After years of frustration using microwave backhaul systems from another vendor, Wheatland Electric Power Cooperative has found the Exalt split-mount systems using the 11 GHz spectrum to be highly reliable and easy to deploy. “Our microwave backhaul network links our substations, remote offices, and wireless Internet aggregation points, but our previous vendor’s products were often unreliable and difficult to get,” said Jevin Kasselman, communications division supervisor at Wheatland Electric Cooperative. “The Exalt systems are much more reliable, and Exalt has been extremely responsive to our needs.”

The Exalt split-mount systems carry SCADA and IP voice traffic for Wheatland Power Cooperative, additional traffic from 20 video surveillance cameras monitoring the company’s water facilities, and Internet traffic for the Cooperative’s wireless ISP business. The systems are currently configured to deliver 100 megabits per second (Mbps) of Ethernet traffic with “five nines” reliability and ample bandwidth for future SmartGrid initiatives.

With deployments stretching back over a year now, Wheatland Electric Cooperative has found the Exalt microwave backhaul systems to withstand all weather conditions on the Kansas prairie, and it plans to replace all of its legacy microwave systems with Exalt as its budget permits. In addition, the company will be testing Exalt microwave backhaul systems in the 5 GHz frequency band for use in shorter hops that connect its wireless Internet customers and remote offices to the backbone. “The Exalt 5 gigahertz systems have excellent interference mitigation capabilities, and we like the ability to tune them in 1 MHz increments to work around any potential interference,” says Kasselman.

“Utility companies need administration and control systems that work 24/7, and Exalt microwave backhaul systems are designed to deliver better reliability than fiber or other ground-based systems with far easier deployment and lower costs,” said Amir Zoufonoun, president and CEO of Exalt Communications. “As power companies across America upgrade their communications infrastructures to support SmartGrid and other next-generation initiatives, Exalt microwave backhaul systems deliver highly reliable, consistent performance that takes the worry and much of the expense out of operating these critical network infrastructures.”

The Exalt Microwave Backhaul Product Portfolio
All Exalt microwave backhaul systems offer guaranteed link availability, guaranteed throughput and low, constant latency. Systems are available in world bands from 2 to 40 GHz and in capacities from 10 Mbps to more than 1000 Mbps per channel, providing a range of options to fit countless network applications. Designed to enable a smooth transition to IP, they offer native support for both TDM and Ethernet, and are fully software configurable and upgradeable. For easy and secure management using third-party network management systems, Exalt systems support SNMP v1, v2c and v3. Data security is provided by available FIPS 197-compliant AES 128-bit and 256-bit encryption that adds zero latency to the transmission. To simplify installation and maintenance, all Exalt systems feature an embedded manual and most include a built-in spectrum analyzer.

About Exalt Communications
Exalt Communications provides next-generation microwave backhaul systems to service providers, government organizations and enterprises worldwide. Exalt systems are designed to solve the network bottlenecks associated with the growing demand for IP- based voice, data and video applications and the resulting migration from TDM to IP-based networks. With a flexible architecture and universal product platform covering multiple market segments, Exalt provides a full range of microwave radio systems that meet the demand for cost-effective and flexible alternatives to fiber and leased lines. www.exaltcom.com