Wi-Fi News Briefs

• NextWeb Snaps Up Innetix
• More Wireless in Vegas
• A Little Further West
• Up the Coast

by Gerry Blackwell [April 23, 2002]

NextWeb Snaps Up Innetix
The broadband fixed wireless market in the west is all a-bubble these days. In one of a series recent developments, NextWeb Inc., a Fremont, Calif. fixed wireless network service provider, announced it had acquired San Jose-based Innetix Inc., another regional wireless Internet service provider (WISP).

NextWeb acquires Innetix's customer base and will take over operation of its network. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

With the acquisition, NextWeb expands its coverage by approximately 30 percent, making its high-speed UNII-band Internet access service available to more than 15,000 small and medium sized businesses in the San Francisco Bay and Silicon Valley areas.

"This acquisition allows us to accelerate our business plan of providing reliable and secure high-speed business Internet access to the region," says NextWeb CEO Graham Barnes. "We look forward to providing our exceptional service and personalized support to the Innetix customer base."

NextWeb reassured customers currently on the Innetix network that they would continue to receive high-quality service and support during the transition. NextWeb will be increasing bandwidth and upgrading much of the network to ensure reliability and customer satisfaction, the company says.

NextWeb provides dedicated high-speed Internet access and services to corporate users. The company claims its basic service is 30 percent faster than a T-1 at approximately half the cost, and can scale to six times the speed of T-1.

Its fixed-wireless network currently covers over 300 square miles in the San Francisco Bay-Silicon Valley area. NextWeb is backed by venture and strategic investors including Monet Capital, Kaiser Permanente and Tenet Healthcare.

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More Wireless in Vegas
Elsewhere in the west, StarNet Inc. of Palatine, Ill. announced availability of its high-speed fixed wireless Internet access service, StarNetWX, to residential and business customers in the Las Vegas market.

This makes Las Vegas one of the most heavily saturated broadband fixed wireless markets in the country. The last time we looked there were already four WISPs offering service there.

StarNetWX uses 2.4-Gz spectrum to deliver bi-directional speeds up to 1 Mbps. Customers get connected directly to the Internet via a small rooftop antenna which transmits and receives data from the main StarNetWX cell site in downtown Las Vegas.

The company says StarNetWX is designed to respond to what customers want most from a broadband service provider: fast installation, performance, reliability, and live customer service and support 24/7. StarNetWX customers in Las Vegas will will be able to get installation in as little as five business days.

"StarNetWX is a powerful service that allows residential and business Internet users to take advantage of affordable high-speed Internet access while maintaining superior quality of service," says Russ Intravartolo, Chief Executive Officer of StarNet Inc.

"The StarNetWX network in Las Vegas has been fully tested and monitored to ensure the ultimate broadband access experience. Backed up by seven years of expertise in the Internet access industry, StarNet is well-positioned to satisfy the needs of this fast-growing market."

StarNet Inc., a national ISP, has been in the business since 1995. StarNetWX is the company's new high-speed fixed wireless retail division which is currently offering service in parts of Illinois and Nevada.

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A Little Further West
Meanwhile, SkyRiver Communications Inc. of San Diego, a wholesale broadband fixed wireless network provider, announced it had expanded its coverage in San Diego County by 22 percent.

Earlier in the month, SkyRiver announced it had won a contract to provide a private metropolitan area network to the nearby City of Ontario in parallel with the deployment of SkyRiver's commercial network there. It launched service in the Ontario area through partners on April 1st, 2002.

The expansion in San Diego County adds approximately 100 square miles to the company's footprint. Several new distributors have also joined SkyRiver's San Diego-affiliate distribution program, including Southern California T1, Global Internet and Pacific Centrex.

SkyRiver's wireless broadband coverage now extends to approximately 75 percent of San Diego County business areas. The expanded area encompasses San Marcos, Vista, Oceanside, Coronado, Hillcrest, Uptown District and additional sections downtown including the harbor area.

By adding the harbor district, the company says, it can now offer high-speed broadband access to people aboard boats, a service that has been unavailable through any wireline methods.

SkyRiver claims its access service rates are up to 50 percent below wireline offerings for a T-1. Its service features symmetrical bandwidth, delivering the same throughput for both uploads and downloads.

"We have joined the SkyRiver distribution network because we clearly see the advantages for small-to-midsized businesses to use its service," said Karl Albright from Southern California T1.

"Now smaller companies will be able to get the same quality high speed access that larger companies enjoy, at half the cost."

In Ontario, SkyRiver was selected from a field of 17 respondents to the City's Request for Proposal. The company attributes this to its extensive background in wireless data communications and its ability to install a reliable system that can be operational quickly.

SkyRiver will deliver high-speed Internet access to city buildings including libraries, the museum, and police and fire stations.

"The wireless data solution provides an opportunity to create a cost-effective, high-bandwidth network for the City, while providing Ontario businesses with greater options for Internet access," explained Mayor Gary Ovitt of the City of Ontario.

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Up the Coast
Reality Wireless Networks Inc., a WISP based in northern California, announced that it would expand its broadband fixed wireless access services to the community of Saratoga, Calif. The Company expects to begin operations there in mid- to late May.

Reality Wireless provides high-speed Internet access to small business and residential users in areas where cable and DSL broadband solutions are either unavailable, limited or of poor quality.

Saratoga is the fourth in a series of at least ten California communities with substantial unmet demand for high-quality broadband services that Reality Wireless expects to add by year end. The rapid deployment is part of the company's RealityWireless-In-A-Box program.

"Saratoga is typical of many urban cities with areas whose residents either have no access at all to broadband Internet or are unsatisfied with the quality of what is available," says project manager Jeff Brewster.

"Of its approximately 30,000 total residents, as many as 20,000 are potential subscribers to our company's wireless broadband Internet services."

Because of the flexibility and low start-up costs associated with the RealityWireless-in-a-Box program, Reality expects to break even in Saratoga quickly, Brewster said.

The company provides broadband wireless services using hybrid networks that include fixed wireless, 802.11, and fiber. It is currently operating in California and the Pacific Northwest. The company targets residential and small-office/home-office (SOHO) customers, as well as multi-unit apartment complexes.

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