Carl Ford
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WiMAX
The Smart Approach: WiMAX Goes to College
July 15, 2009
A university campus prides in its cohesiveness, in its connectivity. Campuses have always organized programs to bring their students together socially. Now universities want to unify their students technologically.
In the past, students were able to connect to the Internet in various locations on campus via Wi-Fi--usually in the library, the cafeteria, the dorms, and several other isolated spots. In an age of online communications, the Internet connection has become vital to a university's makeup.
In the past, students were able to connect to the Internet in various locations on campus via Wi-Fi--usually in the library, the cafeteria, the dorms, and several other isolated spots. In an age of online communications, the Internet connection has become vital to a university's makeup.
Rural Broadband : All There is to Know About RUS and NTIA
July 7, 2009
Just last week, the Obama Administration published some of the criteria for its broadband stimulus money-doling. This event followed President Obama's signage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which allocated $7.2 billion to the US Departments of Agriculture and Commerce to improve broadband development in rural and remote areas of the US.
Alvarion Scores $100 M WiMax Deal With Open Range
June 17, 2009
The press release just hit the Internets -- Alvarion's mysterious $100 million WiMax gear deal is with planned rural WiMax provider Open Range Communications, and not Clearwire as previously rumored.
According to Ashish Sharma, Alvarion vice president for corporate market development (and apparently handler of all late-night phone calls), the deal could eventually be in excess of the stated $100 million total over its planned five-year length -- but even at the stated $100 million, it's a big win for Alvarion, which just posted $68 million in revenues for its latest quarter. Though Open Range was all over government funding before anyone even dreamed of big telecom stimulus bucks, there are still a lot of questions in the industry whether Open Range is all hat, no cattle as they sometimes say out West.
While Open Range's promises and strange makeup -- government funding and a non-standard deal to obtain spectrum -- have made for a lot of industry head-scratching, the Alvarion deal (which calls for radio equipment, customer premise gear and systems integration) seems to put some meat on the Open Range skeleton, so to speak.
As we said earlier, any $100 million deal is a good one for the WiMax industry, no matter which provider is paying the bills. But until and unless Open Range actually starts delivering on its rural broadband promise (Sharma said services are supposed to be available before the end of the year) this one is still probably better marked as incomplete.
According to Ashish Sharma, Alvarion vice president for corporate market development (and apparently handler of all late-night phone calls), the deal could eventually be in excess of the stated $100 million total over its planned five-year length -- but even at the stated $100 million, it's a big win for Alvarion, which just posted $68 million in revenues for its latest quarter. Though Open Range was all over government funding before anyone even dreamed of big telecom stimulus bucks, there are still a lot of questions in the industry whether Open Range is all hat, no cattle as they sometimes say out West.
While Open Range's promises and strange makeup -- government funding and a non-standard deal to obtain spectrum -- have made for a lot of industry head-scratching, the Alvarion deal (which calls for radio equipment, customer premise gear and systems integration) seems to put some meat on the Open Range skeleton, so to speak.
As we said earlier, any $100 million deal is a good one for the WiMax industry, no matter which provider is paying the bills. But until and unless Open Range actually starts delivering on its rural broadband promise (Sharma said services are supposed to be available before the end of the year) this one is still probably better marked as incomplete.
Introducing the 'Clearwire NTK' Research Series -- Deep Insight for Less Than $5
June 13, 2009
Welcome to the June, 2009 installment of our "Clearwire Need To Know," or Clearwire NTK, Research Series. The NTK Series provides quarterly updates on all things related to Clearwire Corp.'s nascent WiMax services, including market launches, pricing schemes, WiMax device availability and recent business deals from the company building a nationwide WiMax network. The Clearwire NTK reports are designed to give anyone interested in Clearwire the most thorough and up-to-date package of news, analysis and short-term outlooks available, in a format designed for easy reading.
Much more comprehensive than short blog posts -- and much more timely and economic than thousand-dollar traditional analyst reports -- our Clearwire NTK reports are "right-sized research" for busy professionals who want to stay as current as possible on all things Clearwire. If you are interested in Clearwire, here is everything you NEED TO KNOW, ready for you to order and download directly from our site.
Topping out at just over 3,000 words -- like those good old feature stories that most tech publishers don't have the space or author experience to provide any more, each of our Clearwire NTK reports are available in form factors designed for your convenience, from PDF downloads for your desktop, laptop or netbook, or in formats suitable for reading on your Kindle bookreader or iPhone.
Much more comprehensive than short blog posts -- and much more timely and economic than thousand-dollar traditional analyst reports -- our Clearwire NTK reports are "right-sized research" for busy professionals who want to stay as current as possible on all things Clearwire. If you are interested in Clearwire, here is everything you NEED TO KNOW, ready for you to order and download directly from our site.
Topping out at just over 3,000 words -- like those good old feature stories that most tech publishers don't have the space or author experience to provide any more, each of our Clearwire NTK reports are available in form factors designed for your convenience, from PDF downloads for your desktop, laptop or netbook, or in formats suitable for reading on your Kindle bookreader or iPhone.
Cisco Delivers WiMAX Wake-Up Call With Clearwire Deal
May 14, 2009
After Cisco bought WiMax radio supplier Navini in October 2007, industry watchers have waited and wondered why the biggest networking vendor wasn't doing more with WiMax in the U.S. market. Now after Wednesday's announcement of a multi-year deal between Cisco and Clearwire, the waiting is over -- and you have to think Cisco just delivered a big wake-up call about WiMax to Silicon Valley and Wall Street in one big move.
What really made the deal big news was the inclusion of Cisco's pledge to ship a mobile WiMax end-user device before year's end. The other part of the deal, which involves Clearwire using Cisco gear in its core IP network, isn't so surprising -- in any IP network of Clearwire's size, you might be more surprised not to find Cisco gear in the wiring closets.
But by pledging to develop end-user devices, Cisco is signaling to the rest of the industry (and investors, if they are listening) that WiMax is more than a curiousity.
What really made the deal big news was the inclusion of Cisco's pledge to ship a mobile WiMax end-user device before year's end. The other part of the deal, which involves Clearwire using Cisco gear in its core IP network, isn't so surprising -- in any IP network of Clearwire's size, you might be more surprised not to find Cisco gear in the wiring closets.
But by pledging to develop end-user devices, Cisco is signaling to the rest of the industry (and investors, if they are listening) that WiMax is more than a curiousity.
WhiteSpace LandGrab
January 20, 2009When Google's Rick Whitt said that Whitespace is "WiFi on steroids" he may have been more prophetic than he realized.
Following the FCC's approval of the use of Whitespace, the debate over what standards should be developed and applied to the use of this spectrum continues. Similar to the 700 MHZ spectrum , which will become available when DTV finally shifts, the white space strategy can use a variety of protocols and perhaps a new one.
It's also possible to tweak existing solutions to match the space. At the IEEE standards meetings this week the WiFI folks out number the WiMAX types, in the discussion of the White Space.
It may be that we see some preempt rollouts with existing WiFi in the near future.
My own thoughts are that WiMAX would do well to embrace the use of Unlicensed spectrum at this point of its life cycle.
WiMAX has been beaten in the press lately, but it's not a technological discussion as much as it a philosophical / business one. WiMAX fixed is alive and well in the rest of the world, so it is Mobile WiMAX that has received the bad press.i For WiMAX, supporting mobility with the help of White Space could be the best story of the day.
Azimuth Looks Ahead After Successful 2008
January 13, 2009
Azimuth Systems, Inc., is on a good run. The company today announced that it had reached a number of major milestones marking the company's continued growth in the broadband wireless industry over the past year, increasing its channel emulator revenue by over 30%, increasing its customer base by more than 25%, (including international growth), and the formation of several partnerships with companies and organizations in the broadband wireless space.
Azimuth provides wireless broadband test equipment and channel emulators for Wi-Fi, WiMAX, LTE and 2G/3G cellular technologies.
Jim Iuliano, Azimuth's CEO was understandably pleased:
"Over the course of our history, Azimuth has excelled at adapting to meet the needs of advanced technology testing for the delivery of high-speed wireless voice, data and video services. As we welcome 2009, we hope to build upon this strength and continue to provide our customers with reliable test equipment and channel emulators designed to meet the needs of the latest generation of wireless, carrier-grade networks and solutions for Wi-Fi, WiMAX, LTE and 2G/3G cellular technologies."
