Israel’s Ceragon Networks Ltd. will partner with Alvarion Ltd. as wireless backhaul equipment provider to deploy a network for Open Range Communications. The new network is planned to be the largest Rural Utilities Service (RUS) funded deployment in the United States, spanning 17 states, 546 rural communities, and reaching up to 6 million people.

Alvarion is a leading provider of WiMAX and wireless broadband solutions. The company was recently selected as the WiMAX solution provider for the Open Range best-of-breed 4G network. It is also acting as the prime system integrator of the project. Ceragon’s high-capacity platforms will be used for backhauling rich voice and multimedia content over a newly constructed wireless IP network.

“This Open Range network will bring high-speed broadband connectivity to millions of Americans,” said Tzvika Friedman, CEO of Alvarion. “The backhaul solution plays a critical role in building such a high capacity network. Ceragon’s wireless IP backhaul solution provides a variety of benefits including high-capacity and advanced networking capabilities, while allowing for simple, quick and cost-efficient deployment. Our partnership with Ceragon is another example of our strategy to enable Open WiMAX networks.”

Ira Palti, President and CEO of Ceragon responded, “We are very excited to partner with Alvarion for the Open Range network deployment.” He added, “Delivering broadband services to rural communities brings new forms of enterprise, new sources of wealth and new forms of social interaction to millions of new users. Our wireless backhaul solutions help operators around the world to simplify their network deployments while driving down set up and maintenance costs. We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with Alvarion.”