Video surveillance drives wireless bandwidth boost

Gravette predicts the new gear would give ADT an effective bandwidth on a backhaul link of more than 100 Mbit/sec -- five times what he gets from older Proxim gear now installed in many locations.

That capability means he can reduce the number of base station radios he needs to install. "Anytime I can increase capacity while reducing labor requirements, I'm happy," he said.

Gravette has used Proxim for three years, saying it offers a greater range of products than competitors that can be used in various radio topologies. These include point-to-point, which can carry a data or voice signal across a bridge; point to multi-point, to connect one building to several; or a mesh topology for many redundant connections between buildings and surveillance cameras or other endpoints.

Proxim has been responsive when things have gone wrong in the past, Gravette said, adding that every technology he's used has experienced some kind of problem. "The only piece of gear I know that didn't have any problem was an anvil."