CeBIT: German Chancellor Merkel visits LANCOM during her walkabout
At the center of attention: WLAN point-to-point links as an economical alternative for quick provision of broadband to rural areas
The German government is very clear about its intentions: Every household and business in Germany should have broadband Internet access with at least 1 Mbps by the end of 2010. Not only the experts agree that this ambitious goal cannot be achieved with wireline technologies alone. Also aware of this fact is German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel, who took the opportunity to find out about the latest alternatives for economical provision to rural areas.
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The last stop on her traditional opening day walkabout was devoted to alternatives for broadband. In a conversation lasting several minutes at the LANCOM Systems booth, Managing Director Ralf Koenzen explained to the Chancellor and the accompanying Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero the extent to which point-to-point links based on wireless LAN can be used to economically connect even very remote communities to the nearest fiber-optic backbone. Low levels of investment mounting to just a few thousand Euros, uncomplicated installation, freedom from permissions or licensing; these are just a few of the advantages of this technology.
Dr. Angela Merkel was particularly impressed to hear about the more than 100 successfully implemented projects relying on LANCOM wireless point-to-point links to provide high-speed Internet to communities lacking DSL coverage. Just one example of this is the citizens' association network in Dresden, an independent initiative providing high-speed Internet to 1750 member in and around the city. For as few as 10 new members in an outlying district, the citizens' association installs a point-to-point link over several kilometers to bridge the "last mile". Local distribution is also based on WLAN. All subscribers need is one standard WLAN router per household.
LANCOM also had an interesting project to report to the Spanish Prime Minister: Since late February, the Balearic island Formentera has an almost area-wide broadband Internet coverage—based of course on the very latest WLAN technology from LANCOM. This project employs the LANCOM OAP-310agn Wireless: In combination with an innovative antenna construction, this 802.11n-capable outdoor access point provides WLAN point-to-point links with net data rates of up to 100 Mbps.
