Gigabit
G
t Wireleess Leaased-LLine Reeplaceement
Utilizing gigabit
g
wireless
w
linnks to proovide fibeer-like performancce at significant
savings compaared to leeased linees.
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Introduction
W
When considerring high-bandw
width connectioons between locations, convventional thinking used to bee that the only way to get
sservice was to pick up the phhone, call the service
s
provideer and order upp a circuit. As long as the start-up costs annd monthly
rrecurring chargges were withinn the IT budget, and the IT manager
m
and bbusiness adminnistrators weree content with tthe level of
sservice provideed, writing a monthly
m
check to the service provider wasnn’t a problem. If troubles weere encountereed with the
sservice, a phonne call to the prrovider was all that was necesssary to resolvee the problem.
$5,000
$5,000
$4,500
$4,000
$3,700
$3,500
$3,000
$$2,500
$2,500
$2,000
$1,,500
$1,500
$1,000
$500
$800
0
$300
$0
T1
10Mbps
DS3
1000Mbps
OC‐3
GigE
B
Businesses relyying on leased lines find a wide range of peerformance opptions tailored tto suit their needs, from T1 ((1.5 Mbps),
110Mb Ethernet, DS3 (45 Mbpps), Fast Etherrnet (100 Mbpss) OC-3 (155 M
Mbps) and eveen gigabit (10000 Mbps) data rates. The
cchart above dettails the typical monthly leasse costs for a variety
v
of point--to-point conneections in the U
United States as polled by
a number of seervice provider websites. Estaablishing leaseed line service often entails sstart-up fees, in addition to thhe monthly
O
OPEX charges, that can range from a few hundred dollars to hundreds oof thousands off dollars when nnew fiber circuits must be
cconstructed. If the installationn requires speecial considerattions, additionaal cost and tim
me to provisionn the circuits aare usually
aadded to the abbove pricing. Inn most cases, there
t
is a multi--year commitm
ment allowing thhe service provvider to recoupp their initial
innvestment, furtther adding to the
t expendituree.
Inn today’s economic environment of shrinkking budgets, and/or in ord er to maintainn competitive aadvantages, ggovernment
eentities and buusinesses are increasingly loooking to IT departments
d
too improve prodductivity and ccontrol costs. TThis paper
eexamines the benefits
b
of replaacing costly leaased line circuitts with affordabble gigabit Etheernet wireless links.
©2011 BridggeWave Comm
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R
Replacing Wired Services with
w High Capaacity Wirelesss Links
M
Microwave radio systems havve been used for
f decades to provide highlyy reliable, troubble-free transmission of voicee, data, and
vvideo, for service providers who
w depend onn them to geneerate revenuess, or for busineesses that neeed backhaul foor essential
ccompany network services between
b
dispaarate facilities. Because of ttheir limited bandwidth, trannsmission rates of these
m
microwave soluutions top out at
a a few hundreed megabits peer second. Wit h the opening of millimeter w
wave spectrum in the 60 880 GHz bands, full gigabit (GigE) wireless trransmission haas become an aaffordable alterrnative to high capacity leased circuits.
$200,0
000
$180,0
000
$160,0
000
Lifecycle Cost
$140,0
000
$120,0
000
$100,0
000
$80,0
000
$60,0
000
$40,0
000
GigE Wireless
$20,0
000
$0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
4 15 16 17 18 199 20 21 22 23 2 4 25 26 27 28 229 30 31 32 33 334 35 36
Number of Months FFor businessess, there are maany advantagees of utilizing high-capacity
h
ggigabit wirelesss links to replaace fiber or aging copper
bbased circuits, both in terms of
o cost and of network
n
performance. On thee cost side, GiggE wireless links provide a raapid returnoon-investment, relative to the costs of leasinng high-speed circuits. By com
mparison, a GigE wireless linnk can provide equivalent
fiiber-like speedds for a one-tim
me expenditure comparable too the annual coost of leasing fibber-based servvice. In many ccases when
nnew fiber runs must be constructed, the inittial installation costs for fiber services actuaally exceed thee cost of installling a GigE
w
wireless system
m. As the life cyycle costs are charted abovee, it is evident t hat the financiaal advantage oof the small inittial CAPEX
innvestment in GigE
G
wireless systems can be
b realized in a relatively shhort period of time comparedd to the recurring OPEX
ccharges for leassed lines. In many cases, thee breakeven pooint is measure d in months, not years.
©2011 BridggeWave Comm
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H
How GigE Wireeless Links arre Being Utilizzed
B
BridgeWave’s gigabit
g
wireless solutions aree used in vertical markets ssuch as healthccare, educatioon, local government and
pprivate networkk (enterprise) applications
a
whhere users havee benefitted froom their fiber-like performancce in terms of throughput
aand latency, annd their minimal investment coompared to leaasing or implem
menting fiber.
State Governm
ment
Local/S
BridgeW
Wave’s full-ratee GigE links prrovide seamlesss primary inter-building connnections, highlyy secure
backhaaul for intelligennce and CCTV
V surveillance ssystems or cann be run as divverse paths in parallel
with fibber cabling to provide
p
redundant fiber overlaay. Optional 2556-bit AES enccryption eliminates the
need foor external enccryption devicees. When unexxpected urgennt needs arise,, links can be used to
quicklyy create temporrary or disasterr-recovery connnections.
Healthccare
BridgeW
Wave gigabit wireless
w
solutioons offer full-G
GigE LAN performance for healthcare neetworks.
Transmission of senssitive medical data such ass MRIs and xx-rays is both fast and secuure with
BridgeW
Wave GigE linkks. BridgeWavve GigE solutioons provide a fast-to-deploy,, flexible alternnative to
costly innter-building fiber installationns. These systtems can provvide a cost-efffective 100% aalternate
route, reedundant path for mission-critical fiber connnections.
Educattion
Bandw
width-consumingg mobile devicces are becom
ming a ubiquitous part of ttoday’s universsity life,
straininng campus nettworks with thheir insatiable need for capaacity. The wideespread use oof Wi-Fi
accesss hubs, as well as security cameras across campuses, com
mpels the needd for capacity tthat can
be quicckly and easilyy deployed. BridgeWave’s G
GigE wireless solutions enabble future-prooof, highspeed ‘on-the-go’ coonnectivity for students, facuulty and adminnistrators, withh all the perfoormance
benefits of fiber, whilee yielding a significant cost saavings compareed to metro fiber cabling.
Enterp
prise
BridgeW
Wave’s gigabit wireless solutions are ideal ffor corporate/campus LAN exxtensions due tto their
ability to
t seamlessly integrate with existing
e
LAN baackbone. Userss off the main bbuilding experience
the sam
me LAN connecctivity as their counterparts
c
coonnected to the main network. With future-pproof
network connectivity and
a the bandw
width to handle the most demaanding businesss applications, GigE
wirelesss links offer effficiencies in seerver centraliza tion, data backkup and storage and in additioon to
the rappid deployment offered, also provide
p
alternatte route traffic overlays for buusiness continuuity and
disasteer recovery situations.
©2011 BridggeWave Comm
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TThe Economiccs of Leased Line
L Services
Inn this section we’ll
w consider four
f scenarios that
t involve intterconnecting bbuildings locateed within a few
w miles of each other, and
ddetail the savings that can be realized by using GigE wireleess compared to leasing fiberr.
C
Corporate LAN
N Extensions
Inn the first scennario, a growinng small businness
nneeds room to house its exppanding workfoorce
aand finds a suuitable buildingg one mile aw
way
frrom the main office.
o
The IT manager
m
is tasked
too connect thee two buildings with voice and
ddata being the primary applicaations. Since a T1
cconnection doeesn’t provide enough capacityy to
hhandle the need, a 10 Mbps Ethernet
E
servicce is
cconsidered froom the servicce provider at a
m
monthly rate off $800. It also requires an innitial
sstart-up connecction fee of $22,500. In order to
ssecure the best
b
rate, a thirty-six moonth
ccommitment iss required. This
T
amounts to
$$31,300 for the three year leaase to provide a 10 Mbps connection betweeen the companny headquarterss and the satelllite office.
Replacing this leased circuit with a 1000 M
Mbps 60 GHz link would not only save 30%
% over the
leased costs, but
b also yield 100x
1
faster speeeds between locations. The 60 GHz, 10000 Mbps link
provides a futuure-proof solutioon with enoughh capacity to hhandle the mosst demanding aapplications
that
t run over thhe network today, with amplee bandwidth forr tomorrow’s neew business appplications.
The
T table beloow details the cost analysis oof using a 60 GHz GigE wireeless link com
mpared to a
three
t
year leasse of a 10 Mbps circuit.
M
Monthly Leasedd Circuit Fee
N
Number of Monnths
C
Connection Chaarge
660 GHz GE60 radios
r
Innstallation Servvices
660 GHz Licensee (license-free))
Im
mplemented Total
T
TThroughput
C
Cost per Mbps
60 GHz GE Wireeless
$0
N/A
$0
$ 177,900
$ 44,000
$0
$ 211,900
1000 M
Mbps
$ 221.90
©2011 BridggeWave Comm
munications, Innc.
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Leased 10 Mbps
$ 800
36
$ 2,500
$0
$0
$0
$ 31,300
10 Mbps
$ 3,130.00
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E
Education Nettworks
Inn the second scenario, a 1000 Mbps leased
liine is used to extend campus LAN
N
cconnectivity across three buildings at a locaal
uuniversity. Serrvices such as
a voice, dataa,
Innternet accesss, and classrooom video arre
trransported ovver the circuitt. The use of
o
m
mobile devicess, including taablet computerrs
hhas dramatically increased utilization on the
nnetwork, straining the leasedd line backbone
cconnection. Thhe recurring monthly
m
chargees
oof $2,500 for each
e
connection are based on
o
a thirty-six monnth contract. Thhere was also a
sstart-up cost off $5,000. Wheen one adds up
thhe start-up andd recurring cossts for this circcuit, the school will pay $185,,000 for this thhree year comm
mitment to leasse two 100
M
Mbps circuits too connect their three buildingss on campus.
A much more cost-effective solution wouldd be to connecct the campus buildings togeether using
gigabit
g
Etherneet 80 GHz wireeless links. Reeplacing the 1000 Mbps leasedd circuits with these links
would
w
save 66% over the life-cycle cost of lleasing the linees, with the addded benefit of a ten times
improvement inn connection speed.
The
T table below details the cost
c analysis off using these 880 GHz GigE w
wireless link coompared to
a four year leaase of a 100 Mbps
M
circuit. Inn the above sccenario, a thirdd GigE link could be used too completely eenclose the
nnetwork in a rinng topology, adding resiliencyy to the networkk with very littlee CAPEX cost w
when considerring the overall cost of the
1100 Mbps fiber implementatiion. When com
mparing the coost per megabbit alternativess, it is clearly apparent that significant
ssavings can be realized by ussing GigE wireleess solutions.
M
Monthly Leasedd Circuit Fee
N
Number of Monnths
C
Connection Chaarge (Initial Insstallation)
880 GHz GE80 radios
r
Innstallation Servvices
880 GHz Licensee
Im
mplemented Total
T
TThroughput
C
Cost per Mbps
800 GHz GE Wireeless
$0
N/A
$0
$ 27,5000 (x2)
$4,0000 (x2)
$ 755 (x2)
$ 633,150
1000 M
Mbps
$663.15
©2011 BridggeWave Comm
munications, Innc.
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Leased 100Mbps
$ 22,500 (x2)
36
$5,000
$0
$0
$0
$ 185,000
1100 Mbps
$$1,850.00
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H
Healthcare Networks
Inn the third sceenario, gigabitt leased lines are
uused to provide high speed connectivity frrom
aan outpatient clinic to a hoospital two miles
m
aaway. Other facilities
f
withinn the healthccare
ccampus includee a pharmacy and data cennter,
aall requiring high-speed
h
GigE
G
connectivvity,
trransporting
patient
meedical
recorrds,
pprescription filliing, medical im
mage files (MR
RIs,
X
X-Rays), as weell as providingg Internet/intraanet
aaccess and VoIP
V
services to the doctoors,
nnurses and administratorrs tasked with
w
pproviding healthhcare services to their clients.
A
As it’s unlikely the hospital will
w move in thhe next five yeears, the admi nistrator signss a long term contract with tthe service
pprovider to get the best possible per-month price on thesee gigabit leasedd lines. For a ggigabit fiber-baased circuit, the rates are
aapproximately $5,000 per moonth, and the service provider has waivedd the start-up cconnection cossts due to thee long term
leease. The hosppital will pay $9900,000 over thhe life of the coontract for thes e high-speed cconnections.
Consideringg the use of 80 GHz gigabit w
wireless links inn lieu of leasingg fiber, the hosspital would
save 86% ovver the life-cycle cost of leasi ng the lines wiith an equivaleent gigabit speeed and with
improved lattency between the buildings.
Gigabit wireless links can also provide cost-effective redundant linkks to existing ffiber-based
connections, as well as divverse path in lieeu of a break inn the main fiber.
TThe table below
w details the coost analysis of using these 800 GHz GigE wiireless link com
mpared to a lonng term lease oof a gigabit
ccircuit. When comparing
c
the cost per megaabit alternativees, it is clearly apparent that significant savvings can be rrealized by
uusing GigE wireeless solutions.
M
Monthly Leasedd Circuit Fee
N
Number of Monnths
C
Connection Chaarge
880 GHz AR80X
X-AES radios
Innstallation Servvices
880 GHz Licensee
TTotal
TThroughput
C
Cost per Mbps
880 GHz AR Wiireless
$0
N/A
$0
$ 39,2550 (x3)
$ 4,0000 (x3)
$ 775 (x3)
$ 1229,975
10000 Mbps
$ 129.98
©2011 BridggeWave Comm
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Leassed GigE
$ 55,000 (x3)
60
$0
$0
$0
$0
$ 900,000
10000 Mbps
$ 900.00
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G
Government Networks
N
Inn the fourth sccenario, a govvernment initiattive
too modernize IT infrastructurre is considerred.
TThis involves placing
p
HD-IP video
v
camerass in
sspots in high-ccrime traffic areas
a
as well as
im
mproving connnectivity for govvernment facilitties
w
within the municipality. The police
p
department
iss building a video
v
monitoring center in the
bbasement of thheir facility, annd requires highsspeed, low-lateency backhaul for
f HD-IP camera
ppan/tilt/zoom operation.
o
At the same tim
me,
oother departm
ments are coonsidering highbbandwidth connectivity for VoIP,
V
data, viddeo
cconferencing, CAD file trannsmission, CR
RM,
eetc. Trenching through streeets and diggingg up sidewalks to lay city-oowned fiber prroved to be tooo disruptive too the local
bbusinesses, noot to mention put
p the project way over buddget. A secondd option was tto review leaseed-fiber from tthe service
pprovider, however gigabit speeeds were ruleed out due to their cost. A ccompromise off 100 Mbps fibber to each location was
cconsidered. As seen earlier, for a 100 Mbpps fiber-based circuit, the ratees are around $2,500 per m
month, and do nnot include
sstart-up connecction costs. Whhen consideringg the scope of this project, th e eight lines neeeded to connect HD-IP videeo cameras
aand disparate faacilities togetheer on the netwoork would cost $1,200,000 ovver the life of thhe five year conntract.
Considering the use of 80 GH
Hz gigabit wireeless links in lieeu of 100 Mbpss leased fiber w
would save
77% over the life-cycle
l
cost with
w the addedd benefit of tenn times perform
mance improvement while
still
s providing low
l latency connectivity for H
HD-IP camera manipulation. Additionally, tthese GigE
wireless
w
links can be re-useed in different locations shouuld the cameraas need to be rapidly redeployed
d
to otther positions. The table bellow details thee cost analysiss of using thesse 80 GHz
GigE wireless links comparedd to a five yearr lease of 100 M
Mbps circuits. W
When comparing the cost
pper megabit alteernatives, it is clearly apparennt that significaant savings cann be realized byy using GigE w
wireless solutioons.
M
Monthly Leasedd Circuit Fee
N
Number of Monnths
C
Connection Chaarge
880 GHz AR80 radios
r
Innstallation Servvices
880 GHz Licensee
Im
mplemented Total
T
TThroughput
C
Cost per Mbps
880 GHz AR Wiireless
$0
N/A
$0
$ 30,5000 (x8)
$ 4,0000 (x8)
$ 775 (x8)
$ 2776,600
10000 Mbps
$ 2276.60
©2011 BridggeWave Comm
munications, Innc.
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Leased 1100 Mbps
$ 22,500 (x8)
60
$0
$0
$0
$0
$11,200,000
1100 Mbps
$112,000.00
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S
Server Centrallization Utilizin
ng Gigabit Wireless Links
O
Often the greattest savings reealized by deploying gigabit wireless
w
links aare not in the ddirect savings from eliminatinng monthly
leeased-line chaarges, but in thhe indirect savvings resulting from centralizzing IT facilitiess and staff. Raather than tyinng together
rremote-site server facilities using lower-speed leased lines, gigabit wireless linkss provide the performance needed to
ccentralize servvers, while prooviding remotee users with server accesss performancee equal to thoose of local uusers. This
cconsolidation eliminates
e
duplicated server hardware, softtware licenses , backup systeems and serveer room costs at multiple
loocations, whichh can result in significant savings. Also, cenntralizing serve rs greatly simpplifies network aadministration and server
m
management, improving serviice reliability annd reducing thee costs of deplooying new appplications and sserver capacity.
O
Other Tangiblee Benefits to Replacing
R
Leaased Line Servvices with Higgh Capacity W
Wireless Links
Inn addition to thhe significant savings
s
realizedd by utilizing high capacity giigabit wireless links, businessses can future--proof their
nnetworks, and provide
p
ample capacity as neew applicationss need to be trransported oveer the link or thhe workforce coontinues to
eexpand. Transm
mission rates provided
p
by theese gigabit wireeless links meaan that the backkbone will remain free of botttlenecks as
aapplication capacity needs groow.
Inn regards to peerformance, thhese millimeter wave GigE wiireless links prrovide full-rate non-blocked ggigabit throughpput speeds
w
with very low laatency, yieldingg a fiber-equivvalent backbonne link that is pperfect for trannsporting real-time applicationns such as
vvideo and VoIP
P. With GigE wireless
w
links, thhere are no protocol converssions to make (e.g. SONET/A
ATM-to-IP), no expensive
eedge devices too purchase, coonfigure and maintain; GigE wireless
w
links pprovide the sim
mplicity of nativve IP interfacess, matching
thhe interfaces used
u
by server and user systeems.
E
Even when thee costs of leaseed line servicess are deemed to be acceptabble, often the ttime to provisioon these servicces can be
pprohibitive. High-speed wireleess links can be
b commissioned in days, all owing the orgaanization to react quickly to cchanges in
thhe business ennvironment, whhile new fiber innstallations aree often burdeneed with the red tape associateed with obtaininng relevant
ppermits and connstruction delays of many moonths.
W
While it can be comforting to simply
s
call som
meone else (e.gg. a service proovider) to addreess network isssues or outagees, many IT
oorganizations prefer
p
to havee local control over their ow
wn network too ensure that any network issue troublesshooting or
rresolution actioons can be undertaken withoout being depeendent on outsside parties. G
Gigabit wireless links includee extensive
m
management faacilities that are
a consistent with those found on other Ethernet switcching equipmeent. This allow
ws network
aadministrators to
t easily integrrate the links innto their existinng network maanagement sysstems without tthe complexityy of dealing
w
with proprietaryy management solutions. Thiss gives IT managers’ complette visibility intoo their network,, with the tools necessary
too quickly diagnnose issues witthout waiting foor a service proovider to responnd to a trouble ticket.
G
Gigabit wireless links providee a direct subsstitution for leased services, w
with the perforrmance, reliability and securrity of fiber.
TThese links allow IT departm
ments to simulttaneously imprrove user servvices while redducing commuunications expeenses. The
ddirect savings over recurrinng leased-line costs are coompounded bby the indirectt savings reaalized through IT facility
ccentralization and
a simplified network
n
managgement, as weell as providing the peace-of--mind of compllete network viisibility and
ccontrol.
©2011 BridggeWave Comm
munications, Innc.
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A
About BridgeeWave Comm
munications
B
BridgeWave Communicationss is the leadinng supplier of high-capacityy 4G millimeter wave backhhaul and gigabbit wireless
cconnectivity soolutions. BridgeWave's carrier-grade, poinnt-to-point wireeless FlexPortt® links providde a future-prooof mobile
bbackhaul solution for carriers and mobile opperators lookingg to support 4G
G/LTE/WiMAX
X adoption. PicooHaul™ links pprovide the
ssame carrier-grrade high-capaacity, small-cell backhaul for dense cell depployments. Thee company's 660 GHz and 800 GHz links
ooffer up to ten times
t
the banddwidth of compparably-priced lower-frequenc
l
cy license-free and licensed-bband wireless links, while
pproviding superrior interferencce immunity annd data securitty. Founded in 1999, BridgeW
Wave is headqquartered in Saanta Clara,
C
California, USA
A. For more infoormation, visit http://www.brid
h
dgewave.com.
BridggeWave Communnications, Inc.
33500 Thomas Rd.
Santa Clara, CA 950544 USA
+ (866) 577-69008; +1 (408) 567-6908
Ph: +1
@BridgeWave
Emaiil: sales@bridgew
wave.com
© 2011 BridgeWavee Communications, Inc. All rights reseerved. All other traddemarks mentionedd in this document oor website are the pproperty of their resspective
oowners.
©2011 BridggeWave Comm
munications, Innc.
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