Router for fast cellular apps

Supports wireless machine to machine communications and backup links.

Sarian Systems this month announced an enterprise router that supports 1.8Mbit/s HSDPA – sometimes dubbed Super 3G – alongside GPRS, Edge and 3G. The device can handle enterprise telemetry applications that gather data from remote sites, and can also provide a backup for ADSL connections at branch offices.

The Sarian HR4110 router will cost around £500 + VAT and features dual SIM card slots to support failover and mobile applications such as voice over IP (VoIP) as well as machine-to-machine (M2M) operations.

M2M comms could make increasing use of High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) cellular links in future, as firms port richer multimedia services and apps onto easy-to-deploy kiosks and ATM units.

Companies can install any SIM card in the router, and Sarian said it has no interest in providing integrated or managed mobile services in conjunction with specific mobile operators.

“The network operators are not interested in M2M, they pretend to be but in reality they have little internal specialisation on anything but handsets,” commented Sarian marketing director Duncan Ellison.

Ellison said the success of the router depends on the prices operators charge for HSDPA, but he added that he is confident that good-value “all you can eat” HSDPA tariffs will eventually emerge.

“Pricing is a key issue but it will only come downwards as we are seeing in other European countries. If you look at the product from a global perspective, you are looking at less than $20 [£11] a month for all you can eat [HSDPA] tariffs,” he said.