DAY 2 1 0 WISPAMERICA I MARCH 6 - 9, 2023 www.bekabusinessmedia.com Recently FiberLight’s Chief Strategy Officer Ron Kormos shared his thoughts regarding the “Texas of Tomorrow” during a Waco Chamber of Commerce Infrastructure Summit. Among his observations was how the world has changed because of the pandemic. “I think one of the biggest changes we saw was the shift going from working at the office to working at home,” Kormos said. “Just five years ago, I cannot remember getting on a Teams call more than once a week. Now I am in virtual meetings six or eight times a day via Teams, Google, WebEx or another platform. “The transition to virtual work has made the infrastructure gaps easy to identify,” he said. “How many times does your screen freeze up on video calls because someone does not have enough bandwidth?” Kormos, a respected thought leader in the industry, asked attendees to imagine what it would be like to be on a virtual medicine appointment with their doctors and the screen suddenly becomes frozen. When asked about FiberLight working with the Texas Broadband Development Office, Kormos told the attendees the company owns and operate its network, which includes about 11,000 route miles in Texas. “One of the things that I want to emphasize here on the importance of the middle mile provider,” he said. “We provide access. We have over 8,500 miles in the state of Texas that we consider to be rural. In order to connect these areas, we need more middle mile infrastructure.” He added that one thing thing surfaced after the infrastructure bill was released is that Congress allocated only $1 billion to the middle mile and some $40 billion to the last mile. “Last mile is very important, but we all know that without the middle mile, the last mile does not work,” Kormos said. “Take water for instance, you can be in a subdivision and have great water, sewer and everything else, but if it doesn’t connect to the big water line, you do not have water. Same thing with networks, you must have middle-mile connectivity out to that area before you ever get to the last mile.” FiberLight has enabled more than 200 WISPs (Wireless ISPs) and ISPs on its network to deliver last mile services, which makes the company a “carrier’s carrier.” “We sell to the WISP and the ISPs, but there is a lot more money that needs to be put in the mid-mile piece,” Kormos said. “That is what we want to see out of the broadband committee.” FiberLight is a business that reaches beyond Waco, Kormos reminded the summit. “We work with a lot of different cities, states, and also different counties. We are working with Jasper County, Newton County, working with Burnett County, and working with all the Panhandle area right now in economic development,” he said. “I think it is critical on the public-private partnership, because let’s face it … we are [a] for-profit company. We must make a profit in order to pay our people. It is not practical to say, ‘Let’s go out to an area that only has 10 people living there.’ You cannot make the money to cover what you have to spend. So we need government involvement to help us deliver network to these underserved areas and rural areas.” Kormos also said the industry always must consider what’s on the horizon. “We must continue to improve,” Kormos said. “We need to get it done more efficiently in the industry. We already see that the workforce is way low. We have got to make that up in automation and the only way to do that is to get broadband out there and start utilizing that. I understand that content delivery is exploding. It is a $13 billion industry, and it is growing at a rate of 30 percent per year in the United States. So that is where I think we need to challenge ourselves and ask, ‘what’s next on the horizon?’” m For more information on how FiberLight is building Texas and its other coverage areas, visit booth 108 on the Exhibit Floor or go to www.fiberlight.com As a global leader in RF data transmission equipment design and manufacturing, SAF Tehnika is recognized by WISPs in the United States, European Union and around the world for innovative solutions. SAF Tehnika understands the challenges of delivering reliable, high-performance connectivity, especially in remote areas, and it knows that cost efficiency is crucial to the success of WISPs. The company designed the Integra-X radio to meet these demands. With the ability to transmit high power in the 18 GHz frequency range, Integra-X enables single-channel XPIC operations with a capacity of 2.2 Gbps for long-distance connections. And with transmit power of up to +31 dBm, it allows for wide channels up to 112 MHz in frequency bands starting from 6 GHz and above. Linkwave was one of the first companies to deploy Integra-X 18 GHz radios, using just 2.95 ft (~90 cm) diameter antennas to create long-distance hops up to 21 miles (~35 km) with remarkable performance. SAF Tehnika’s responsive customer service and five-year warranty also impressed the Linkwave team, while Linkwave’s CEO, Lorenzo Busatti, appreciated the built-in spectrum analyzer and polarization indication on Integra-X’s GUI. To read a case study, go to this link: https://cdn.bfldr.com/63PGQIPJ/at/ frh62fsm8r9883sjnp4g655h/SAF_Linkwave_ Case_Study_A4_WEB.pdf m If you’re ready to expand your network with the reliable, efficient, and cost-effective Integra-X, contact Ryan.Tisdale@saftehnika. com, visit saftehnika.com/en/integrax, or meet us at booth 508. FiberLight Looks to Build the Texas of Tomorrow Connect the Unconnected with Integra-X By Bruce Christian
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