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. Yes, you might learn more than you ever imagined but at least you will learn why our company is able to provide our customers with a quality Internet connection that cannot be matched.

A Statement from the Founder
What is the Blueprint America Project?
Why Was This Project Initiated?
Enter a Faster On-Ramp
The Technology
The Company's Foundation
Geographic Coverage
Mobility
The Customer Controls the Performance
A Very Large Backbone
Automatic Network Monitoring
Automatic Load Balancing
Line-of-Site Challenges
Economical Subscription Rates
Very Low Latencies
Redundancy
Infinite Scalability
Expansion Rate
Security
Quality of Internet
Virtual Private Networks
Small Town Premium Customer Service
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 29 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

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.

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Why Was This Project Initiated?
The initiation of the project was originally conceived in late 1999 when XTI realized that dialup Internet was not going to allow the Internet to be used effectively. This was 15 years ago and the saga continues...

The Internet has reached a transition point where sub-10 Mbps Internet 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 has exploded 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 1Mbps or slower Internet connection is caught in a traffic jam. Surprisingly, many people in the US still do not have access to economical, fast, and reliable Internet connections. These people are becoming frustrated with traffic jams and they are looking for better solutions.

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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, DSL, cable, satellite, or even fiber-based Internet access. This solution has already been deployed in businesses, homes, and farms throughout central Minnesota with high levels of success. Without the inception of this project, many of these users would still be waiting for a good quality Internet connection.

The Technology
The Blueprint technology 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.

Most people still do not fully understand the fundamentals of this technology. Our customers do not need to know how our technology works. However, they do need to understand that XTI is operating on the cutting-edge and that we have 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.

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The Company's Foundation
Xtratyme was founded in May of 1999 by Kyle Ackerman. Ackerman realized that technology was important but it was useless without one key resource. 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.

As 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. This 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" and "small town" approach while retaining a technical edge over its competitors. The management team regularly couples past experiences 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, technical, and communication 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 problem-solving 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 other traditional corporate American organizations.

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Geographic Coverage
Our active coverage area to date includes over 2,469 square miles (almost 3% of Minnesota) in central Minnesota. This includes 77 towers covering over 52 different cities/towns and eleven counties. Our current expansion plans are anticipated to add approximately 50% more coverage by the end of 2014. This equates to a total coverage of over 4.5% of the geographical area of Minnesota. Our network is currently able to provide coverage to approximately 329,118 people (6.1% of Minnesota) or 134,129 housing units.

Click on the links below to see coverage maps for our network. The Xtratyme network is divided into two areas--Xtratyme North and Xtratyme South.

The Xtratyme Network

Xtratyme South Map

Xtratyme North Map

Mobility
One of the goals in XTI's original business plan was to provide our customers with the ability to roam with their wireless connection. With the advent of new technologies focused specifically on higher quality fixed-wireless connections mobile wireless has been technilogically segregated. Our focus has remained on fixed-wireless solutions while others have invested heavily in mobile wireless infrastructure.

High quality cellular phone technology is now available to provide consumers with the ability to access an Internet connection wherever they go. While Xtratyme does not provide this technology, we are very knowledgeable about it and we are able to provide recommendations and consultation to our customers that need good quality fixed and wireless connectivity.

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The Customer Controls the Performance
We feel that each user should be able to choose a custom and economical performance package based on their daily needs. We offer the unique ability to select AlaCarte packages to ensure good Internet performance. Our customers can currently change the speed of their service on a daily basis. They may want to "turn-down" performance on weekends when they are gone to save on bandwidth costs. These AlaCarte options are available by simply logging into the user's personal account portal and modifying the performance profile.

A Very Large Backbone
Each of our wireless cells is fed by a wireless backbone that is capable of delivering high quality bandwidth. This tremendously large Internet backbone is capable of providing premium Internet service to all Xtratyme subscribers. The 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 restricted or undersized backbone. Those providers often rate-limit their users or offer less-than-optimal package offerings 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. We have found that if the backbone is properly designed, our customers can attain access to the performance they require for their daily Internet tasks. We are continually working to ensure that our network can deliver the speeds necessary for excellent Internet performance.

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, usage 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.

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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. As our network grows and more cells are added, this technology is deployed to ensure quality Internet performance.

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Line-of-Sight Challenges
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. We have developed various creative solutions and designs that deal with trees, buildings, and other line-of-sight obstructions.

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Economical Subscription Rates
Our Internet packages are very economical and are highly competitive. We believe that nobody can offer the quality of our connection coupled with our world-class customer service that is available at Xtratyme for a lower price. From our perspective, Internet access is NOT a commodity and it should be treated as a value-added service that can change the lives those who use it.

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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. Gamers understand the importance of low latencies and how it can make their gaming experience much more enjoyable.

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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%.

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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 could be deployed on a worldwide-basis. We have incorporated design features into our network that will allow us to accomplish this feat quickly and effectively. If a quality Internet access void exists, we can provide service for that area.

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Expansion Rate
Our engineering team is currently capable of deploying a very high number of new cells per month. At this time, there is not a project that is too large for us to handle. We have the ability to develop and deploy new areas in a relatively short amount of time.

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Security
Our engineers have designed a network that is capable of supporting security levels acceptable to almost any kind of business. Our engineering team realizes the importance of providing a secure and reliable connection and we strive to ensure that our customer's information is protected at all times.

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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). Fortunately, the Internet "backbone" has improved exponentially in the last 10 years and it is capably of handling almost infinite loads.

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 fast enough to handle the most "intense" web sites on the Internet. As the Internet grows and "pipes" become even larger, our users will see that they have one of the fastest connections in the world. Our quality formula is:

Quality = Consistent Reliability + High Speed + Low Latency + Premium Customer Service

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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.

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Small Town Premium Customer Service
In today's quantity vs. quality world, the customer is often lost in the vast network of commucation systems. We believe that the foundation for our success is to provide world-class customer service. Our customers should experience "small town" personal service at all times. At Xtratyme, every one of our customers is equally important and nobody is treated like a "number". This is not true with many companies in the world today.

Time is a very valuable asset and it is part of our company name for a reason. It is our job to protect our customers so their time is not wasted. We have perfected processes and systems that have been implemented to accomplish this goal while maintaing a personal relationship with each customer. We are very proud of our customer service and we believe that our customers will experience a business-to-consumer relationship that they've never seen before.

Internet access is often considered to be a commodity. This is a huge problem. At XTI, we combine technology, small town customer service, and economics in a way that provides our customers with very valuable Internet connection that cannot be beat.

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Economic Viability
We believe strongly that a company needs to have a solid financial foundation. Our company has experienced some serious financial challenges since its inception but it has recovered remarkably. We strive to keep our costs down and our quality up so that our customers can experience the most economically attractive service possible. We are constantly looking at the best technology for the best price. If our customers are saving money, then we are happy.

Our investment in quality technology and human capital has allowed us to become and remain a leader in our industry. We have found that if you have happy employees and they are given an open playing field with minimal boundaries, great things can happen.

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Summary
XTI has developed a network that utilizes a connected cell. This cell consists of a tower that transmits high-speed Internet to many customers. This cell is designed provide each user with a predictable amount of bandwidth at all times. XTI’s network is designed so that each user has access to consistent high-quality high-speed Internet at all times. XTI has developed a model that allows for the addition of many connected cells. In rural Minnesota, each small town is considered a cell. In conclusion, we have developed a formula that we believe is paramount to a perfect customer Internet experience:

The Perfect Connection = Industry-Leading Technology + Engineering Experience + Good Network Design + Performance Monitoring + Premium Customer Service

We are one of the world's pioneers in the provision of quality wireless connectivity to consumers. We have been using this formula since 1999 and our 15 years of experience in the wireless industry have given us the unique opportunity to provide our customers with the best Internet access possible.