Vodafone Germany is to introduce an AirTies WLAN bridge with MESH technology.
It follows the 2014 decision to replace its existing PLC/Powerline wired network solution with Wi-Fi for greater flexibility and ability to reach multiscreen devices such as smart phones and tablets, as well as reaching the IPTV set top box.
The WLAN Bridge Air 4820 Video Bridge/Access Point is capable of delivering premium HD video services, while ensuring consistent access at the full broadband speed anywhere in the house. This is achieved through AirTies’ Wi-Fi MESH, which creates multiple paths by converting the traditional wireless star topology into a more resilient and higher capacity point-to-point arrangement.
Vodafone Germany has been offering IPTV services as an option for its broadband Internet customers since 2011, delivered over ADSL or VDSL connections to the home gateway. Until recently PLC/Power line connections were deployed for multidevice access because Wi-Fi was not capable of providing the required performance or reliability so far. But now with AirTies MESH operators can depend on Wi-Fi for both broadband and premium video delivery throughout the home.
“We have been highly impressed with the quality of AirTies’s products and especially with the capability of the usage of MESH technology,” said Jan Henrich, Head of TV Devices Engineering at Vodafone Germany. “We are satisfied that it will meet our existing and future requirements for whole home TV and broadband, including delivery of SD, HD and even 4K content.”
AirTies’s EVP & General Manager – Europe Business Unit Ian Challinor added, “We have been working with Vodafone for a while now on the video bridge project to make absolutely sure that it is fully robust and can cope with the most demanding wireless environments. Vodafone Germany has taken wireless testing in the home to a new level, which heralds an era of Wi-Fi as the predominant home network technology, fully matching the performance and reliability of the best wired options but with far greater convenience. This could prove a tipping point, as other operators follow suit in migrating towards Wi-Fi from wired home networks.”
Vodafone Germany had a specific list of features and requirements that AirTies had to comply with, including many use cases and deployment scenarios, although principally stability of the MESH technology.
