Proxim Wireless this week has released a new multifrequency point-to-point radio, offering up to 28Mbps over a 10-mile range for carrier-class, last mile connectivity.

The latest addition to the Lynx radio family, the G5, is the first to support T1/E1 interfaces, in addition to a 10/100 Ethernet port, and offer a wide choice of frequencies in the 2.4GHz and 5.15GHz-5.95GHz bands. The frequencies and channel sizes are software configurable once the radios have been deployed. The Lynx.G5 also supports hardware-based, RSA-certified AES encryption over the link.

The Lynx family has traditionally been targeted at replacing high-capacity wired connections. It’s intended as wireless backhaul for carriers and for bandwidth-intensive enterprise applications. With support for T1/E1 and Ethernet, the new radio offers service providers a gradual migration to an all-IP network, according to executives for Proxim, in San Jose, Calif.

The new radio comes in two models, one with four T1/E1 ports, a second with eight. Proxim has optimized throughput with data compression, QoS and packet filtering. It supports SNMP, CLI and Web interfaces remote management. For the 5.3GHz and 5.4GHz bands, the Lynx.G5 incorporates radar detection and avoidance code in keeping with FCC rules.

Proxim is trying to reclaim is prominence in wireless backhaul business, against successful upstarts such as DragonWave. A key part of Proxim’s strategy is making a big bet on the burgeoning global deployment of WiMAX networks. The company’s plan is to offer service providers and enterprises an end-to-end family of products, from WLAN and mesh access nodes, through point-to-multipoint last mile connectivity, to long-range, point-to-point gigabit radios, says Pankaj Manglik, Proxim’s president and CEO.

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The Lynx.G5 is available now for $9,999.

Proxim also recently announced the high-security Tsunami MP.11 radio base station, which will be certified for FIPS 140-2 Level 2 compliance, with 256-bit AES encryption on either point-to-point and point-to-multipoint connections. Target users are military and intelligence units, the broader defense and government contractor community.

Some rival companies, and Proxim in the past added a separate module to support this federal security standard. But the new MP.11 integrates it into the radio itself, to lower costs and improve performance, according to Proxim.