This project has a main purpose and goal, which is to connect the main bank office with other bank offices and buildings to achieve secure bank data transfer between all offices. This is very necessary for the bank.
In most countries, the systems used for data transfer between companies or banks are based on fiber optic networks such as PSTN and GSM. But in Iraq, the situation is different because Iraq does not have the infrastructure for this network and even if it existed, it would have likely been damaged because of the successive wars that Iraq has known. So, Fidaa Group Co. needed to find an alternative idea to manage the installed network of this bank in order to have a reliable network. Fidaa Group Co. had chosen WiMAX technology from Proxim Wireless for many reasons, which will be discussed later.
This project is a premier project in the Middle East and the world using the WiMAX technology in banks network, and we hope it will help to open a new vision of WiMAX technology applications.
Why WiMAX?
Before Fidaa Group started to find a proper solution for the bank network, there were regular solutions like satellite VSAT connection, SCPC-SCPC, connection with public IP and dynamic SCPC-SCPC VSAT and even the shared satellite systems like DVB-S – RCS, but all of these systems shared four main problems:
1-The high costs – Satellite connections bandwidth used to reach about $3,000.00 for each 1 mbps, whereas it costs nearly $0 after initial up-front equipment costs with WiMAX.
2-The high latency – All satellite systems have minimum data packet latency about 550-750 milliseconds latency, even in ideal situations, which caused problems for real time systems and software. Many real-time applications are sensitive and require less 550 milliseconds of latency to operate synchronously. Many networking companies utilise a very complex technology to overcome these problems, but with WiMAX , this problem had already been solved because the maximum latency is about 10-25 milliseconds – which is considered very fast and suitable for real-time systems that require low latency .
3-The deployment and maintenance – Maintenance, weather affection and time to solve any network problems is very difficult especially when you have a third party network operator like PSTN, GSM, and Satellite Operators. You will not have the ability to solve the network problems compared to your private network if you don’t have a WiMAX network.
4-The security factor is very important especially in banking systems. So in the network of any establishment, it is preferred to use a private network without a third party. This will help to decrease the possibility of data sniffing or to be spied on by anyone. With WiMAX, you have this advantage because it’s your network and you can use the latest security encryptions technologies in the world and have full access of your security employees charged to monitor and control the network 24/7/365 continuously easily which is very difficult to be done in with other technologies.
Challenges
| Fidaa Group thinks WiMAX may threaten the fibre optic network from a cost perspective |
The challenges of this project could be divided in two sections: the first section is related to the non secure circumstances in Iraq which make work very difficult added to the absence of electricity for more 16 hours per day. Sometimes the workers could not reach work locations for more than a week. The hard weather with a temperature up to 50 degrees Celsius in summer and the connection difficulties between the workers who are supposed to make the alignments because the GSM networks which used to stop for more than a day were also problematic. VHF handsets were also banded.
When Fidaa Group looked for a project at a very low budget, the WiMAX network was thousands or millions of dollars cheaper and works extremely well with excellent reliability and low cost running, making us very thankful for this new technology. The company thinks the WiMAX with this large spectrum of frequency (2-80 GHz) and the low cost will be the leader in telecommunication technologies and it may threaten the fiber optic network from a cost perspective.
So after these years, we can say that our WiMAX network is working very good, which will encourage us to make other networks for a lot of establishments and gives us more confidence in our abilities and WiMAX’s reliability.
Conclusions and recommendations
This project had added to Fidaa Group a new experience with the newest technology. The difficult situation in Iraq encouraged us to invent a new application for WiMAX technology in co-operation with Proxim Wireless, something which was not feasible before 2006. Departing from our experience, Fidaa Group recommends using the WiMAX technology in establishment’s networks especially in the countries which don’t have the network infrastructure or even enough budgets for other technologies or need a high secured network. Fidaa Group Company is ready to support any establishment worldwide to get full use of this technology with the lowest costs.