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2004 2003200220012000 |
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AIR2LAN High-Speed Wireless Coming
to West Memphis West Memphis, AR (June 11, 2003) -- The Enterprise Corp. of the Delta and AIR2LAN, both of Jackson, Miss., and Memphis-based point2point innovations have joined forces to widen the information superhighway in West Memphis. At Tuesday's press conference at the West Memphis City Hall, the three organizations announced plans to offer wireless high-speed Internet access in West Memphis, starting in late July or early August. "Access to high-speed telecommunications is essential to successful economic development in the new economy," said ECD chief executive Bill Bynum in a prepared statement. As a private, nonprofit community development financial institution, ECD invested $250,000 in AIR2LAN's West Memphis project. Time Warner Cable offers Road Runner high-speed Internet service based on its digital cable network in West Memphis, and SBC offers high-speed Internet service through its digital subscriber line service. Vinay Bhagat, AIR2LAN vice president for sales and marketing, said his company's service is less expensive, faster and more secure, can be deployed faster for the customer and provides more capacity. Once AIR2LAN's network is deployed, the company can install equipment and turn a customer's service on within about four days, compared with an average of five days for SBC or between one and two days for Road Runner. This is the first AIR2LAN project in Arkansas. Headed by former SkyTel chief executive Jai Bhagat, AIR2LAN offers two main types of services: fixed-wireless access and wireless local area network services. With fixed-wireless access, connection to the Internet is provided through a wireless transmitter/receiver mounted on a high structure, such as a cellular tower. The individual customer's service can be provided by cables within that customer's building, which receives the signal from the transceiver on the high structure. With wireless local area networks (LAN), the connection to the Internet may be provided the same as with fixed-wireless access, but then the building or complex contains its own set of repeating transceivers. Thus, individuals can keep their devices connected throughout the building or complex without plugging into a wire network. Memphis's point2point innovations will implement the technology provided by AIR2LAN, said Bill Fredrick, point2point innovations president and chief executive. ECD has invested $500,000 in other AIR2LAN projects: half in Vicksburg and Yazoo City, Miss., and the other half in Greenwood, Greenville and Indianola, Miss. ECD has had this venture capital investment arm since 2001, said Dennis Manshack, ECD senior venture investment officer. It focuses on investments that offer good prospects of a return and that help the economic development of the Mississippi Delta region of the United states, concentrating on Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana. "Everything we look at has a double bottom line," Manshack said. (Mark Watson, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN) Contact: Vinay Bhagat Air2Lan 601-713-1401 vbhagat@air2lan.com David Latham Delta Capital Management LLC 901-755-0949 |
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