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The
first time I read about "WiBRO," I thought it was a new Starbucks
coffee drink aimed at the Silicon Valley digerati. It turns out that
WiBRO is the South Korean version of an emerging broadband wireless
technology called WiMAX and is one of many standards being promoted as
the technology of choice for high-speed mobile access in what is
becoming a key battle between chipset makers, equipment vendors, and
mobile operators. The MobileBroadband panel, as part of the FutureTech
conference being held at Ross on January 26 and 27, will explore this
topic in further detail. This year's overarching theme, "Bridging the
Gap - The Always Connected World," fits nicely into our discussion on
mobile broadband. The panel will provide an interesting forum for
speakers and their audiences to engage in a lively discussion on the
technology trends and business decisions that will shape the mobile
landscape. This article attempts to navigate through acronym clutter
and present some key trends.
WiMAX
As Intel tries to move away
from the slow growing PC business and enter the lucrative mobile
networking market, it has bet heavily on WiMAX (Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave Access). WiMAX is a wireless broadband
access solution that can provide speeds up to 30Mbps over distances
ranging from three to 30 miles. According to an Intel study, the first
phase will be fixed WiMAX, a cost-effective replacement for cable and
DSL, aimed at residential and business customers in urban areas and
underserved rural markets. Intel has created a WiMAX ecosystem through
partnerships and investments to showcase real world demonstrations of
this technology. There are a number of WISPs (Wireless Internet Service
Providers) such as Towerstream who are currently offering WiMAX
services in large cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Boston. One
of the speakers on the Mobile Broadband panel, Nina Krietemeyer, is the
founder and CEO of AeroWire Communications, Inc., a provider of
wireless broadband services to business in the Great Lakes region. A
Northern Sky Research Study predicts that by 2010, there will be 12.4
million WiMAX subscribers worldwide. But it is the mobile version of
WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e standard), that has gathered recent attention as a
simpler, cost-effective alternative to cellular.
EV-DO, HSDPA, and TD-CDMA
In the cellular camp are technologies such as EV-DOrevA (Evolution Data
Optimized Revision A), TD-CDMA (Time Division CDMA), and HSDPA (High
Speed Data Packet Access). EV-DO and TD-CDMA (as the name implies), are
based on the CDMA standard whereas HSDPA follows the GSM track. Verizon
Wireless's broadband data service offering is based on EV-DO technology
and offers speeds in the 400-700Kbps range. Currently, EV-DO is
targeted for data traffic only but vendors are already working on
supporting voice (using VoIP) over EV-DO. Qualcomm, which holds most of
the key patents behind CDMA technology and earns licensing revenue for
every chipset sold, stands to benefit most from the adoption of EV-DO.
Moreover, cellular providers that have invested billions of dollars in
upgrading their networks and obtaining 3G licensing have strong reasons
to promote cellular based technologies. Still, some operators are
placing their bets on both technologies. Sprint, for instance, has
rolled out an EV-DO network but is also partnering with Intel and
Samsung to test mobile WiMAX gear.
Metro Mesh Wi-Fi
Almost everyone reading this article has used Wi-Fi gear if they have
connected wirelessly to the business school network. Municipalities,
service providers, and government agencies are taking Wi-Fi beyond the
home and local hotspots by deploying it as a metropolitan area wireless
network solution. The city of Philadelphia made headlines a couple of
years ago when it announced plans to rollout Wi-Fi service across the
city. The advantages of Wi-Fi are clear - it is cheap, ubiquitous, and
easy to deploy. Almost everyone with a laptop today has a Wi-Fi card
and the total cost of maintaining a metro Wi-Fi solution in
Philadelphia was estimated at $1.5 million per year. Tropos Networks, a
private company based in Sunnyvale, CA one of the largest vendors for
metro-scale mesh Wi-Fi equipment was responsible for infrastructure
equipment for Philadelphia's rollout.
And The Winner Is...
Using a standard benchmark to compare all technologies is complicated
by differences in spectrum usage, deployment cost, and range of
services they offer. Each technology has its share of critics, and each
competitor is aggressively promoting their technology as the superior
one. Qualcomm's Senior VP of Marketing, Jeffery Belk, authored a paper
titled, "Why MAX?" in which he severely criticized mobile WiMAX,
pointing out several weaknesses in the technology. He stated, "It's not
just a matter of circuit board real estate to fit the WiMAX circuitry.
There IS NO STANDARD! There is no clear picture of what it will cost to
put WiMAX radios into your laptop line." But Qualcomm's purchase of
Flash-OFDM vendor Flarion Technologies for $800 million was a hedge
since WiMAX standard is based on OFDM technology. Flarion's OFDM IP
portfolio allows Qualcomm to possibly extract royalty payments in the
future if WiMAX succeeds. Critics of WiMAX also explain that WiMAX and
Wi-Fi networks cannot offer the true mobility of nationwide cellular
networks.
WiMAX supporters on the other hand are touting mobile
WiMAX as the first truly open mobile standard. They also claim that
since WiMAX vendors and operators have no history in the mobile space,
they can respond faster to customer needs. From a technology
perspective, WiMAX also offers all IP (Internet Protocol) as a standard
feature set as well as higher upload speeds. Cellular providers are
crying foul about government plans to offer fee based metro Wi-Fi
access, claiming it directly affects their competitive position and
revenue stream. Lawmakers complain that local governments should not
put tax dollars at risk by building wireless networks.
Services Drive Growth
Technology is only as good as what you can do with it. Today's cellular
networks were designed for voice whereas EV-DO is data oriented.
Ultimately, the successful players in the marketplace will be ones that
offer voice, video, and data services in a cost effective and seamless
manner. VoIP and mobile video will soon become standard features in
devices. Services such as video telephony, multimedia messaging and
conferencing, location based advertising, and telematics will drive
technology adoption and fuel growth. Perhaps an ominous sign for
carriers is Google's plan to build out a Wi-Fi network in San Francisco
to offer location based services. Handset vendors are already prepared.
At the 2006 CES (Consumer Electronics Show) Samsung revealed the
world's first WiMAX handset to operate with South Korea's WiBRO service.
Competing or Complementary Solutions
In the end, cellular providers and businesses that have existing
networks will not replace them anytime soon. Although mobile WiMAX will
be deployed in the 2007 timeframe, it may serve as a complimentary
technology to localized Wi-Fi services and nationwide cellular networks
for a while. And handset makers' plans to develop dual mode 3G/WiMAX
phones indicate that multiple solutions will co-exist.
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