MANILA – Broadband solution provider Edge-Core is pushing for the development of WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) in the Philippines, describing the country–composed of more than 7,000 islands–as an “ideal place” for the technology.
Devoted to providing a full-range of reliable, high-performance and high-scalability networking equipment, Edge-Core recently met with different channel partners, Internet service providers (ISPs) and value-added resellers (VARs) to introduce its latest ISP product series. The company is a subsidiary of Accton Technology Corporation in Taiwan.
In its second series of seminars dubbed: “Broadband Now and Future” held at the Crown Plaza Galleria in Manila, Edge-Core executives introduced its broadband solution, including WiMAX, Ethernet / Fiber Ethernet switches, as well as its IPTV (internet protocol TV) solutions.
Becky Ho, senior sales manager of Accton Brand Business Unit, claimed Edge-Core’s broadband equipment is designed to fulfill people’s need for quadruple play–voice, data, video, and mobility. “We aim to enable service providers to offer flexibility in implementing the last mile broadband to users, combining optical (FTTB, FTTH), and wireless (Wi-Fi, WiMAX) infrastructures,” she said.
Ho said Edge-Core products include Metro Access Switches, Chassis and Layer 2/3/4 Managed Switches, WiMAX and Wi-Fi Products.
With their product combinations, Ho said Edge-Core provides versatile and comprehensive solution matrices such as telco, ISP, enterprise, SMB, education and hospitality solutions for highly diverse networking environment deployments.
Dennis Anthony Uy, president of Edge-Core’s sole partner in the Philippines–Comclark Network and Technology Corp. (Comclark)–described Edge-Core’s solution as the”fiber to the community and the home,” clamoring that the Philippines can also have a successful rollout of WiMax similar to Malaysia.
Although WiFi (wireless fidelity) and WiMax are quite similar when it comes to speed and function–the sending of data from one computer to another using radio signals–Uy said WiMax outdistances WiFi. The latter has a blanket range of about 30 meters or 100 feet while WiMax has a range of 30 miles or 50 kilometers and is more stable, enough to cover an entire town.
“There are only a few operators of WiMax in the Philippines. ISPs, corporations and telcos can use Edge-Core’s port or individual equipment to build their own network and deliver it to their clients both government and private,” Uy said.
He reported Edge-Core already found a niche market in the country for its IPTV solutions, now catering the hospitality industry or hotel businesses.
“We share revenue with hotels on the IPTV box and we are part of vendor, telecom operators,” Uy said, adding that some of their clients in the hotel industry are Pan Pacific, Heritage, Sofitel, Waterfront, and Century Park in Manila, and Holiday Inn and Fontana in Clark Pampanga.