30th March - Cisco announced significant wireless enhancements to its integrated services routers, adding an integrated third-generation (3G) wireless connectivity option and doubling the scalability of its integrated wireless local-area network (LAN) support. This solution is part of the Cisco Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture and is enabling service providers to offer 3G wireless connectivity to enterprise branch office customers demanding the highest-availability access to business-critical applications across the wide-area network (WAN).

Four leading mobile network operators – AT&T, Sprint, Telefónica Móviles España and Verizon Wireless – have trialed Cisco’s new 3G Wireless WAN High-Speed Interface Card (HWIC) solution for their enterprise customers. Separate cards support Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks.

The integrated solution enables service providers to dramatically increase the adoption of revenue-generating 3G services. New streams of revenue can be realized through a variety of services made possible by the combination of the 3G Wireless WAN HWIC solution and the Cisco Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) – the platform of choice for the delivery of profitable managed services for an empowered branch experience.

"Companies and branches with fewer than 100 employees stand to gain a great deal by deploying 3G wireless applications," said Tere’ Bracco, senior research director for enterprise at Current Analysis. "In fact, for small businesses and municipalities that require rapid setup or temporary connectivity, or that face situations in which land lines are not feasible, 3G wireless offers the ability to bring up a new site quickly and cost effectively. Using the integrated services available on the Cisco Integrated Services Routers, the Cisco 3G Wireless WAN HWIC solution can also provide instant and mobile communications during disasters and service outages."

The Cisco 3G Wireless WAN HWIC is a wireless module that is enabled for AT&T's UMTS/HSDPA-based BroadbandConnect service and is integrated in the Cisco ISR, which provides Internet Protocol (IP)-based data, voice, video and mobility services.

When using AT&T's Wireless WAN Connectivity Service in conjunction with the Cisco 3G Wireless WAN HWIC solution, customers will have a truly diverse and highly secure wireless broadband backup to their Cisco ISR wireline data connections should those be disabled by cable cuts, weather or local access outages. Customers can configure their local area networks so that the Wireless WAN Connectivity Service automatically activates should the wireline connection be interrupted, thus achieving the truly redundant network architecture that helps ensure that critical applications keep running.

"The Cisco 3G Wireless WAN HWIC solution is the mechanism through which the worlds of wireline and wireless data are coming together for the first time within a single, enterprise-grade hardware platform," said Jeff Bradley, vice president, wireless business data services, for AT&T. "This groundbreaking capability coupled with the AT&T Wireless WAN Connectivity Service - which was the first commercially available service of its kind - provides our joint AT&T and Cisco customers with a cost-effective, rapidly deployable, reliable and secure solution for remote sites and branch offices. This is an important addition to our portfolio of AT&T enterprise VPN resiliency options."

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