to provide the highest quality of service (QoS) to our business subscribers, even offering reliable, purpose-built VPNs across the network," explains Georg Wenhold, product development manager at Sentech.
Says Wenhold: "People have come to believe that with wireless, you have to sacrifice quality and security in order to reap the benefits of lower costs and greater convenience. Well not anymore. We manage the service according to performance-based SLAs, and can therefore guarantee high availability, complete security and overall peace of mind for business users at all times."
Businesses adopting a BizNet Xpress solution can therefore look forward to a number of unique benefits that set it aside from the standard fare available in the market today. These include:
* Flexibility and scalability of a wireless solution: Traditional wired networks are constrained by their physical nature, and require kilometres of interconnecting cabling to multiple points. With a wireless solution like BizNet Xpress, a single antenna can provide the same service ubiquitously across large areas, overcoming these physical constraints. It is also fully scalable to any size of business, flexing with greater ease to growing business needs.
* Ease of implementation: BizNet requires minimal, non-obtrusive hardware, and its compact design and variety of mounting options allow it to co-exist seamlessly with existing network infrastructure. It is easily installed within hours, is specifically designed to be low-maintenance moving forward, and is completely portable should equipment need to be moved.
* Cost-effective alternative: One of the greatest challenges for local network administrators has been the high costs associated with the relatively small range of network services available. BizNet provides a credible alternative choice to the network service offerings currently available in the local market, and does so with a range of more affordable prices.
* Integration and interoperability: At the heart of BizNet Xpress is a Cisco Powered Network, based on standard Internet Protocol and is both easily integrated and immediately interoperable with a business's existing infrastructure. It is therefore equally applicable both as a replacement to existing services, as well as an alternative service that provides redundancy to existing links.
* Reliability and peace of mind: Being an IP/MPLS-based core network, BizNet Xpress provides the business with pre-determined SLAs that govern the integrity of network operations and the end-to-end quality of service. Sentech's high capacity broadband network with integrated redundancy further guarantees high levels of availability and performance.
Despite these benefits, most businesses already have a range of working network solutions, and are unlikely to migrate in entirety to a new service in the short-term. Sentech has therefore ensured that while BizNet Xpress is available as a full Diginet replacement, it is also designed to provide an integrated service that complements existing infrastructure by providing failover and/or redundancy.
Wenhold is, however, confident that the benefits of BizNet Xpress will see the service being adopted at the core of networks in the future. "The networking needs of businesses are constantly growing," he explains. "Large campuses, multiple metro sites and dispersed branch offices are increasingly being interconnected, with higher speeds required to deliver a range of new services. As this growth continues, network managers will find it hard to ignore BizNet Xpress and the major benefits it offers in terms of scalability, flexibility, and its ability to effortlessly carry the full range of data, voice and multimedia services."
Share
Sentech is the trailblazer of broadband wireless communications in South Africa: connecting businesses and individuals to the world via satellite. Sentech is present in every home in South Africa connecting consumers to the world of television and radio via its satellite network.
Sentech also connects its customers - consumers and businesses - to the Internet, international calling as well as access to a company's virtual private network.
Sentech brings television and radio to over 42 million people, has 53 000 South Africans connecting wirelessly via its satellite infrastructure, and connects cellular companies through its international telephony every day/week/month. Sentech currently has 53 MyWireless access sites in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Tshwane and Nelspruit and is striving to grow this daily. Sentech employs over 550 people.
Sentech was the first company in South Africa to roll-out a third-generation (3G) broadband wireless access network and is continually pioneering the provision of broadband data, converged voice and broadcasting signal distribution services. Its best-known brands are MyWireless, MyWireless Flexi, VMESH, Satellite Linking, VSTAR Internet, Broadcasting Signal Distribution Service, Business Television and Radio, Value Added Network Services, Vivid, MailLink, InStoreAd and MultiNet which bring Net-access, e-mail and other value-adding services to consumers, micro-business and SMEs respectively.
Sentech is state-owned and is a fully commercial enterprise holding a number of licences, including the common carrier licence for broadcasting, and licences for multimedia and international carrier of carriers services. Sentech currently carries traffic for all three mobile operators in South Africa. Visit Sentech at http://www.sentech.co.za.
Editorial contacts