Castro Valley Unified School District Turns to Exalt

Exalt Microwave Backhaul Systems Offer New Levels of Performance and Reliability While Reducing Costs


CAMPBELL, CA--(Marketwire - January 11, 2011) -  Exalt Communications today announced that the Castro Valley Unified School District has deployed its microwave backhaul systems to link its school campuses with its District office network. Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Castro Valley Unified School District serves nearly 9,000 students through nine elementary schools, two middle schools, and two high schools. When the legacy wireless systems the District had been using to link its schools proved inadequate, the District turned to Exalt for solutions.

"Computers in classrooms and labs as well as administrative computers have become more important over the past decade, and the old 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz wireless links we had been using simply didn't deliver the reliability or performance we needed," said Bruce Gidlund, director of technology at Castro Valley Unified School District. "The Exalt systems give us all the bandwidth we need, and they have been rock-solid since we deployed them."

In fact, the old radio systems were so unreliable that the District had replaced two links with leased T1 lines, driving up costs. Upon investigating alternatives, Gidlund found that the Exalt systems would deliver better reliability and performance than the T1 lines -- without the recurring monthly costs -- and easily support the District's heavy traffic mix of Internet access, e-mail, productivity applications, grading and administrative systems, and library database access.

The Exalt systems deployed in the District use the 5 GHz frequency band and transport 100 and 200 megabits per second (Mbps) of Ethernet over distances of up to five miles. The compact, lightweight, all-outdoor Exalt radios were easily installed by the District's own staff using Exalt's built-in management interface and, rather than mounting the systems on expensive towers, the District was able to use six-foot masts attached to existing campus buildings.

"School districts like Castro Valley Unified want high performance, highly reliable communications systems that serve the needs of their administrative staffs, faculties, and students," said Amir Zoufonoun, president and CEO of Exalt Communications. "But they are also tasked with finding ways to reduce costs, and eliminating leased T1 lines is one area where they can achieve significant savings. Exalt microwave backhaul systems deliver far greater bandwidth than leased T1 lines, are exceptionally easy to deploy and maintain, and offer a return on investment of less than a year."

The Exalt Microwave Backhaul Product Portfolio
All Exalt microwave backhaul systems -- indoor, outdoor, and split-mount -- offer guaranteed link availability, guaranteed throughput and low, constant latency. Systems are available in world bands from 2 to 43 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

Contact Information:

Media Contacts:

Pamela Valentine
VP Marketing
Outbound & Channel
Exalt Communications
pvalentine@exaltcom.com
408-871-1804 x351