Airspan and Stutler Partner With County Government for WiMAX Deployment in Greensburg, Kansas and Surrounding Area
Helping Greensburg Redevelop Following 2007 Tornado Devastation
BOCA RATON, FL--(Marketwire - November 19, 2008) - Airspan Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: AIRN), a
leading provider of WiMAX-based broadband wireless access networks,
announced today that its innovative 3.65 GHz WiMAX equipment will form the
foundation for a wireless network deployment in Greensburg and Kiowa County
as part of the county's efforts to rebuild after its near complete
destruction from an EF5 tornado on May 4, 2007.
Airspan partner Stutler Technologies has been awarded the contract with
Haviland Telephone Company which is responsible for the deployment,
operation and management of the county-wide WiMAX system.
The WiMAX network, operating in the public 3.65 GHz band, will consist of
base stations located in the highest points of the county, which will
communicate with Airspan subscriber units placed in businesses and
residential homes. The community has received donations of computer
equipment and together with Airspan's WiMAX units will have access to
high-speed, 24/7 wireless Internet access.
After observing the post-May 4th situation and noting the absence of an
effective means of communications within the county and the community, a
team from Kansas State University led by Dr. Bert Biles worked with Kiowa
County to create a new, 21st century model for rural community
communications. The project has three critical elements: The
implementation of a county-wide WiMAX broadband wireless access network;
the distribution of WiMAX enabled laptops and desktop computers to the
households, businesses and government entities of the county; and finally,
the development of a Community Media Center which will ensure member
participation as well as a portal for community news and information.
Working hand-in-hand with Airspan-partner Stutler Technologies, the
Greensburg and county leadership and KSU quickly ascertained the needs of
the city and chose Airspan to supply the WiMAX equipment as best suited to
the project goals and requirements.
"Airspan is very proud to be part of this project," said Declan Byrne,
Airspan's Chief Marketing Officer. "Not only are we confident that our
experience and solutions in the 3.65 GHz band will benefit the citizens of
Greensburg and Kiowa County, but we are also confident that our partner
Stutler Technologies is ideally placed to offer the best customer service
and a guiding hand to this project."
"Airspan Networks was one of the first technology companies in America to
step forward and offer rebuilding assistance to Kiowa County and
Greensburg," noted Gene West, chairman of the Kiowa County Commission.
"And Stutler Technologies, located just down the road in Emporia, KS, has
provided invaluable technical support in designing our 3.65 GHz WiMAX
system."
"We very much look forward to the completion of the project," continued
West, "when each of our townspeople will have wireless access to the
Internet. This media project has been an intricate building block to gluing
this community back together. Our focus has been to rebuild Greensburg
maximizing environmentally friendly technologies and WiMAX broadband access
is perfectly suited to this goal. We have been delighted at the support
for this broader effort from the public media."
"Our target is to eventually expand the project to include Airspan
MiMAX-USB enabled laptops, netbooks, and other portable handheld devices to
provide nomadic WiMAX access across most of Kiowa County. My personal
goal," West said, only partially joking, "is to provide Internet to the
tractor!"
The eco-friendly rebuilding of Greensburg has been profiled on Discovery's
Planet Green, the first and only 24-hour eco-lifestyle television network.
J.J. Stutler, President of Stutler Technologies, added, "Working with
Airspan on this project has been a pleasure. They not only understood the
system requirements of the project and offered the best WiMAX equipment,
but also shared our vision in supplying this community a robust,
high-capacity network that will connect them to each other, across the
county and to the rest of the world."
About Stutler Technologies Corp.
Stutler Technologies is one of the largest US system integrators for major
wireless equipment manufacturers and specializes in complete RF, telephony,
networking and tower services as well as continued customer network
education and support. Stutler Technologies caters to the needs and issues
of the rural telephone community and actively works with both licensed and
unlicensed fixed applications. With specific expertise in the 700 MHz and
3.65 GHz frequency bands, Stutler has nationwide deployments in 39 states
and with over 60 700 MHz license holders.
About Airspan Networks Inc.
Airspan is the industry's leading WiMAX pure player, ranked #1 for
IEEE802.16-2004 WiMAX revenue in 2007 and has now been selected for some of
the world's largest mobile WiMAX deployments. With direct sales offices
throughout Asia, EMEA and the Americas, a worldwide network of resellers
and agents, and partnership alliances with major OEMs, Airspan boasts over
100 commercial WiMAX deployments worldwide. www.airspan.com.
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Contact Information: For Investor Relations and Media Inquiries, contact:
David Brant
Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Airspan Networks Inc.
Tel: +1 561 893-8650
Fax: +1 561 893-8681
Email: dbrant@airspan.com
Charlotte Laurent-Ottomane
Investor Relations
Tel. +561 395 4581
Email: clottomane@airspan.com