Wireless and Voice Over IP

In the Bay Area, real estate space carries a premium. So when Opthos, a San Mateo based company, had an opportunity to secure additional space just across the street, this fast growing company jumped at the chance.

A high-tech company, Opthos is pioneering a new category of Dynamic Wavelength Systems that address carriers' critical need for growth capacity and reduced complexity in metropolitan core networks.

Being in the business of data delivery, Opthos balked at the idea of having to pay for additional recurring costs to provide phone and data connectivity to their second office. We have a PRI voice connection and high speed internet in one of our offices, and paying those costs for a second office seemed prohibitive, says Naming Chu, Opthos IT Director. On the data side we could use wireless, and so we thought that if we could ride voice over that connection, it would solve all of our problems.

Under Naimings leadership, Opthos installed a Cisco Aeronet wireless connection between the sites. While not inexpensive, this investment was a one-time expense, which paid for itself within 6 months. Coupled with the Shoreline solution for VoIP connectivity, Opthos created a wireless office. We are saving thousands of dollars a month, and the sound quality of the VoIP system is better than I dreamed. No one can tell the difference.

This quick and easy solution can address the needs of multiple companies who have multiple offices in the same metropolitan area, and are looking to put those offices on the same LAN. Wireless has come a long way in the last few years: some wireless solutions, such as Western Multiplex, can allow 40 miles of wireless connection between sites, with speeds up to 400 MB. I’m glad Ketchum Integration had experience in both VoIP and wireless solutions. It made our project very easy, says a grateful Naiming. With the money we’ve saved in recurring costs, our ROI for both voice and data networks was under 18 months.