When a Centurion-based Internet Service Provider, Level-7, picked up network capacity issues at one of their high-sites and found that fibre connectivity was not available, they turned to MiRO to advise them on possible solutions. MiRO suggested Siklu, one of their highly regarded partners in the Carrier Grade backhaul space, and their high-capacity E-Band solution, called EtherHaul, as a long-term solution to Level-7’s problem. The EtherHaul solution from Siklu offers capacities of up to 10Gbps and operates in the light-licensed E-Band, which eliminates the probability of interference. We spoke to Christian Bojara, a director at Level-7, about the new solution that was implemented and the noticeable benefits that the solution has already provided.

“We had issues on a specific high-site, where fibre was unavailable and the current backhaul at that time was about to reach its maximum capacity. We had to look at using some kind of alternative and as such, we were advised to consider the Siklu EtherHaul product. After considering the specifics of the situation and offer, we decided to deploy the Siklu radios and try them out.”

Elaborating on the Siklu application, Bojara explains, “The purchase we made was in order to cover four different links that all route back to- and terminate at one tower; there is fibre at that tower that feeds the breakout. We, therefore, decided to deploy the same solution to all four of the receiving towers.”

When asked about the apparent benefits of the solution, Bojara mentioned: “Throughput, the ease-of-installation, as well as the ease-of-configuration; the stability, and the fact that the product is a carrier-grade, high-quality type of link that we know we can leave up there and will run without major issues for the foreseeable future.’”

The ease of installation and setup was a major plus for Level-7 as they did not require any outside assistance; the application was all completed in-house. The simplicity of the solution was apparent upon installation, which involved setting up the link on the tower and aligning it. It has been running stable ever since. Bojara explains that everything was able to integrate very well together, and using the Siklu portal for further information was a hassle-free process that provided them with clear instructions and detailed information.

When asked about the advantages of the Siklu deployment, Bojara elaborated further by stating: “Again, it’s all about throughput here, that’s really the biggest thing. Compared to our previous solution, as it stands, we’re only using 40% of the available capacity. On the previous links, we were using almost 100% – this means that we now have sufficient headroom. The upgrade path is nice and long for us now, so these radios can supply the towers for a long time to come.”

After some research and weighing out the various options available to them, Level-7 turned to MiRO distribution and the available Siklu backhaul solution as an answer to the issues that they were facing. “Miro gives us excellent service and excellent support. Everything is made easy; we send an email and then the equipment just arrives here. Their team follows up, we receive great after-sales support, and the guys will come back to us to check and ask how the links are running and if we need any assistance, that kind of thing. If there are any questions, they get answered right away – great support all around,” explains Bojara.

“On the existing site, we don’t have saturation issues anymore, there’s no more packet loss or client complaints. The latency is also good: it usually sits on less than 1ms. The product – it just works, just install and forget,” Bojara concluded.