Interview With Exalt

This was a draft from a now-retired blog of mine called Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) Backhaul on 2008-04-17.

These are bullet points only from my original notes. My memory is a bit fuzzy on this after 13 years. Some of this may well be incorrect as I never published this article and thus never got a chance to have it vetted for accuracy.

Exalt Communications went through a bankruptcy and emerged as Exalt Wireless, but at some point (subsequent to 2018?) quietly went out of business. Their website now redirects to https://www.starmicrowave.com who apparently can do some repairs to Exalt units.

• Exalt's goal is to be a one stop shop for backhaul.
• They're agnostic on all aspects backhaul:
  • Bands:
    • 2 GHz and up
    • 2.4 GHz
    • 5 GHz
    • 6 GHz
    • 11 GHz
    • 23 GHz
    • 40 GHz
    • others to follow.
    • Notably missing - 60 GHz.
  • Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) vs TCP/IP.
  • Indoor / Outdoor vs all-Outdoor.
  • Licensed vs License-exempt.
  • Topology is currently Point to Point (PTP) only, but working on Point to Multipoint (PMP)
• With Exalt, you can start with license-exempt and migrate to licensed
• People bought more and more license-exempt WHEN THEY WORKED.
• TCP/IP and TDM treated natively inside the radio, controlled by software. The two interfaces built in, no external boxes needed. There's no penalty on latency using TDM, not emulating TDM over TCP/IP (as other vendors do).
• Can use TDM and TCP/IP simultaneously.
• Total of 19 distinct products.
• Model EX-5-16DS3 has 16 T-1 ports, T-3 ports, Ethernet, committed capacity on T-1, T-3, any/all excess capacity to
• EX-S (split mount) has TDM and Ethernet in an indoor box, connects to different band converters on the tower, uses a single coax for radio and power.
• 40 GHz in part 101 bands, 23 GHz, 18 GHz, and 11 GHz are the most popular bands in the US.
• 4.9 GHz available in all indoor (EX-I) or outdoor (EX-R). Includes TDM and TCP/IP. It's the highest capacity unit for 4.9 GHz.
• All radios include automatic power control, 1/2 dB steps for maximum spectrum utilization, built-in spectrum analyzer to park signal at least-congested portion of band.
• Topology - currently users are used to (comfortable) with star, individual point-to-point, or ring.
• "Fast burst" technology built in for eventually being able to offer PMP.
• The people buying their units "aren't quite there" yet (for PMP?)
• Exalt's focus is high capacity, low latency - ideal for migrating to mesh.
• Exalt has grown corporate team, more than 270 customers, lots of domestic and international carriers, enterprise, industrial, government.
• Exalt's analysis is that backhaul needed is 100x what they're used to (for T-1)
• Exalt is in a great position - fiber is needed, but not practical except in special circumstances. Exalt is agnostic about LTE vs Mobile WiMAX.
• Exalt has sync capability for multiple radios in one location. Can either sync with a cable, or via GPS.

Thanks for reading!

Steve Stroh
Bellingham, Washington, USA
2020-03-16