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The order includes 12,000 WLAN access points, WLAN end-user devices and WiMax base stations and modems from Siemens and amounts to a total of around seven million euros. Algérie Télécom will offer business customers in the Algiers area the operation of company-owned Wireless Local Access Networks (WLANs) as a completely managed solution. Siemens will supply the operator with the entire infrastructure, WLAN-capable end-user devices and a tariffication system. As part of this contract Siemens will also maintain two pilot networks and train local technicians to service the networks. For businesses, WLANs provide an attractive means of ensuring that their employees can be reached on company premises or in larger office complexes while keeping communications costs low. Phone calls within the company’s own wireless network, for example, are possible at no charge. At the same time, the bandwidth of a WLAN is sufficient to transmit data from internal networks and from the Internet to mobile devices. The WLAN technology HiPath Wireless from Siemens Enterprise Communications stands out with its centralized control: Access data and security information is not located in the individual access points, but rather in the controllers. That simplifies the management of the entire network, since any technical modifications do not need to be made at every access point. In addition, the Siemens technology ensures fast and seamless handoff of calls from one access point to another. This is by no means standard in the WLAN sector, and for Algérie Télécom this aspect of the Siemens solution was a decisive argument in deciding who would win the order. With the WiMax modem Gigaset SE 461 from Siemens Home and Office Communication Devices, which is also included in the order, Algérie Télécom can connect entire customer WLANs or individual parts of a company wirelessly to the public network over large distances. “With WLANs, we will enable attractively priced voice-data convergence for our customers, with data rates that are otherwise possible only in the fixed network. In addition to mobility, the Siemens devices also provide the same comfort and convenience as GSM and UMTS devices,” emphasized Mamoud Ramrani, Directeur de la Division WLL at Algérie Télécom. lightreading.com | ||||||||||||||||||
Siemens Wins in Algeria