MS Distribution at UKWISPA: All the latest from the September 2019 Members Meeting

The UK Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (UKWISPA) recently held a members’ meeting at the Marriott, Glasgow. The conference covered not only common challenges, but also featured a wealth of updates and best practices for the industry, including new spectrum opportunities, 60GHz in action and more. In attendance were several industry professionals, including our very own Managing Director, Ian Bushrod, and new Sales Director, Dan Keyte who introduced an exciting vendor launch with RADWIN.

The day began with introductions and a warm welcome to new members by Hal Ponton of UKWISPA, followed by a video case study from our very own Ian Bushrod. During the update Ian discussed the WISPA built case study with SIGNA Technology, something that UKWISPA hope to do more of in the future. .

Next up was an update from Iratxo Ortiz, Albentia Systems who discussed Massive Carrier Aggregation and introduced their new Massive Carrier Aggregation access point technology for the first time. Iratxo also discussed some key advantages such as, Four real time, totally independent data streams, 140Mbps of Net Traffic and Increased interference & DFS protection. Following on from the update around Massive Carrier Aggregation - George Taylor, UKWISPA gave an important update on the GB Voucher Scheme. George Taylor is in regular contact with BDUK in order to provide and receive feedback about the schemes, in order to make administration as easy as possible for everyone involved. Despite some general and staff matters due to Brexit preparations, BDUK are currently reporting that all PRP applications are now in review. This means that there is not currently a backlog of applications. They have confirmed that the current policy is to perform Value for Money checks as standard at this time.

After a welcome coffee break and a chance to discuss the initial updates from the morning, Claus Hetting of Wi-Fi Now gave a very insightful overview of the state of the Wi-Fi market on this 20th anniversary of Wi-Fi. In addition to the overview, Claus also discussed their next Wi-Fi Now conference, which will be held in London this November. Members were invited to win free tickets for the international event, who have now been officially announced. However, for those who missed out there is a fantastic 50% discount for UKWISPA members who would like to attend the conference. To find out more, get in contact with [email protected]

It was then time for our own Ian Bushrod, MS Distribution Director & UK WISPA Board Member to share two major announcements: - firstly, as of October 1st, MS Distribution were announced as a Master Distributor for RADWIN’s expanding range of high-performance wireless equipment. Plus, MS Distribution are in the process of launching a comprehensive range or consultancy and support services. This will include simple first line call handling on behalf of WISPs, through to full core network design and management. Keep an eye out for more developments surrounding this innovative progression from MS Distribution, helping a WISP to grow its hours of over and technical skill base, without the associated daunting costs.

Next up to speak was James Taylor, Yonet Telecom who has a long association with satellite communications and has been involved in many innovative changes. During the presentation, James gave an interesting take on the limitations of existing stationary satellites, as well as going into detail regarding the new Low Earth Orbiting systems which are being launched in the coming years.

After a busy but productive morning, it was then time to stop for lunch, which was then followed with a Spectrum update from Nigel King of UKWISPA/Cambium Networks, who discussed significant progress in accessing spectrum. Some key updates include the removal of the 20 MHz ‘notch’ from the 5.8 GHz C-Band, making this a contiguous band, providing more efficient channel occupation. Nigel also discussed opening the 60GHz V-Band for use with point to multi point services, whilst limited, these types of changes allow customers to connect wirelessly at gigabit+ speeds. Following on with the Spectrum conversation – David Burns, UKWISPA also spoke about new opportunities and key hardware updates.

Later in the afternoon came an update from Marty Lee, Borders Online , on how his WISP operates and the challenges of a small Scottish WISP which included a lack of power, network consistency, network resilience and usage. Marty also discussed renewable energy and how this is used within his deployments. Following on from Marty – Ron Touw, LinITX discussed 60 Hhz and the pros and cons of 60 Ghz equipment.

To wrap up the successful UKWISPA event, David Burns concluded with a talk about a new refreshed website, as well as a new “Find a WISP” feature, which will be developed to provide the best possible service. Other points included aggregated services for members and Brexit updates. Action points for the next UKWISPA meeting on the 16th January (location TBC), were also discussed and finally the day concluded with a meet the sponsors and members’ networking session.

The Glasgow conference was a fantastic UKWISPA event, sharing a wealth of valuable updates ranging from OFCOM spectrum changes, to new innovative products available in the market place with members and providing a platform for best practice sharing and broader industry collaboration,” said Ian Bushrod, Managing Director at MS Distribution UK and member of the UKWISPA board.

If you would like to discuss the subjects covered at the event, and summarised in this article, then , please do not hesitate to get in touch!.

The Team,
MS (Distribution) UK Ltd.