Recently in WiMAX Category

I got a call this morning from a rep at Avanquest Software, alerting me to the fact that the company is offering free consumer downloads of its new wireless networking tool for laptop users, Connection Manager. (The software has a retail value of $29.95.)

 

Connection Manager is designed for anyone living the "mobile lifestyle" with a laptop in tow. Its function is to provide users with quick, secure Internet/network access regardless of the connectivity method being used.

 

"Connection Manager automatically identifies and stores necessary network and security parameters for virtually every type of publicly used connection standard, including standard Ethernet, WiFi, ADSL and WiMAX," the company said in a July 22 announcement. Continue Reading...

I got a note the other day from Craig Settles, an expert in the area of municipal WiFi networks, who wanted to make sure I’d seen the news about EarthLink pulling out of the muni WiFI network in Philadelphia. (Incidentally, last month EarthLink also made known its plans to pull out of the muni WiFi project in New Orleans, effective May 18.)
 
In a press announcement dated May 13, EarthLink made clear its plans to terminate WiFi service in Philadelphia, following months of unsuccessful negotiations with the city government to transfer management of the entire network — worth $17 million — to the municipality or to Wireless Philadelphia, a non-profit.
 
“EarthLink has worked diligently for many months to transfer our WiFi network to a new owner -- at no cost," said Rolla Huff, EarthLink's chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement. “Unfortunately, our hope that we could transfer our network to a non-profit organization that had planned to offer free WiFi throughout Philadelphia will not be realized.
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WiMAX is hot and getting hotter. That’s essentially the conclusion reached by Infonetics in its recent WiMAX and Mesh Network Equipment and Devices report.
 
Just how hot? During 2007, the WiMAX market grew sequentially 46 percent (for the year), with worldwide sales (fixed and mobile) just shy of $800 million. That number was reached thanks to deployments in more than 80 countries around the world.
 
Infonetics predicted that commercial WiMAX network deployments will continue growing during 2008 and beyond—with market value projected at $7 billion by 2011.
 
What’s driving the WiMAX market? Here is Infonetics analyst Richard Webb: “Among the most significant developments: Cisco's acquisition of mobile WiMAX vendor Navini Networks, the market entrance of specialist ASN gateway vendor WiChorus, the launch of WiMAX phones and Ultra Mobile PCs, and the new Open WiMAX initiative, which promotes disruptive, all-IP open WiMAX architecture, and should lead to best-of-breed solutions with inter-vendor interoperability.”
 
Attaching vendor names to WiMAX market growth, Infonetics reported that, for 2007, Alvarion led the worldwide fixed WiMAX equipment market in terms of revenue, followed by Airspan.
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At its Developer Forum Wednesday, Intel officials outlined the company’s plans to combine WiMAX with Centrino Duo processors to develop what it claims will be a new category of mobile, broadband-connected computing devices. The initiative, which is slated to bear fruit next year, includes the use of High-k metal gate silicon technology to deliver better battery life.
 
CBR reporter Rhonda Ascierto pointed out in a Thursday report that Intel’s main focus remains on notebook computers, but the company is branching out into handheld, Internet-enabled devices and, even more of a reach, the WiMAX networks needed to support such products.
 
“Intel's WiMax ambitions may still be premature, at least in the US where cellular coverage is almost ubiquitous and WiFi is fast becoming available throughout major metropolitan areas,” Ascierto said in the report.
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INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO West 2007 is less than a month away. (The event this year is being held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in California, Sept. 10-12, 2007.) If you haven’t registered yet, here’s a plug: this show is not just about IP communications. It’s about wireless, too.
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Broadband Wireless in India

May 4, 2007 11:13 AM | 1 Comment
In a recent Slashot post (April 27), a contributor identified as Zonk shared info from another contributor, Codecracker007, indicating that the government in India is planning to roll out free, 2 Mbps broadband access for all resident of the subcontinent by 2009. This is according to an April 26 article in The Economic Times which said that the service will be provided by government owned operators BSNL and MTNL.

That report warned that this plan, if implemented, “holds the potential to kill the telecom business as we know it.” That being said, it not too surprising, given that “the Indian government and its autonomous regulatory bodies are very proactive in holding the consumer interests above the operators.” The Slashdot post said that this heavy-handiness on the part of the government has helped reduce long distance and wireless tariffs by up to a factor of 20 during the past seven years.

So what does all this have to do with wireless? Well, as another Economic Times article (dated April 27) pointed out, much of the success of this initiative will rely on how wireless spectrum is doled out.

“The government must quickly decide on the modalities of 3G rollout and the spectrum issues, as 3G is essentially high-speed wireless broadband and the key to providing internet services in remote areas,” the article said.
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WiMAX Day reported today that Motorola plans to expand its relationship with chip manufacturer Texas Instruments to develop a line of mobile, WiMAX-enabled handsets. The two companies reportedly will focus their efforts on the 802.16e standard. Motorola said that it plans to launch the new mobile devices in 2008.
 
According to WiMAX Day, during 2006 Motorola shipped 217 million mobile phones, landing the company 21 percent of the market. Motorola still takes second fiddle to Nokia (with 34 percent market share), but it may be poised to make headway in the WiMAX segment as Nokia seems to be lagging a bit behind in that area.
 
The WiMAX Day report notes that, arguably, Samsung is the leader currently when it comes to WiMAX handsets; the company played a key role in launching WiBro during 2006, and has committed $320 million R&D money for WiMAX products.
 
Other companies potentially looking to make moves in the space include LG Electronics (snagged six percent of mobile handset market during 2006, is eyeing WiMAX) and Sony Ericsson (seven percent market share, no WiMAX announcements yet).
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Wireless Energy Efficiency Pop Quiz

January 16, 2007 5:37 PM | 0 Comments
Pop quiz: which of the following is the most energy efficient method of delivering mobile broadband?

1. WCDMA (cellular)
2. WiMAX
3. WiFi

Here with your answer is ABI Research analyst Stuart Carlaw (quoted from a recent news release): “From a pure coverage perspective WiMAX is twice as energy-cost-effective and metro Wi-Fi is 50 times more energy-cost-effective than WCDMA. Continue Reading...

As is usually the case with technology, once the underlying specifications become standardized, adoption becomes widespread by both consumers and manufacturers/providers. That’s because standardization reassure people they knew what they’re getting, and that it will work the same way in a variety of applications.

 

Research company Parks Associates noted this fact in its recent report about the market for wireless, multimedia networking. The firm predicted that “industry adoption of next-generation specifications will provide a substantial boost to the market for wireless multimedia networking, prompting growth in excess of 50 million wireless network devices by 2010.”

 

Two of the specification poised to help spur the growth are next-gen WiFi and Ultra-wideband (UWB), Parks Associates said.

 

The firm further predicted that annual sales and shipments of wireless multimedia-capable devices (think person computers, fixed and mobile consumer electronics) will grow from 2.5 million units in 2006 to almost 52 million units by the end of 2010. Standardization in the market will play a key role in that growth.

 

Parks Associates analyst Kurt Scherf said in the report that several factors are driving manufacturers and service providers to embrace wireless connectivity:

  • Service providers want more ownership in developing home networking solutions
  • Operators need to reduce CAPEX associated with deploying home networking solutions
  • New content services are on the rise
  • Consumers are in favor of eliminating cables

“These are all positive signs that the 802.11n and WiMedia solutions – among the many home networking options – will continue to drive growth in new home networking applications,” Scherf said in a statement.

As an end-user, I like where things are headed. Continue Reading...

If you’re among those closely following WiMAX developments in Asia, take note: WiMAX Day reported earlier this week that Samsung plans to invest more than $320 million in WiMAX development and research during 2007.

The money primarily will be funneled into R&D for mobile handsets and notebook computers (such as the SPH-P9000 MIT Device introduced in early November).

WiMAX Day noted that this investment is on top of an estimated $550 million the company already committed to internal R&D for WiMAX products.

According to the WiMAX Day report, Samsung president Kitae Lee “said that he expects heavy demand for mobile WiMAX products to begin in 2008 and then boom in the following years.”

Lee made his statements at the ITU conference in Hong Kong, where he also said he anticipates 130 million mobile WiMAX subscribers by 2011.

Hmm… that almost sounds like an echo from In-Stat’s report this past July in which the research firm said the WiMAX market in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region should be worth $4.3 billion by 2011.

Guess we’ll just have to wait until 2011 and see how things work out…

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