Analysts say the wireless broadband market will reach 2.1 billion customers and $784 billion in annual revenue by 2015.

 

Yet, much as the mobile operator market, wireless broadband is only expected to grow as fast as its infrastructure – and a key piece of its hardware is the antenna.

 

Recently, a Wheat Ridge, Colorado-based company that makes wireless components and network products upgraded its broadband and GPS antenna line with a new enclosure that includes a universal mounting system.

 

Officials at ARC Wireless Solutions Inc. say their so-called “Integrated Enclosure Solution Gen II,” or “IES Gen II,” pictured at right, will fit nearly any radio and is compatible with antennae that range from 900 MHz to 5.8 GHz – making it easier for distributors, integrators and OEMs to stock.

 

TMCnet had a chance recently to speak with ARC Wireless’s (News - Alert) president and chief technical officer, Steve Olson, about how the enclosure has been received and what value it’s bringing the market.

 

Our exchange follows.

 

 

Steve Olson: The launch of the ARC Integrated Enclosure Solution Gen II has been well-received as a user-friendly and flexible approach that allows solution providers to get to market quickly with a low-cost, quality solution that can accommodate a variety of radios without the need of additional internal mounting modifications or components to the enclosure. The IES Gen II provides distributors the ability to stock an enclosure solution that is universal.

 

As long as the dimensions of the radio allow it to fit within the enclosure, which is approximately 7.5-by-7.5 inches, virtually all radios will easily mount within the enclosure and will not require additional mounting hardware. The IES Gen II also provides mounting interface features for those who still desire to use an interface mounting plate for the internal radio board. The distributor can easily match up the enclosure to the desired antenna gain and frequency from our list of compatible antennas that properly interface with the system and ship to a customer. This allows for the distributor to stock our IES Gen II enclosures without the need to define the antenna that will be used for each enclosure.

 

 

SO: ARC Wireless has several antenna and antenna-related patents and pending patents. Intellectual property plays an important strategic role for us as we position our company in the broadband wireless market. Oftentimes the design details of an antenna may have more than one patent or patent pending associated with it. This is the case with the antennas that interface with the IES Gen II product line. Currently we provide several antenna offerings with our new enclosure system with various gains and for all the commonly used broadband frequency bands throughout the world.

 

 

SO: The IES Gen II’s universal mounting system provides important features for several equipment and service providers in the growing broadband market. It allows them to purchase an enclosure system that provides universal radio board mounting flexibility for boards that are currently in the market and for future radio boards that may have completely different mounting hole requirements. Or, if there is a need to swap out the radio board for a different one, no additional hardware or modifications will be needed to install the new radio board. The novel design features of the IES Gen II, such as the swivel post universal mounting system and the tamper proof self-locking cable feed through method, are currently patent pending.

 

 

SO: We saw how many different radios were available on the market and how often a new one was hitting the market. Generally speaking, the mounting holes and the RF and power-over-Ethernet ports were seldom the same from board to board. We saw the need to provide a more universal enclosure system that would easily accommodate these radio board differences without the need to modify or swap out mounting hardware. The IES Gen II has been very successful in fulfilling this market need.

 

Yes, we do receive requests for custom enclosure versions. We encourage most customers to purchase the stocked enclosure solution through our distributors but in some situations it makes sense to develop custom versions. The custom versions have ranged from things as simple as a color change to more complex things such as a complete enclosure design to provide the customer with a completely unique look or features to satisfy their requirements.

 

 

SO: There are several ways that the universal nature of the IES Gen II provides an environmentally friendly “green” solution. First of all it meets the stringent RoHS material requirements that help reduce the amount of non material friendly products in the market place. From a design point of view, the universal mounting flexibility eliminates the need for more parts for the board install which reduces additional fabrication processes.

 

If a new radio board is required, our IES Gen II can easily accommodate the new mounting requirements without the need to scrap any parts. Furthermore, not only is this enclosure system universal but it is also reusable. The internal radio board mounting system is completely reconfigurable using the same original parts. If an antenna requirement changes, the antenna can easily be replaced while still using the same enclosure and the antenna that was swapped out can easily be attached to a different enclosure. Also, the enclosure is made from aluminum which is recyclable. The universal features of the entire IES Gen II solution product offering certainly provide a “green” technology.