August 26, 2021

The Aviat Disaster Recovery Plan: How to be Ready When Adversity Strikes Your Network

Natural or man-made disasters don’t provide advance warnings and when they occur, they can immediately and significantly impact networks. Fallen trees, bridge outages, and construction catastrophes can cut fiber. High winds can destroy microwave antennas and RF units. Floods can topple overhead lines and wreck equipment depots. Fires can destroy equipment sheds. Terrorist attacks and acts of vandalism can bring down a network in seconds.

Consider hurricanes, for example. They wreak havoc on critical communications infrastructure with gale-force winds and pouring rain. When it happens, what is the best option to bring communications back on line? Whether a backhaul network relies on wireless technology or not, microwave systems are the fastest and least expensive way to restore a network. Microwave radios can transport signals over water or debris, critical in hurricane-ravaged areas and, if new radios and antennas are available, they can be deployed in a day or two (compared with weeks or longer for fiber).

Many network operators store spare equipment in local depots, but these can be flooded during hurricanes, leaving no alternatives. After all, most microwave radios are built to order, and it typically takes 10-12 weeks for vendors to build and ship their radios – that’s a long time to wait to restore a network after a disaster.

Rapid Deployment in Times of Crisis

The Aviat Disaster Recovery Plan is simple: a customer can order backup radios stocked in the Aviat Store up to one year in advance on a single purchase order, and Aviat will store the finished radios in its own factory and distribution depot in San Antonio, Texas. When a disaster occurs, Aviat will ship the backup systems to the customer within two days. If disaster doesn’t strike during the term covered on the customer’s purchase order (good news for all concerned!), Aviat will ship the links to the customer at the end of the term.

Advantages that Save Time, Money, and Worry

• Advance Ordering and Locked-in Pricing
  • The customer can place a purchase order through the Aviat Store up to one year in advance, and the pricing at that time is locked in for the duration of the term specified on the customer’s purchase order.
• No Stocking
  • The customer can pull from Aviat Store stock whatever bands they need (via next day ship) so they don’t need to stock a group of bands in advance. Aviat ships a full range of radios in multiple frequencies and configurations. (This includes FCC 18GHz radios, which cover the whole band with one ODU, making them easier to deploy.)
• No Warehousing Costs
  • Aviat stores the radios at no charge to the customer, eliminating the customer’s local warehousing costs.
• No Payment Until Radios Ship or Term Expires
  • If unused, the equipment ships to the customer at the end of the term specified on the customer’s purchase order, and payment isn’t due until after the radios ship. The equipment warranty starts after the equipment ships.

Which option looks better to you?

With Aviat’s Disaster Recovery Plan

On-demand delivery
No stocking costs, cash savings / pay as sites turn up, no waste (no need to guess at sub-bands in advance) / order on demand

With this plan from Aviat, customers can be assured that when a disaster strikes, spare links are readily available to bring communications back up quickly. It’s just one of the ways Aviat innovates to better serve its customers.

Or, without.

Bulk buying

Long lead times
6-8 weeks

Stocking costs

Cost of capital
Customers pay before they need to

Waste / Scrap
from obsolete equipment or unneeded sub-bands
(don’t know exact equipment needed)