PSINet Inc. Tuesday
announced plans to expand rollouts of its business-grade wireless Internet
access service, PSINet InterSky, to 50 additional domestic and
international markets.
The expansion follows successful trials in several U.S. markets. The
service will launch in select metro areas in the U.S. and abroad by the end
of this year. U.S. cities that will be served initially include Ft. Myers
and Naples, Fla.; Memphis, Nashville
and Knoxville, Tenn.; Mobile and
Birmingham, Ala.; Louisville, Ky.; Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, N.C. and
Tysons Corner, Va. Most of these will be added by the end
of the second quarter.
PSINet InterSky is billed as an affordable, high-speed alternative to
traditional land-based, last-mile Internet
services, also known as “local loop connections,” offered by telcos.
Pricing for the InterSky service begins at $395 a month and is aimed at
small and medium-sized businesses in secondary
metro markets.
Traditionally customers in such areas use individual online
service accounts operating at speeds of 28.8 Kbps or local area network
(LAN) ISDN services operating up to 128 kilobits per second.
InterSky provides a dedicated, high-speed wireless Internet solution
employing Airdata WIMAN
digital microwave technology in the unlicensed 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) spread
spectrum band. Current
speeds available are 128 Kbps. Available speeds are expected to climb to
512 Kbps in 1999 and up to 2 megabits per second (Mbps) in
2000.
The service uses a “point to multipoint” system capable of delivering
wireless Internet services to thousands of businesses in each service area.
The company said PSINet InterSky is not just a modem, but a wireless
connection for an entire office LAN. Connections are transmitted via a
cellular-type infrastructure similar to wireless voice networks.
InterSky
services are then
linked directly into PSINet’s international Internet backbone providing
customers with the same network
engineering, monitoring services, and service level agreements offered to
other PSINet connectivity customers.
Customers of PSINet InterSky customers can receive advanced security,
privacy and other applications including voice-over-IP.
“PSINet’s commercial customers demand the highest quality and reliability
from their Internet services,” said
Richard Frizalone, vice president of wireless Internet services for PSINet
Inc. “The need for alternative local
loop capacity is well documented and InterSky provides a unique
business-grade solution particularly for
metropolitan areas that are not considered first-tier markets.”
