23rd January 2014
New York/Galway, Ireland – 01/23/14 – The future of the wireless broadband industry looks set to be transformed with the announcement from Rivada Networks today of its approved patent – a system for spectrum allocation and arbitrage that will enable bandwidth to be commoditized and traded among commercial entities. This announcement is not only a hugely significant development for Rivada Networks – a provider of advanced communications solutions to the public safety community at local, state and federal levels – but heralds a new direction for the whole wireless industry.
The key patent approval from the US patent office adds to Rivada’s existing Dynamic Spectrum Arbitrage technology, which up until now had been exclusively focused on public safety agencies, and will allow the company to offer spectrum allocation and management solutions in the commercial sector.
Commenting, Rivada CEO Declan J. Ganley said:
“This an exciting and banner day for our company, and for the broadband wireless industry at large. For the first time, a technology exists that will allow for wireless broadband spectrum to be traded like any other commodity – bought and sold in real time. I am proud of Rivada’s world-class team of developers and engineers who have worked so hard to make this vision of ours a reality”.
“The wireless broadband industry is facing a spectrum crunch. Each year sees demand grow exponentially, with ever increasing numbers of products, users, and machines demanding bandwidth. As that demand grows and makes the available spectrum even more valuable than it is today, we will need more efficient and flexible tools for using that spectrum. The ability to buy or sell excess capacity in a given frequency will be an essential tool for radio spectrum owners, suppliers, and network operators. That we have developed the tools to make that market a practical reality is therefore a significant step for us here at Rivada.
Rivada Networks Chief Technical Officer Clint Smith explained that the technology had been largely driven by the needs of Public Safety Agencies and officials:
“As we looked at ways to make America’s public safety broadband networks viable and self-sustaining, we at Rivada realized that the ability for the agencies operating the network to sell off their excess capacity would be a critical part of the model. This led us to develop a dynamic tiered priority access model that would allow public safety to lease out its excess spectrum, but retain instantaneous control over the network, allowing themselves absolute priority access.
Once this model came into existence, it seemed to us logical to extend it and make it operable for commercial networks, spanning the entire wireless range.”
CEO Ganley says that the company believes the technology will have a lasting and extensive impact on the wider wireless broadband industry:
“Radio spectrum is fast becoming one of the most valuable natural resources on the planet. As our use of it continues to increase, it will be an absolute necessity for us to trade access to it in real time, in a market that allows the resource to be allocated through an ongoing and dynamic auction to those who need access to it. In developing this market we will not only commoditize spectrum, but hugely improve its efficiency and utilization by allowing the market to allocate lower prices for the least-used blocks of bandwidth.
“This is an important breakthrough for Rivada Networks, and an important development for the entire industry.
Download a pdf copy here.