A southwestern Ontario telecommunications carrier is using an 800 Megabit per second Ethernet microwave backhaul system from DragonWave Inc. to provide high-speed access service for rural businesses.
Ottawa-based DragonWave announced Monday that Burgessville, Ont.-based Execulink Telecom will use its Horizon Compact for about 30 backhaul connections in Oxford County, about 150 km southwest of Toronto. In a press release, Dragonwave quoted an Execulink official as saying it chose Horizon Compact for its quality of service features. Horizon Compact operates on both licensed and unlicensed frequencies between 6 and 38 GHz.
DragonWave did not publish the price of the equipment but said some of the funding came from the province’s Rural Connections program, run by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, or OMAFRA
Other high-speed projects funded by OMAFRA include one in the Kingston area. Two years ago OmniGlobe Networks Inc. of Montreal announced Utilities Kingston inked a deal to buy fixed wireless equipment to service areas in Frontenac County, which extends north from Lake Ontario.
DragonWave said Execulink will be able to use Horizon Compact to provide voice services, support for backup systems, alarm systems and disaster recovery.
Another project partially funded by OMAFRA is Eastern Ontario Wardens' Caucus Inc. (EOWC), includes entails a backbone network from Bell Aliant Regional Communications LP and access equipment from Barrett Xplore Inc. EOWC, which plans to start construction this month, aims to provide high speed connections to 288,000 customers in an area bound roughly by Peterborough on the west, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River to the south and the Quebec border to the north and east.
