Somerfield trialling WiMAX WAN

Supermarket retailer Somerfield will be the first company to pilot Vanco's WiMAX offering for a corporate Wide Area Network (WAN), the virtual network operator announced in Barcelona today.

Claiming to be the first managed services provider to offer WAN via WiMAX, Vanco said it will be offering the technology as part of its multi-technology solutions for businesses. The VNO doesn't own any infrastructure, instead setting up and managing services across a variety of operators for businesses. The WiMAX aspect has been sourced from Vialtus Solutions' FREEDOM4.

Somerfield, which signed a £18.9 million contract with Vanco in 2006, will trial the service in Manchester beginning in March, with eventual plans to roll it out across locations in 50 UK cities, said Steve McKeaveney, Vanco's head of technical consulting in the UK.

Using WiMAX-powered wireless access could help extend higher bandwidth DSL coverage to places which haven't got great connections, McKeaveney said. "The real challenge is when you can't get DSL where you like it, but you still want [higher] bandwidth," he said.

The WiMAX service could also be used to offer always-on backup and disaster recovery, he said, adding that as it's easier to rollout - at seven days compared to 10 for DSL and longer for MPLS - it can boost implementation times.

Graham Currier, business development director at WiMAX network provider Freedom4, said: "WiMAX offers the benefits of a 'personal' wireless service for staff on the move, temporary installations and those needing to send as well as receive large files."

As a virtual network operator, the technology isn't the main focus for Vanco, however. "It doesn't matter to us, as a service provider," McKeaveney said. "It could be wired, 3G or WiMAX, it doesn't matter... in some areas, WiMAX will be deployed, so we'll tap into that."

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