Microwave Journal
www.microwavejournal.com/articles/28639-cambium-networks-epmp-elevate-solution-improve-uk-broadband

Cambium Networks’ ePMP Elevate solution improve UK Broadband

June 19, 2017

Boundless Networks Limited has upgraded its installed base equipment to Cambium Networks’ ePMP Elevate solution, replacing more than 300 of its 550 Access Points and applying a performance improving software upgrade to thousands of subscribers over-the-air.

This doubled the available capacity at each base station, enabling new subscribers to be added and Boundless’ service portfolio to be expanded with a 50 Mbps product, enhancing its customer retention and revenue.

“Cambium’s ePMP Elevate platform arrived at the perfect time for Boundless, as it promised to solve three problems in one; speed, spectrum and service,” said David Burns, CEO of Boundless. “As our customers’ expectations for bandwidth and service level rose and our success in high-demand areas decreased spectrum availability, we were faced with a significant business challenge to deliver better service and higher performance in crowded airspace, without making the huge investment of replacing every access point and customer radio.”

ePMP Elevate was launched by Cambium Networks as an answer to the problem posed by aging 802.11n-based hardware, which is unable to keep pace with growing consumer demand. ePMP Elevate’s potential has already been proven by an array of operators around the world which have deployed the hardware-agnostic software within their networks which would otherwise have had to undergone costly and disruptive hardware upgrades.

To ensure the additional performance and spectrum reuse enabled by ePMP Elevate was not at the expense of stability or reliability, Boundless carried out a measured testing and evaluation process, taking careful before-and-after measurements to verify the impact and performing random service and speed checks to test customer experience.

“As a result of the upgrade, our customers are getting more consistent service delivery, making streaming and Voice-over-IP (VoIP) far more realistic,” said Burns. “We can bring speeds to rural locations that are better than the UK average speeds in large cities, making our proposition more compelling than ever. All in all, we have been delighted to see that Cambium’s claims are true and we have seen no ‘down-side’ to this migration so far.”

ePMP Elevate is installed on subscriber modules from other manufacturers already in the network. These modules are then connected to Cambium Networks’ base station, adding critical features to 802.11n-based installed equipment, including frequency reuse enabled by GPS synchronization, airtime fairness and smart beamforming. As no hardware upgrade is required at the subscriber’s location, substantial investment in new hardware and installation crews is avoided – providing a cost-effective service level improvement.

Any previous issues, such as latency and inconsistent speed, are solved and network operators can confidently extend high-speed connectivity and increase density to meet customer demand without the time and expense of dispatching technicians to each subscriber location.

“Whether it’s gigabit access or unlimited downloads, service providers’ networks are being pushed to the limit,” said Dan McCarthy, UK sales manager for the UK, Ireland and Nordics at Cambium Networks. “Dealing with this used to mean having to swap out equipment but with ePMP Elevate, hardware investments are protected for years to come and existing infrastructure is given a new lease on life to support revenue-generating applications.

“Having a product such as this on the market will become all the more important as the Government introduces its Universal Service Obligation which will entitle every U.K. resident, regardless of location, to receive at least a 10 Mbps connection.”