PACKET-ON-DEMAND

The key to enabling broadband access to a large number of users using wireless technologies is efficiently utilizing available frequency spectrum and minimizing the hardware cost per user. Today, wireless technologies are widely used for circuit-based, high-bandwidth, point-to-point connections to individual locations. These connections make sense when a consistent, high capacity connection is required, but can be prohibitively expensive for applications that require only occasional high capacity. For example, Internet users tend to have "bursty," or intermittent traffic demands, and having a dedicated channel or a point-to-point wireless link results in substantial unused capacity during periods when data is not being transmitted.

To solve the problem of unused capacity, dedicated circuit-based connections must be replaced with on-demand, packet based connections that enable users to consume only as much system bandwidth as is required at any given time. Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technology can be used to enable several users to share a single channel on a point-to-multipoint basis, which efficiently allocates bandwidth to end-users and minimizes the hardware costs involved. While TDMA capability is necessary, it is not sufficient for cost-effective delivery of bursty traffic. The system must also have the capability to intelligently handle Internet Protocol packets and Asynchronous Transfer Mode cells on a packet-by-packet or cell-by-cell basis, as provided by the AB-Access solution.

Axxcelera Broadband Packet-On-Demand technology is more efficient than bandwidth on demand systems.

AB-Access is a point-to-multipoint, packet-on-demand technology that allows network users to simultaneously share the available frequency spectrum using the most efficient bandwidth management system available today. Further, it is estimated that typical Internet connections use the maximum available capacity 10% of the time, at best. The packet-on-demand approach of AB-Access enables support of more than ten times as many users as existing circuit-based access techniques due to its capability of interleaving many different users within a single channel and providing bandwidth, on a packet-by-packet basis, only as needed. This capability also facilitates charging end users only for the service they require, thereby reducing the cost of service offered with the product.