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Medical X-Ray Center Delivers High-Bandwidth Digital Images with Secure, Reliable, Gigabit Wireless Connectivity from BridgeWave Communications

Santa Clara, CA – January 16, 2007 – BridgeWave Communications, the leading supplier of gigabit wireless solutions, today announced that Medical X-Ray Center, a state-of-the-art radiology center serving hospitals and clinics throughout South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa, has deployed both BridgeWave AR60 and AR80 gigabit wireless links to extend high-speed network connectivity to remote sites while ensuring seamless, secure access to an all-digital Picture Archiving Communications System (PACS) and customized patient treatment plans.

As one of only three accredited radiation oncology facilities in a five-state region, Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Medical X-Ray Center provides highly specialized diagnostic and therapeutic radiology services using the latest medical technology and procedures. The center's 31 physicians along with therapists, nurses, radiologic technologists and office staff provide comprehensive patient care at three treatment sites, all of which are connected by a secure, metropolitan area network (MAN). As Medical X-Ray Center's array of services increased and number of patients continued to rise, the existing 100Mbps Ethernet link between the facilities became overburdened, slowing the transfer of vital, bandwidth-intensive x-ray, CT, MRI and ultrasound images. Additionally, the insufficient 5.8 GHz wireless solution soon experienced reliability problems, failing 50 percent of the time.

In seeking a replacement for its aging wireless bridge, Medical X-Ray Center determined that at least 700Mbps of high-speed bandwidth would be needed to accommodate its burgeoning radiology practice and ever-increasing file sizes. Compliance with federal HIPAA regulations demanded a connectivity option with the highest levels of security. Fiber-optic based services were briefly considered but then rejected after the Center discovered that Gigabit Ethernet leased-lines would cost approximately $10,000 a month. After a thorough evaluation of other alternatives, Medical X-Ray Center selected highly secure Gigabit Ethernet wireless links from BridgeWave to meet its growing bandwidth, stringent security and HIPAA compliance requirements. For the network installation, Medical X-Ray Center enlisted Sioux Falls Two Way Radio Service Inc., a wireless solutions provider that deployed and aligned the BridgeWave products in one day.

According to Rod Sevening, IS manager at Medical X-Ray Center, BridgeWave's Gigabit Ethernet links have performed flawlessly since installation while providing ample bandwidth to meet both current and emerging networking needs. "BridgeWave's products have exceeded our expectations in terms of capacity, security and reliability," he says. "We now have room to grow without any concern about bandwidth limitations or any lingering performance or interference problems. What's more, these high-capacity links have boosted overall staff productivity while yielding a seven-month ROI."

BridgeWave's 60 GHz and 80 GHz E-Band links offer 10 times the bandwidth of comparably priced 100Mbps Ethernet wireless links. In addition, the BridgeWave products provide superior interference immunity and enhanced data security resulting from extremely narrow antenna beam widths. Engineered for rapid and flexible deployment, BridgeWave's gigabit wireless solutions are ideally suited for a wide variety of enterprise applications. "The compact form factor, quality design and minimal indoor equipment requirements of BridgeWave's point-to-point wireless products enabled us to quickly and easily deploy high-speed links for Medical X-Ray Center," says Kevin Schmidt, field tech manager for Sioux Falls Two Way Radio.

Increasingly, organizations in the healthcare industry are embracing high-capacity, secure wireless solutions over traditional leased-line alternatives such as T1 or fiber-optic based services. "The physical security advantages of our Gigabit Ethernet wireless links make them a clear choice for implementing HIPAA-compliant networks," says Gregg Levin, senior vice president of product operations for BridgeWave. "Applications such as electronic patient records and high-resolution medical imaging are well supported by our full GigE bandwidth and ultra-low latency performance."

About BridgeWave Communications
Founded in 1999, BridgeWave Communications is the leading supplier of outdoor Gigabit wireless connectivity solutions. The company’s exclusive AdaptRate™ and AdaptPath™ technologies combined with its advanced Forward Error Correction capability deliver the highest availability at the longest distances for full-rate gigabit links. BridgeWave’s point-to-point, wireless solutions are widely deployed in mainstream enterprise and service provider network applications and are poised to play a key role in the migration to 4G mobile network backhaul. With the largest installed base of GigE radios worldwide, BridgeWave delivers the highest levels of product quality and reliability.