February 13, 2004
By William David Gardner

One of the features of Inukshuk's Internet service is a feature termed nomadicity.

It's still dark this time of the year in Yellowknife in the Canadian Northwest Territories, but the difficult terrain has attracted a new wireless broadband technology tailor-made for the Far North. Launched this week, the service features a service called "nomadicity," which, as the name implies, enables users to use the service as they move about the region.

The service is operated by Inukshuk Internet Inc., a Canadian firm serving several of the country's regions. Inukshuk uses spectrum in the 2500 to 2596 frequency band to build the "last mile" network.

The customer premises equipment (CPE) is a wireless modem manufactured by NextNet Wireless. "With nomadicity," the service provider said in a statement, "the CPE can be moved as readily as a laptop computer to function anywhere within the Yellowknife network footprint."

The service is offered directly to subscribers by SSI Micro Ltd., a Yellowknife provider of telecom services that operates in rural and remote areas of Canada including Nunavut, the Yukon and Northern Quebec as well as the Northwest Territories. SSI Micro specializes in local, municipal and wide area networking.

Given Yellowknife's isolation, the service providers believe the broadband service will be particularly useful for distance learning and video conferencing applications. "Broadband wireless access can foster opportunities and overcome the barriers of distance for Canada's North," said Inukshuk president Andre Tremblay in a statement.

Inukshuk is the wholesaler and SSI Micro the retailer in bringing the services to Yellowknife.

Story @ CommWeb