EION Announces Automation of Remote Software Upgrade for Rural Markets

New version significantly reduces the field maintenance cost and increases the velocity of new service introduction

Ottawa, Canada - February 17, 2006; EION Wireless is proud to deliver remote software upgrade capability in its Tidal product family that can be used by rural, remote and underserved communities. This feature by EION sets itself ahead of competition by significantly reducing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in the deployment of broadband wireless systems.

In addressing the Digital Divide trend, many communities are embracing the broadband wireless revolution by deploying wireless networks to get connected to the Internet and other valuable services like Voice over IP. However, it is challenging for these inaccessible communities to perform software upgrades or configure new service introductions - increasing the cost of maintenance and operation. EION has introduced an automated process to accomplish the upgrade as opposed to manually receiving and performing. This has a direct impact in cost savings, significantly reducing the TCO.

The software update V4.5 that includes enhancements to the bridge mode operation applies to EION’s current Tidal product line, consisting of the Tidal 1000, Tidal 350 and Tidal 350-WG.

“By delivering this feature, we have addressed the fundamental issue of TCO in deploying wireless networks. Often the expertise required to maintain a wireless network is not available in a remote community, and to get a technician to the location can be very costly”, says Harry Silverstone, Director of Business Development “This new feature makes the operation of a Tidal Gateway much simpler – reducing the amount of prior knowledge and training required.”

EION’s Tidal V4.5, allows future software modules or software upgrades to be downloaded and installed at the push of a button. Combined with the remote management capabilities of the Tidal, this new feature makes it even easier to manage a distributed network of Tidal Gateways from a single location. It is also possible to configure customized updates and installations with this new feature.

The EION Tidal product line is a set of robust, intelligent and highly scalable broadband gateways that provide an effective and flexible platform for interconnecting networking applications, network management services, as well as client/server systems.

Tidal Broadband Gateways are an integral part of EION’s Rugged Wireless Communication Solution, enabling last-mile broadband connectivity for remote communities, defence and security agencies, hospitality services, energy exploration, and video surveillance systems. The Tidal product line provides highly scalable network capacity serving up to 2000 users per gateway, with proven ROI.