Welcome to Xtratyme Technologies, Inc.

The Details

If you want details, here they are. If you feel compelled to skip them do so at your leisure. Below is a list of sections that you may click on as you see fit.

A Statement from the Founder
What is the Blueprint America Project?
Why Was This Project Initiated?
Enter a Faster On-Ramp
The Company's Foundation
Geographic Coverage
Mobility
Unlimited Speed
A Very Large Backbone
Unlimited Roaming
Automatic Network Monitoring
Automatic Load Balancing
Minimal Line-of-Site Issues
Economical Subscription Rates
Very Low Latencies
Redundancy
Infinite Scalability
Expansion Rate
Security
Quality of Internet
Virtual Private Networks
Local Support
Economic Viability
Summary

A Statement from the Founder
As a child, I enjoyed my upbringing in a small rural community in South Dakota. I knew that I would have to leave home someday if I wanted to become "technical" and realize my dreams. I moved to the Twin Cities and left my family and friends behind. This was 16 years ago… I am still trying to get back the culture that I once had enjoyed. I would like to raise my family in a rural environment so they can also experience that wonderful life! I have vowed to do everything I possibly can to allow people to achieve their dreams without sacrificing friends, family, and culture.

Kyle Ackerman, Founder, Xtratyme Technologies back to top

What is the Blueprint America Project?
The Blueprint America Project (Blueprint) was developed by XtraTyme Technologies Inc. (XTI) of Hutchinson, Minnesota in May, 2000 to accelerate the growth of high-speed Internet availability in rural America and beyond. XTI has spent significant time and money to develop a network that is designed to provide a user (regardless of geographic location) with high-speed Internet access at a very affordable price. back to top

Why Was This Project Initiated?
The Internet has reached a transition point where 56K-dialup access is not necessarily adequate for the average user anymore. Web pages are becoming more interactive and graphically intensive. Internet libraries are offering unbelievable resources. Online shopping is a reality and E-commerce is becoming as popular as the dollar bill. The Internet is becoming a necessity, not a luxury, for all businesses large and small. This growth pattern is very similar to that of many metropolitan highway systems. The amount of traffic has far exceeded the capacity of the road system. In the case of the Internet, the freeways are properly designed to handle this growth, but the off-ramps cannot keep up. Similarly, in today’s Internet, anyone that is limited to using a 56K or slower dialup modem is caught in a traffic jam. Surprisingly, many people in the US do not have access to anything faster than a 28.8K-dialup Internet connection. These people are becoming frustrated with these traffic jams and are looking for solutions. Check out this feature article in Mobile Computing. back to top

Enter a Faster On-Ramp
XTI has developed a solution that eliminates slow off-ramps and allows Internet users to cruise at "freeway" speeds at all times. We currently have the ability to offer high-speed Internet access to homes and businesses regardless of their geographic location. This has not been the case with any other current technologies including dialup, ISDN, DSL, cable, or even satellite Internet access. This solution has already been deployed in businesses, homes, and farms with high levels of success. Without the inception of this project, many of these users would still be waiting for an Internet solution faster than 28.8K.

The Technology. Blueprint is based on the concept that very high data rates can be transferred from point to point using radio (microwave) technology. Since radio uses free air space for transmission, the deployment of this "Internet in the sky" is very easy and affordable. Communities are no longer constrained to physical ground restrictions for running copper or fiber. The range of this technology is such that access can be provided to those that were normally constrained because of geographic limitations. XTI labels its technology as "Wireless DSL", or "Wireless Digital Subscriber Line" (WDSL). You will most likely not read about this technology any time soon as the general public has yet to understand its usefulness. XTI is operating on the cutting-edge and has developed a network that uses a combination of software, microwave radios, networking strategies, partnerships, and a touch of ingenuity to provide a network unlike any other in the world. back to top

The Company's Foundation
XTI is incredibly fortunate to have acquired valuable human capital that is very "in-tune" with the company’s philosophy and the Blueprint America Project. The founder, Kyle Ackerman, has a very diverse background in engineering, computers, marketing, product development, and community development. His childhood experiences in a small-town South Dakota farming community have given him the necessary insight required to lead the company in its deployment of the Blueprint. Mr. Ackerman is a visionary with a track record of making his visions become reality.

Mr. Ackerman is very privileged to have assembled a management team that not only believes in the community vision, but is also capable of converting that vision to reality in a very proficient manner. The management team consists of personnel that are capable of providing a community with everything they need to grow and flourish. It is this team that leads the company’s operations and is responsible for maintaining a "down-to-earth" approach while retaining a technical edge over its competitors. The management team regularly couples past experience with business fundamentals and innovation to create very innovative, efficient, and effective programs and solutions.
It is this almost-perfect blend of vision, along with sales, negotiation, marketing, and technical skills that allows the management team to reach its goals on a regular basis. This team has fought and won many battles and is capable of adjusting to any adversity and situation that may arise in the future. Each member of the management team has gone far beyond the normal call of duty while employed at XTI to ensure company survival and success. The team’s highly logical approach to everyday situations is instrumental in developing programs that work.

While the business world is finding that talent comes at a premium price, XTI has developed a program where talent magnetism is the company’s best corporate recruiter. The company’s teambuilding philosophy recruits players with similar vision and the desire to lead and excel. XTI has never had a hard time attracting and retaining premium talent. The company has created an environment of excitement, technical leadership, creativity, innovation, and potential for advancement that is not easily duplicated by traditional corporate America.

We believe that we have developed one of the largest and most unique scalable, redundant, and effective fixed, portable, and mobile wireless broadband networks in the world. back to top

Geographic Coverage
Our active coverage area to date is over 6,000 square miles (almost 10% of Minnesota). This includes 69 towers covering over 105 different cities and several different counties. We have contracted with current partners to have over 11,299 square miles activated by the end of 2002. This equates to over 17% of the geographical area of Minnesota.

Click on icons for a larger view. back to top

Mobility
A paid subscriber can "roam" anywhere in the Xtratyme Wireless Network without additional charges or computer reconfiguration. If you have a laptop computer, you have the ability to get Internet access at high speeds in any of our connected 100+ communities. If you are a passenger in a car, you can be "surfing" the net at speeds of over 800 kilobits per second. That is over 15 times faster than the fastest dialup modem. In some communities, you can open your laptop in buildings, in parks, restaurants, and even schools and you are connected at these very fast speeds.

For the first time ever, computers with broadband Internet access can be used almost anywhere. This fact paves the way for waves of mobile broadband products that will be launched in the next 12 months. Some of these will include live GPS position monitoring, real-time field data acquisition, remote equipment control, field database access, remote camera monitoring, mobile IP telephony, and more. back to top

The Customer Controls the Performance
We feel that each user should be able to choose a custom and economical performance package based on needs. We offer the unique ability to select AlaCarte packages to ensure good Internet performance. Users will soon be able to customize their daily speed performance by personally "shaping" their package to perform exactly as needed. For example, if a user would like megabit service in the evening, and lower speeds during the daytime, it would be possible for that user to configure their package to perform exactly as they have planned. They may want to "turn-down" performance on weekends when they are gone to save on bandwidth costs. Or, it will soon be possible to guarantee performance levels on both speed and latencies to allow a user to effectively use IP Telephony or professional-level videoconferencing. These AlaCarte options will all be available by simply logging into the user's personal account and modifying the performance profile. back to top

A Very Large Backbone
Each of our wireless cells is fed by a wireless backbone that is capable of delivering between 4 and 60 T-1’s. This is a tremendously large Internet pipe and is capable of providing premium Internet service to all Xtratyme subscribers. This backbone is configured to give each user optimal Internet performance and a direct feed to the heart of the Internet. Compare this to other network providers that are feeding each of their wireless cells with a T-1 or less. Those providers often rate-limit their users since they are unable to handle the loading associated with broadband Internet usage. We do not feel that this is "true" broadband as the user is constantly being throttled down below optimal Internet speeds.

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Unlimited Roaming
Our network model is very attractive to car-poolers (passengers) that wish to use the Internet during their long drive. It is also very attractive to local public safety personnel that wish to access criminal reports, etc while they are in the field. Our network coverage focuses on key highways and freeways so that mobile computing can become a reality. A very unique feature of our network includes the ability to start a very large download while roaming from cell to cell. The download continues and is unaffected by the change in tower access. Many users like the ability to use their laptop at both home and work without reconfiguring or subscribing to two different Internet providers. back to top

Automatic Network Monitoring
The best way to ensure good quality, fast Internet access to all subscribers, is to monitor the network closely. We are very good at knowing how full our "pipes" are so that we can balance our loading accordingly. We are continually monitoring backbone usage, network uptime, number of users, bandwidth per user, nomadic tendencies of the users, peak loading situations, and more. This monitoring is invisible to the user but is a very important part of running a quality network. A user is NOT monitored for specific content activity as this would be a violation of privacy laws. If we find that one of our "pipes" is reaching capacity, the "pipe" size is increased or additional "pipes" are added before the "pipe" is full. This process happens very quickly and is also invisible to the subscriber. back to top

Automatic Load Balancing
Our engineering staff has developed a way to balance our network to ensure optimal performance at all times. During peak loading times, "pipes" are dynamically balanced to allow heavier loads to be "balanced" or shifted to "pipes" that are not fully used. The nature of our mesh-like network allows for several balancing permutations to exist at any given time. back to top

Minimal Line-of-Sight Issues
Wireless technology is very sensitive to line-of-site blockages such as trees, buildings, hills, etc. We have developed an architecture that all but eliminates this problem for most subscribers. We have used this network design in heavily wooded and hilly areas such as Mankato with a very high level of success. Over 90% of the dwellers in our fully deployed network areas have the ability to receive fixed broadband services. We have developed various packages and designs that deal with trees, buildings, and other line-of-sight obstructions. back to top

Economical Subscription Rates
Our partners are typically offering our services for $30 to $40 per month for consumer accounts. Businesses are evaluated on an individual basis and typically range from $50 to $150 per month depending on the size of the business, activity, etc. We do not know of anyone that can offer this quality of service for a lower price. back to top

Very Low Latencies
Latency is the amount of time it takes your "click" to arrive at the web site’s destination. The higher this time, the longer you wait for your response. Our network is designed to maintain latencies under 60 milliseconds. It is a requirement of Internet telephony (IP phones) that latencies do not exceed 125 milliseconds. Our network is fully capable of supporting this technology. Other broadband providers often have no control over this variable and are unable to support applications that require fast responses such at videoconferencing, Internet gaming, IP telephony, and other responsive interactive web sites. Satellite technology does not support any of these applications as they are limited by the speed-of-light and the fact that their satellites are located 22,000 miles above the earth. It is not uncommon to see latencies of over 1 second using satellite technology. The impact of this slow response is noticed even in random web site surfing. back to top

Redundancy
Internet downtime has been a problem since the inception of the Internet. Computers fail, fiberoptics are severed, etc. We have designed a network that will feature several layers of redundancy so that Internet can be offered to those that rely on very high levels of uptime and reliability. The primary redundant feature of our network utilizes a "loop" topology. If any tower in our interconnected "loop" backbone fails, the remaining towers do not lose connectivity as those areas remain connected on the other portion of the "loop". We are adding an additional source of redundancy in that our backbone is being fed by several Internet providers in several different locations. This feature protects the consumer from the very rare situation where our backbone providers lose connectivity. It is our goal to maintain our uptime statistics from 99% to 99.9% and possible attain 99.99% by the end of 2002. These uptime numbers are unimaginable in today’s Internet architecture. back to top

Infinite Scalability
Our network architecture allows for the addition of cells anywhere. Our network does not need to be contiguous or interconnected. We are able to expand very rapidly in any location. Our network has been designed with the foresight that it would be worldwide. We have incorporated design features into our network that will allow us to accomplish this feat quickly and effectively. back to top

Expansion Rate
Our engineering team is currently capable of deploying a very high number of cells per day. At this time, there is not a project that is too large for us to handle. There are very few network builders that can equal this rate of expansion. This is important for those that rely on good quality network for the viability of their business and community. back to top

Security
Our engineers have designed a network that is capable of supporting security levels acceptable to almost any kind of business. We use a technology that is virtually impossible to "hack" when the proper security measures are taken. back to top

Quality of Internet
Our engineers ensure that our subscribers get the most direct path possible to the heart of the Internet. From that point on, the user is at the mercy of the remainder of the Internet (we lose control). Within the geographical bounds of our current network, we can ensure remarkable levels of performance. It is our intention to carry this high level of performance throughout the United States and the world. If the Internet was capable of such quality today, we would see many applications that have only been dreams for many years. Most of our users achieve speeds faster than even the largest of web sites on the other end. As the Internet grows and "pipes" become even larger, our users will see remarkable performance improvements. back to top

Virtual Private Networks
Our network has been developed to support Virtual Private Networks or VPN’s. This allows a business to use our backbone to interconnect business locations throughout the world in a highly secure manner. This feature allows for the consolidation of data, redundant backup applications, toll-free telephony, and more. This model fits very effectively into telework and telecommuting models being developed today. Videoconferencing and live camera interaction become a reality when our network is used effectively. back to top

Local Support
The "franchise-like" nature of our Blueprint America Project allows us to maintain very high levels of local support and service. This local contact also creates an information channel directly to our headquarters allowing for feedback and network enhancements to happen quickly. We have developed a very effective method of gathering information from our partners to ensure that our network and performance is nothing less than optimal. back to top

Economic Viability
We have developed a model that is economically attractive to everyone involved including our subscribers, our partners, and our backbone providers. It is very important that a network model shows profitability and stability. We have seen wireless models that are feeding a single cell with a T-1 that costs $1200 per month. In that model, if a subscription was sold for $30 per month, it would take 40 users just to break even on the monthly T-1 costs. If most of those users decide to use the Internet simultaneously, performance would be very close to that of a dialup connection. Not only is this model very hard to economically justify, but it is very hard to provide a level of service that will attract enough users to break even. We feel strongly that if a wireless broadband provider is not interconnecting their wireless cells using wireless backbone, it is difficult, if not impossible to show profitability. In our model, where all of our cells are interconnected using radios, we have the ability to direct a "pool" of T-1’s to where they are needed. If they are not being used, there is not Internet overhead associated with that cell. This is completely different than the previously discussed model where $1200 is being charged to the provider regardless of whether one user or one hundred users are accessing the Internet. back to top

Summary
XTI has developed a network that utilizes a connected cell. This cell consists of a tower that transmits high-speed Internet to thousands of people. This cell is designed provide each user with a minimum amount of bandwidth at all times. Unlike other technologies such as cable access, XTI’s WDSL is designed so that automatic load balancing ensures that each user has access to high-speed Internet. XTI has developed a model that allows for the addition of many connected cells. In rural Minnesota, each small town is considered a cell. One of the main advantages of XTI’s WDSL is that a user can travel seamlessly throughout any of the cells and remain connected to a transmitting tower. This connected mobility is a highly unique feature of the XTI model. back to top