When wireless broadband service provider DigitalBridge Communications (DBC) went looking for the best long-term solution for delivering a broad range of IP telephony and voice applications to its residential and business customers, it found the comprehensive, “future proof” solution offered by Alianza’s hosted VoIP platform to be the perfect match. Alianza’s fully integrated platform provides the voice quality, reliability and flexibility that meet all of DBC’s requirements. By teaming with Alianza, DBC now has a robust, plug-and-play VoIP offering that can scale with its rapidly expanding customer base.
The Challenge
DBC was founded in late 2005 as a broadband service provider for underserved communities of up to 150,000 people. In 2006, DBC began operating a temporary 3.5GHz test license in Muncie, Ind., to test Alvarion WiMAX gear. WiMAX (Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access) is a secure, high-speed, long-range wireless Internet technology that employs licensed radio frequencies to provide broadband service.
In June 2008, DBC became the first service provider in North America to deliver mobile WiMAX services when it deployed Alvarion’s BreezeMAX 802.16e platform in Jackson Hole, Wy. Today, operating on the 2.5GHz licensed spectrum, DBC has deployed WiMAX networks in 15 cities throughout the Midwest and West.
“WiMAX enables us to quickly and cost-effectively bring the Internet to places that need it most, at broadband speeds,” said P. Kelley Dunne, co-founder and CEO of DBC. “In under a year, we proved we could deliver fast, simple, portable and affordable broadband services that customers want — and do it profitably.”
Since its founding, DBC’s strategy was to leverage the advantages of WiMAX to augment its high-speed data services with value-added applications, beginning with those services that would have the most universal appeal to the customer and the greatest financial impact on DBC. With its WiMAX strategy in place, the next logical step in the company’s evolution was to offer VoIP services and meet stringent requirements for quality, flexibility and pricing. Given DBC’s decision to build its network with Alvarion infrastructure, the company needed a voice solution that would take full advantage of its Quality of Service (QoS) capability.
The Solution
DBC’s management team evaluated four vendors’ platforms. Of four providers considered, Alianza’s Platform was chosen for the following reasons:
1. Manageability and ease of operation: Alianza was the only vendor whose hosted voice platform was built from the ground up. All others were cobbled together using point solutions of multiple third parties. In addition, Alianza’s platform was the only one that was fully integrated, combining the six core components into a single management portal that significantly decreased the learning curve related to managing and supporting the product offering.
2. Flexibility: Alianza's robust Application Programming Interface (API) gives service providers flexibility to integrate Alianza’s back-office administrative portal into existing service provider OSS & BSS, optimizing back-office operational efficiencies.
