In 2005, the City of Bedford, Texas was searching for a way to increase the speed of their wide-area network in order to support an ever-increasing number of IP based services. Like many of the "mid-cities" located between Dallas and Ft. Worth, Bedford is forced to use expensive, legacy TDM services such as T1 and/or T3 provided by the local telco. The network hub of operations is located at Bedford City Hall with outlying facilities at 6 remote locations. In addition, the city was still using Centrex services for the city-wide phone system which was just adding insult to injury.

Having consulted with the city for many years, BTI was asked what viable alternatives were available to help get costs under control. After researching and evaluating the topographical layout of the city, BTI recommended the city interconnect all its remote facilities via wireless bridges. Every city location had line-of-site accessibility to other locations via city owned water towers and other structures. Today, the resultant network now allows the city to reach all remote facilities via IP at bandwidths of over 12 times the speed of a single T1 or approximately 18 Mbps full-duplex. The wireless network proved so reliable, the city opted to purchase their own Avaya IP Office PBX system providing enhanced features while saving an enormous amount on recurring monthly costs over the old Centrex system. All remote facility voice services are connected via prioritized VLANs via the wireless bridges.

As of this writing, BTI and the city are in the planning stages of upgrading their network infrastructure to accommodate additional IP services such as video surveillance systems, red-light camera systems, automated city-wide sprinkler control systems, HVAC monitoring and control and multitudes of other IP based services as they arise. The new network core will consist of Gigabit Ethernet switches and the remote connectivity bandwidth will be upgraded to 50 Mbps full-duplex to all locations.

The city was able to realize a return on investment of the wireless network in less than one year and since that time have had no recurring expenses associated with remote facility connectivity. It is estimated the city saves over $72,000 per year based on comparable bandwidth they would otherwise be purchasing from the telco. Savings to date are estimated at $216,000 and soon, the ROI on the the voice services will also be realized further resulting in substantial monthly cost savings. For more information about point-to-point broadband wireless, visit our sister site at http://www.Wireless-Maven.com
 

East Texas Medical Center - Regional Healthcare System

East Texas Regional Healthcare System is a non-profit organization of 14 hospitals with 6000 employees serving hundreds of thousands throughout East Texas. To better serve its member hospitals, clinics, and other facilities, ETMC built an extensive IP network with speeds ranging from T1 up to Gigabit Ethernet. Typically in many of their smaller outlying markets, IP bandwidth is expensive and not always readily available. But their goal was to converge their data and voice networks to further save recurring revenue. In order to protect the investment in their AVAYA and NEC PBXs, BTI recommended they deploy RAD Data Communications VMUX voice trunking gateways to efficiently interconnect all their facilities over their IP network. Doing so saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in PBX upgrade costs while allowing them to practically eliminate all their T1 leased lines further saving on monthly recurring expenses. Compared to traditional VoIP, the RAD VMUX uses 60% less bandwidth on average and does not require a "fork-lift" upgrade of the legacy PBXs. The VMUX is transparent with regard to signaling and T1 channelization and as such did not require any major changes along the way making the transition very smooth.
 

Citizens National Bank of Texas

Citizens National Bank of Waxahachie, Texas was in dire need of serious IP bandwidth between their remote branch offices and disaster recovery site in Midlothian, Texas. Network bandwidth in this part of Texas does not come cheap and is primarily limited to T1 and/or T3 services from the local telcos. BTI was asked to evaluate the feasibility of running wireless bridges between as many of Citizen's sites as possible. The terrain in the area is sometimes difficult due to rolling hills and tall trees. After performing a path analysis, it was determined they would need a 150' AGL tower at the Waxahachie and Midlothian locations. Citizens had the towers approved and installed providing the necessary Fresnel clearance between the two major branches.

Today, the bandwidth between the main branch in Waxahachie and the DR site in Midlothian is supported by dual wireless bridges running in parallel with hub-site-synchronization giving a full-duplex speed of approximately 32 Mbps over the 12 mile distance. The towers also provide the necessary elevation for reaching 7 additional locations throughout the CNB network. The monthly expense savings is substantial and the increased bandwidth has allowed Citizens to perform disaster recovery data backups over the network. For more information about point-to-point broadband wireless, visit our sister site at http://www.Wireless-Maven.com