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Greek monastery goes wireless |
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Friday, 03 October 2008 |
Aperto Networks has announced that its line of PacketMAX base stations and subscriber units have been deployed on a pilot basis by OTE,
Greece’s leading telecom operator, in the Halkidiki region of northern
Greece. The network provides on a pilot basis wireless broadband voice and data for several monasteries and religious sites on
Mount Athos, the oldest surviving monastic community of the world. This deployment is one of the most unique that we have been involved with,” said Manish Gupta, Vice President of Marketing & Alliances for Aperto Networks and WiMAX Forum Board Member. “It is the first true end-to-end WiMAX network in
Greece and one that stretches as far as 65 Km over land with multiple hops. It also includes long distance radio links that extend 33 Km over sea and even integrates last mile access to Karies, the capital of the Athos community, via a mini DSLAM and an 802.11 WiFi network.” OTE’s pilot network is built around PacketMAX 5000, the industry’s highest density, highest capacity, and highest performing base station. PacketMAX 300 and PacketMAX 100 series subscriber units are used for backhaul and last mile access. The entire system is remotely managed through OTE’s DCN network. Heletel SA, a network integrator and Aperto partner, provided turnkey installation and continues to support the deployment with ongoing training and technical help. Mount Athos, or
Holy
Mountain or Agion Oros as it is locally known, is the oldest surviving monastic community in the world. It dates back more than 1,000 years to Byzantine times. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that, although part of
Greece, it is governed by its own local administration and is spiritually subject to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Today, there are 20 Greek, Russian, Serbian and Bulgarian monasteries in the community, a renowned treasury of cultural and spiritual antiquities from the Balkans and
Europe.
www.apertonet.com |
