Manchester gives thumbs up to WiMax alternative

A Manchester-based company has created a £10 million secure wireless IP broadband network spanning the city, which it claims outdoes current WiMax initiatives.

Following on from an 18-month development and testing period, Manchester Metronet will now make the new network, which is capable of streaming high capacity fixed fibre-quality live video CCTV images wirelessly, commercially available.

The IP broadband infrastructure was created off the back of a foundation built by Atlantic Telecom, in partnership with Manchester City Council, NCP and The Greater Manchester Police.

In finessing the network, the company looks set to try and take WiMax's crown, which is already gaining momentum, at least in theory, through trials in Stratford-Upon-Avon and Milton Keynes.

When talking to IT PRO, a spokesman for the company dismissed Pipex and Intel's work in this area as "a lot of talk and not much delivery" adding that WiMax technology did not compare to Metronet's capabilities in terms of robustness and power.

The company, which has committed to a network availability SLA of 99.98 per cent, is also keen to steal some of BT's thunder.

"Before the arrival of Manchester Metronet, organisations based in Manchester were dependent upon BT's ability or willingness to install fibre optic cable at remote monitoring points," said James McCall, a director at the company.

"Manchester Metronet is the only network provider operating totally independently of BT that is capable of provisioning bandwidth virtually anywhere in the city. I guarantee that Manchester Metronet will always be cheaper than equivalent services from BT."

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