DragonWave picked as Xohm's wireless backhauler

Sprint today showed it's pretty serious about its Xohm Mobile WiMAX network: it picked DragonWave as its microwave backhaul supplier.

DragonWave's native Ethernet radios, in this case the Horizon Compact and Horizon Duo products, will be deployed in the first two Xohm sites, Baltimore/Washington and Chicago.

The Duo was unveiled earlier this year: 1.6Gbps microwave Ethernet radio. With the Horizon Compact, they fill the air gap between base stations and next-level aggregation sites or fiber points of presence.

The contract isn't exclusive and Sprint will undoubtedly use other vendors so it's not dependent on a single supplier.

Backhaul is emerging as a far more critical issue for 3G and 4G wireless data than it ever did for wireless voice. When T-Mobile deployed High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) technology over its European network, data traffic created major strains. A key part of the solution is shifting from TDM backhaul and upgrade to IP/Ethernet backhaul technologies.

Infonetics Research reports that mobile operators and other providers bought $3.7 billion in mobile backhaul equipment last year. From 2009 to 2011, their spending in this category will grow at double-digit rates.