WiMAX Guide

The Complete Guide To:

Broadband GETS PERSONAL Broadband GETS PERSONALMobile WiMAX is upon us, bringing a whole new kind of broadband service experience with it.

Inside:Carriers gain real-world WiMAX knowledge VoIP and quality go hand-in-hand The emergence of OFDMA

Inside:Carriers gain real-world WiMAX knowledge VoIP and quality go hand-in-hand The emergence of OFDMA

Broadband GETS PERSONAL

A Supplement to

April 2006

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO

Just two weeks ago at the TelecomNext trade show in Las Vegas, I had the privilege of moderating a panel on “The

Future of WiMAX” that included Bill Smith, chief technology officer of BellSouth; John chief technology officer of BellSouth; John Hoadley, vice president of advanced tech-Hoadley, vice president of advanced tech-nology and wireless networks at Nortel Net-nology and wireless networks at Nortel Net-works; and Hung Song, vice president of the works; and Hung Song, vice president of the works; and Hung Song, vice president of the global marketing group in the telecommuni-global marketing group in the telecommuni-global marketing group in the telecommuni-

cations systems division at Samsung Electronics.

Each of them brought a different perspective, Smith, that of a telco that is testing the water with commercial pre-WiMAX services and gathering information, but holding off on bigger com-mitments while waiting to see what Mobile WiMAX can offer; Hoadley, that of an equipment vendor that has been foraging around in the forest of developing stan-dards looking for the right commercial opportunities; and Song, that of an equip-ment and device vendor that is on the very forefront of what Mobile WiMAX may offer, getting ready to help Korea Telecom launch broadly available commercial WiBro service this spring.

We talked on the panel about the future of WiMAX, in admittedly most vague visionary terms—I kidded Song about the “WiBro robot”

he showed a photo of when explaining what kinds of end-user terminals could eventually carry WiBro. He said it was roughly the size of an iDog and would follow you anywhere. (Note to Song: I was serious about wanting one for Christmas this year.)

It was the kind of general banter that you see at any panel, that is, until we got the audience involved in the question and

answer session. People from the gallery began firing all sorts of intelligent and extremely specific questions at the panel-ists: What is the business model for Mobile WiMAX where there is already 3G? How many base stations do you need to build in an average city, what can you charge for service and where is your break-even point? Where do customer premises equip-ment price points need to be for Mobile WiMAX to become a viable broadband alternative—how do we get there and when? How can you spend money to build a WiMAX network and still compete with municipal networks that will offer service for free? Who among the telecom outsiders will bid on spectrum at auction—Micro-soft, Apple or Google?

The panelists had answers for some of those questions, and others were just too hard to answer adequately in our format of discussion, but the number and specificity of the questions both surprised and enlight-ened me. It was an indicator that the whole level of debate about WiMAX has been elevated across the telecom industry. People don’t necessarily want to talk about future possibilities—about what names they will give to their WiMAX robots—but what they can do now, how they can fit WiMAX into their current understanding of their own business models.

The audience raised important questions that the WiMAX Forum should strive to answer so that as many companies as pos-sible can get involved in the market as soon as possible. Around the world, people are craving a WiMAX education, and they want it now—because the future is now. ◗

The RealWORLD By Dan O’Shea

Editor-in-Chief Dan O’Shea

2006

The Complete Guide to WiMAX April 2006

Contents

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO

2

8

13

15

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MOBILE WIMAX: MOBILE WIMAX: MOBILE WIMAX: THE EVOLUTION BEGINSTHE EVOLUTION BEGINSTHE EVOLUTION BEGINSMobile WiMAX promises to bring with Mobile WiMAX promises to bring with Mobile WiMAX promises to bring with it a whole new kind of broadband service it a whole new kind of broadband service experience—personal broadband.experience—personal broadband.

LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCECarriers and vendors gain insight into how consumers will use WIMAX through trials and commercial rollouts.

WIMAX PUTS SERVICE QUALITY ON DISPLAYMany bank on VoIP to be the WiMAX killer app, but service quality will be key to the success of this—or any other WiMAX-enabled—offering.

OFDMA PREPARES TO MOVE ONOrthogonal frequency division multiplexing was way ahead of WiMAX and 3G in terms of offerings on the market. The current standstill has been caused by vendors awaiting ratification of standards.

Q&A: DONNA CARLSONPrincipal analyst at Sky Light Research talks about what WiMAX will accomplish in 2006.


TThe telecom industry is at one of those The telecom industry is at one of those

TThe telecom industry is at one of those

TTThe telecom industry is at one of those



Trichly interesting points in its history richly interesting points in its history Trichly interesting points in its history TTrichly interesting points in its history TTrichly interesting points in its history TTrichly interesting points in its history Twhere many different types of migration where many different types of migration Twhere many different types of migration TTwhere many different types of migration TTwhere many different types of migration TTwhere many different types of migration Tseem to be happening at the same time. seem to be happening at the same time. Tseem to be happening at the same time. TTseem to be happening at the same time. TTseem to be happening at the same time. TTseem to be happening at the same time. TTseem to be happening at the same time. TIn the service provider back office, there TIn the service provider back office, there TTIn the service provider back office, there TTIn the service provider back office, there TTIn the service provider back office, there Tis the migration to the era of customer Tis the migration to the era of customer TTis the migration to the era of customer TTis the migration to the era of customer TTis the migration to the era of customer Tself-maintenance, in which automated net-Tself-maintenance, in which automated net-TTself-maintenance, in which automated net-TTself-maintenance, in which automated net-Twork management and remote self-service Twork management and remote self-service TTwork management and remote self-service TTwork management and remote self-service Tcapabilities are changing how broadband Tcapabilities are changing how broadband TTcapabilities are changing how broadband Tservice is activated and administered. In Tservice is activated and administered. In Tthe network core, carriers are migrating to Tthe network core, carriers are migrating to TIP multimedia subsystem architectures that are simplifying how different types of com-munications traffic are treated, creating a more structurally open and operationally efficient network environment. And at the access level, carriers are continuing to migrate to new forms of broadband access, Fixed WiMAX being among the latest.

Yet, in the broadband access realm, there is more soon on the way, as the WiMAX Forum and its member companies look to make Mobile WiMAX, based on the IEEE 802.16e standard, a commercial endeavor by sometime early next year. And many people in the WiMAX community are bet-ting that Mobile WiMAX will do what Fixed WiMAX and other fixed forms of broadband access have not been able to do—inspire a whole new way of thinking about and defin-ing broadband service a the broadband user experience.

“If you are talking about a technology that can turn wireless into a broadband phenomenon, it is clearly Mobile WiMAX that you are talking about,” said Sai Subra-manian, vice president of product manage-ment for Navini Networks.

For the last year or more, long before the IEEE ratified the 802.16e standard on which Mobile WiMAX is based in December 2005, Subramanian and many other people

in the WiMAX Forum and in the industry were calling Mobile WiMAx by another name: personal broadband. That name isn’t so much an alter ego, as it is a much better descriptor of what the technology actually provides to its users, as well as an indicator of exactly how it may change our current con-cept of broadband technology and access.

“Mobile WiMAX will broaden the market for broadband everywhere in the world and make it the kind of market that it should be, one that is counted in number of people connected rather than in the number of households connected,” Subramanian said.

Carlton O’Neal, vice president of mar-keting for Alvarion, added, “Beginning this year, there will be a move to the idea of personal broadband, and it can change broadband in the same way that [personal communications services] changed the cell phone market. What will happen with Mo-bile WiMAX is that you will have a personal broadband service that is wrapped in a device. The concept of broadband will go up a notch and become disconnected from loca-tion. People will be asking each other, ‘Who is your personal broadband provider?’”

If it seems a stretch for the average communications consumer to start think-ing in those terms about broadband, then maybe you just aren’t young enough to know better about how the nature of com-munications, and by extension broadband, is already changing. Mobile substitution of landline service, the so-called act of “cut-ting the cord,” has been on the rise for the last few years, and mobile substitution in the U.S. market alone is expected to be around 10%. And leading the charge for mobile substitution, for the most part, is a young demographic market segment—18 to 34-year-olds (though the trend is most

intense among 18 to 25-year-olds).“It’s a younger demographic, the iPod

generation,” Subramanian said. “A lot of them have never had a landline connection to their name, and you probably never will see that happen. What they are used to is mobile services, and the idea is going to a retail store and buying a phone with the

MOBILITY

Mobile WiMAX:THE EVOLUTION BEGINSThe next step for broadband wireless technology will help usher in a new era of applications and devices, as well as new thinking about how we view broadband. By Dan O’Shea

April 2006 The Complete Guide to WiMAX 3

service already connected to it, not buying a phone and then waiting for someone to come out to your house to connect it or to wire your house.”

Having said that, as Mobile WiMAX and the concept of personal broadband become more broadly commercially applicable over the next year or so, the kinds of applications that consumers may use personal broadband for may not be so far removed from exactly the kind of applications they use a broad-band landline connection for today—Inter-net access, voice over IP, downloading music, sending the occasional photo. However, having the mobility while performing these tasks will be a huge change for most people. Navini’s Subramanian said, “The initial ap-plications for personal broadband will be some of the same things that you do with a wired broadband connection, and that’s re-ally no big shakes, right? It will be a matter of user preference, but the idea is also that the user can perform that task in their preferred way, at their preferred time and place.”

O’Neal added, “There will be a killer app for WiMAX, and that killer app will be whatever people are doing at that time that they are connected.”

Meanwhile, at the same time that Mobile WiMAX is emerging and personal broadband is taking shape,

the nature of existing mobile service also is changing, as mobile data traffic is increas-ing on the 3G networks of the traditional mobile service providers, and new content-based services—not just games or, most recently, music services, but also mobile TV and other kinds of video program-ming. 3G networks and devices are starting to catch on to the idea that consumers want video content, and even traditional TV programming, to be capable of being removed from their liv-ing rooms and their cable TV or landline broadband connections. It is a trend that Hollywood and the rest of the community that develops and produces much of the TV and other video content we enjoy may be well ahead in understanding. The popularity of a device like the video iPod is just one example of that trend.

“The video iPod is kind of a revolution in itself,” Alvarion’s O’Neal said. “That’s because it is helping to shift the paradigm in the way that people are consuming enter-

tainment. Something like that is a Mobile WiMAX application. There’s a lot of store-and-forward video possibilities. There’s the whole emergence now of viral videos, and that can be another killer app in the way that people will want to share things.”

And the future will not revolve only around whatever Apple Computer thinks of next. The migration to richer hand-held

devices capable of voice, data, video and other applications has been in progress for a while now. As Subramanian pointed out, laptop personal computer sales have surged year after year to the point where sales of laptops have now moved ahead of sales of desktop PCs. Most laptop PCs now can be purchased not only with the typical Ethernet high-speed landline connection port, but also with integrated Wi-Fi con-nections and service activation software. Some laptops even have integrated or card-based 3G services packaged with them. Meanwhile, 3G phones, data devices and storage devices like iPods are all converging in various ways.

“Broadband systems kind of augur each other,” O’Neal said. “You’ve got all these access methods and devices, and as they are all converging on the market, there will be an amazing proliferation of applications that come. It will be like what originally hap-pened in the PC market—the applications will come from the explosion of devices that are positioned to take advantage of them.”

New types of devices are still emerging as Mobile WiMAX marches toward the per-sonal broadband future. The Ultra-Mobile Personal Computer (UMPC) has been in de-velopment at Microsoft since at least 2002, and the software giant unveiled its first UMPC last month at the CeBit trade show in Hanover, Germany. The device, touted by Microsoft as an “anywhere, everywhere” communications and entertainment device, includes software such as Sling Media’s store-and-forward content solution and Intel chips with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth con-nectivity. Samsung is said to be working on a UMPC version that will have WiBro con-nectivity, based on the standard in South Korea that is based on 802.16e and will

“[The killer app for WiMAX] will be whatever people are doing at the time they’re connected.”

—Carlton O’Neal, Alvarion


MOBILITY

SKY LIGHT RESEARCH’S WiMAX PRODUCT GRID

Vendor Multiservice Proprietary WiMAX-2004 WiMAX-802.16e Current IP Mobile–CDMA

Current IP Mobile–Flash OFDM

WiBRO

Adaptix Motion 2100 Motion

AirSpan AS4020 ASWipLL, AS4030 AS MAX AS.MAX road map

Alcatel OEM Alvarion Evolium WiMAX base station

Alvarion WalkAIR, eMGW

BreezeAccessBreeze2000

BreezeMAX BreezeMAX road map

Aperto Networks

PacketWave PacketMAX PacketMAX

Arraycom iBurst

Axcera Axity (UMTS)

Axxcelera AB Access ExcelAir 70 ExcelMAX (3.5)AB Max (5.8)

Cambridge Broadband

VectaSTAR VectaMAX

Ericsson OEM Airspan Road map

Flarion/Qualcomm

RadioRouter

Harris ClearBurst MB

IPWireless NodeB Base station

Motorola MOTOwi4 Canopy products

MOTOwi4 UltraLite products

Navini RipWave MX RipWave BS and modems

NextNet Expedience Road map

Nortel Road map with Airspan

LG/Nortel joint venture LG/Nortel joint venture

PointRed Technologies

MicroRed

Proxim Wireless

Tsunami TeraMAX Tsunami MP.16

Redline AN100 RedMAX

Samsung Road map RAS bs, CPE chips in existing terminals

Siemens WayMAX@vantage

WayMAX Family road map

450 MHz

Soma SoftAir System Road map W-CDMA macro base station

SR Telecom AirStar Angel (named changed to Symmetry ONE)

Symmetry ONE Symmetry MX

Trango Broadband

Access 5830 and FOX

UTStarcom MovingMedia 6000 - TD-CDMA

Vyyo V251 Wireless Modem, V3000 wireless hub

WaveRider/ WaveWireless

LMS Family Road map

Wavion Space time processing technology

WiLAN Ultima 3, AWE, Libra families

Libra MX

ZTE ZXBWA-3E ZiMax 450 MHz CDMA Sou

rce:

Sky

Lig

ht R

esea

rch

Info

rmat

ion

up to

dat

e as

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arch

17


be a profile within Mobile WiMAX. Future UMPCs likely will include some form of Mobile WiMAX connectivity.

“Mobile WiMAX eventually will be integrated into laptops and all other kinds of devices,” Na-vini’s Subramanian said. “It starts with a PC card being added to some laptop, and it evolves very fast from there.”

Arno Kolk, vice president of marketing for manufacturing firm Elcoteq, said, “We expect to see wide variety of user devices from fixed outdoor CPEs to handsets. There are many different applications, each best served with a different device. Remote farms or villages are best connected using fixed CPEs with large high-gain antennas while mobile users in downtown business districts would like to use familiar PDAs, laptops or smartphones.”

Chris Knudsen, chief technology officer of Intel Corp’s service provider group, added, “You will see a very quick migration away from the typical handset as a cellular voice device. All different kinds of access methods are driving that. With Mobile WiMAX, you will have services with greater spectral effi-ciency, and devices will come together.

WiMAX. WiFi. Why, yes.Combining WiFi and WiMAX on tomorrow’s devices promises to bring ultimate mobility to users worldwide, and Intel is leading the industry to make this vision a reality. Earlier this year, Intel demonstrated a single chip, multi-band WiFi/WiMAX radio enablingconnectivity for a full spectrum of mobile and ultra mobile PC devices. Additionally, Intel confirmed that it was developing for release a mobile WiMAX PC card for its Intel® Centrino® mobile technology-based platforms. The bottom line, wherever you see Wi-Fi today, you will see WiMAX tomorrow. For more information on how Intel is driving global WiMAX adoption,visit: www.intel.com/go/wimax

.©2006 Intel Corporation. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel. Leap ahead., Intel. Leap ahead. logo and Intel Centrino are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. All rights reserved.

“You will see a very quick migration away from the typical handset as a cellular voice device. All different kinds of access methods are driving that.”

—Chris Knudsen, Intel


“You will see new devices that are richer on features and new form factors. You will get away from the network being the main thing and to devices that are intelligent and personal and reliable. Then, the market driv-ers will start to take effect, driving cost out of the devices, which will drive up volume.”

Alvarion’s O’Neal even sees the poten-tial for cars as broadband devices, taking advantages of the eventual Mobile WiMAX capability for mobile handoffs at vehicular speeds. “Why couldn’t you have a car that is synchronizing up with all kinds of differ-ent database as you are driving? It’s getting map information or downloading music,” he said. “It changes the whole idea of a satellite radio.”

That kind of scenario may truly rely on the availability of “anywhere, everywhere” connectivity. Intel, like at least one or two other chipset developers, is creating an in-tegrated Wi-Fi/WiMAX chipset because the company believes that making wide area connectivity and local area connectivity available in the same integrated package is another thing that will help service provid-ers deliver new broadband services more economically.

“There is a lot of capex involved in build-ing networks and subsidizing devices, and carriers should have more ways of making money from these devices,” Intel’s Knudsen said. “Wi-Fi and WiMAX are very similar from a standards point of view, and they are both IP, so it makes a lot of sense.”

Although Wi-Fi and WiMAX are very cozy partners, particularly in large-scale wireless mesh architectures, the relation-ship between Mobile WiMAX and 3G is

still pretty rough around the edges. Some people view Mobile WiMAX as directly and overwhelming competitive to 3G, while others see it as a broadband solution that is more a direct relation and next-generation alternative to location-dependent broad-band services. One thing is certain: 3G is out on the market and beginning to enter a maturation phase while Mobile WiMAX is still a work in progress based on a standard approved only a few months ago. Operators of 3G networks are getting some experience with mobile broadband that companies waiting for Mobile WiMAX may take a little longer to acquire.

Mark Whitton, vice president and gen-eral manager for WiMAX at Nortel Net-works, said, “To label 3G and WiMAX as purely competitive or purely complemen-tary ignores the subtle strengths and weak-nesses of the unique wireless technologies involved. 3G was designed to deliver ubiq-uitous voice in a mobile environment and is building upward from this strong base to also deliver higher-bandwidth services to highly portable devices. It carries with it the burden of backwards compatibility, and the complexity of implementing layers of services on top of each other,” he said, adding, “WiMAX is focused on dramatically dropping the cost per megabit for wireless broadband, while simultaneously delivering a real and significant increase in end-user bandwidth through the magic of OFDM and MIMO. These two business cases over-lap at the edges and will inevitably compete with each other to some degree.”

Still, for many service providers and ven-dors, Mobile WiMAX seems worth waiting for, to the degree that several service pro-viders, such as BellSouth, are only recently taking a more active interest in the WiMAX Forum’s Mobile WiMAX certification ef-forts just as they are starting to heat up. Likewise, although several of the major equipment vendors opted to pass on the Fixed WiMAX opportunity, they are now as-sembling their strategies in order to attack the Mobile WiMAX opportunity.

“There has been some waiting on the sidelines with Fixed WiMAX, but all the big iron vendors will have some way of address-ing Mobile WiMAX,” O’Neal said. “Some will

MOBILITY

Source: Senza Fili Consulting, on behalf of the WiMax Forum

Definition Devices Locations/speed

Handoffs 802.16-2004

802.16e

Fixed access Outdoor and indoor CPEs

Single/ stationary

No Yes Yes

Nomadic access

Indoor CPEs, PCMCIA cards

Multiple/stationary

No Yes Yes

Portability Laptop PCMCIA or mini cards

Multiple/walking speed

Hard handoffs

No Yes

Simple mobility

Laptop PCMCIA or mini cards, PDAs or smartphones

Multiple/low vehicular speed

Hard handoffs

No Yes

Full mobility Laptop PCMCIA or mini cards, PDAs or smartphones

Multiple/high vehicular speed

Soft handoffs

No Yes

TYPES OF ACCESS TO A WiMAX NETWORK

10,000900080007000600050004000300020001000

0 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Source: iSuppli Corp.

Thou

sand

s of

sub

scrib

ers

FORECAST OF WORLDWIDE WiMAX SUBSCRIBERS FOR FIXED WIRELESS BROADBAND ACCESS

New fixed broadband WiMAX subscribers

Percentage of total broadband subscribers

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

Per

cent

age

of

broa

dban

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bscr

iber

s

6

April 2006 The Complete Guide to WiMAX

have their own systems, and some will have OEM arrangements with other vendors.” This also could drive some consolidation in the vendor community during the product development phase of WiMAX, many people believe.

The product development and pre-commercial phase for Mobile WiMAX is expected to extend for the rest of this year, with product certification at the WiMAX Forum expected to happen late this year and early next. The forum recently chose TTA, an independent lab in South Korea as it first certification testing house for Mobile WiMAX profiles. The testing plan is still being worked out, but sources from WiMAX Forum member companies said there are likely to be two initial phases for Mobile WiMAX certification testing.

The first phase most likely will address gear in the 2.3 GHz spectrum band, the fre-quency that is being used for WiBro in South Korea and which also is being targeted for usage in several other countries. In the U.S., BellSouth owns a healthy stock of 2.3 GHz licenses. Many equipment vendors and carriers said they believe that the 2.5 GHz frequency, which is owned in the U.S by Sprint Nextel, Clearwire, BellSouth and oth-ers, would be next. The 2.5 GHz spectrum in some countries had been barred from being used for a service with mobility—some-thing which many people blame the propo-nents of GSM mobile service—but those restrictions are now being lifted.

“There is a significant demand for 802.16e-based systems already, even though Mobile WiMAX trials really haven’t gotten started yet,” said Paul Sergeant, senior marketing manager of alternative access for Motorola. “The 802.16e chips are only now starting to appear.”

At the same time, the telecom industry is still working on those two other impor-tant migrations, the self-service evolution and the IMS evolution. Both will contrib-ute significantly to the success of Mobile WiMAX. Self-installation is fast becoming a must-have capability in broadband wire-less access systems. Carriers and vendors want to make it as easy as possible to install to give it a competitive advantage that separates it from earlier generations of residential broadband services. Mean-while, “IMS will be essential to Mobile WiMAX,” Sergeant said. “It’s the glue that takes care of the roaming between different access networks.”

With important telecom technology migrations all coming together at once, the industry really can foresee a time when

personal broadband isn’t just one kind of broadband, but the only kind. “About 10 years ago, people were asking if mobile telephony really could replace landline,” Sergeant said. “Mobile WiMAx eventually

could replace wired broadband—not now, but soon we’ll see at least a low penetration of Mobile WiMAX. In 10 years, it will be much bigger, and in 20 years, it could be a complete replacement.” ◗

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©2006 NextNet Wireless, Inc. All Rights Reserved. NextNet and Expedience are registered trademarks of NextNet Wireless, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.April 2006©2006 NextNet Wireless, Inc. All Rights Reserved. NextNet and Expedience are registered trademarks of NextNet Wireless, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.April 2006 The Complete Guide to WiMAX©2006 NextNet Wireless, Inc. All Rights Reserved. NextNet and Expedience are registered trademarks of NextNet Wireless, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.The Complete Guide to WiMAX

“Mobile WiMAX eventually could replace wired broadband—not now, but soon we’ll see at least a low penetration ... In 20 years, it could be a complete replacement. ”—Paul Sergeant, Motorola


WWhen AT&T recently proposed to acquire

WWhen AT&T recently proposed to acquire

WWWhen AT&T recently proposed to acquire




WBellSouth, telecom industry observers WBellSouth, telecom industry observers WWBellSouth, telecom industry observers WWBellSouth, telecom industry observers WWBellSouth, telecom industry observers WWBellSouth, telecom industry observers Wtalked about the potential far-reaching Wtalked about the potential far-reaching WWtalked about the potential far-reaching WWtalked about the potential far-reaching WWtalked about the potential far-reaching WWtalked about the potential far-reaching Wimplications for a number of different Wimplications for a number of different WWimplications for a number of different WWimplications for a number of different WWimplications for a number of different WWimplications for a number of different Wtechnologies and markets: Will BellSouth Wtechnologies and markets: Will BellSouth WWtechnologies and markets: Will BellSouth WWtechnologies and markets: Will BellSouth WWtechnologies and markets: Will BellSouth Wadopt AT&T’s architectural approach to Wadopt AT&T’s architectural approach to WWadopt AT&T’s architectural approach to WWadopt AT&T’s architectural approach to WWadopt AT&T’s architectural approach to WIPTV? How will the two companies’ vari-WIPTV? How will the two companies’ vari-WWIPTV? How will the two companies’ vari-WWIPTV? How will the two companies’ vari-Wous hardware and software vendors be Wous hardware and software vendors be WWous hardware and software vendors be WWous hardware and software vendors be Waffected? Would the combined entity ac-Waffected? Would the combined entity ac-WWaffected? Would the combined entity ac-Wcelerate implementation of IP multimedia Wcelerate implementation of IP multimedia Wsubsystem components and its pursuit of fixed/mobile convergence?

These are all important questions that will affect the future of the companies, their vendors and their customers, but one question that was not being asked was: How will these companies, if they complete their proposed merger, integrate their strategies for WiMAX? With the deal likely to take a year or more to close, it may be a while before we know the answer. In the meantime, WiMAX will continue to evolve, and AT&T and BellSouth each probably will continue to learn from the broadband wireless experience they are already gain-ing through their own separate trials and commercial rollouts.

WiMAX Forum-certified customer premises equipment, handsets, laptop cards and other subscriber access gear is not yet crowding the shelves at all the big-box consumer electronics retailers, but that has not stopped service providers and vendors from gathering information that will help them shape the experience on end users to come.

BellSouth has been particularly busy with broadband wireless. The company owns spectrum licenses in both the 2.5 GHz former Multi-channel Multi-point Distribution Service (MMDS) band, as well as the 2.3 GHz Wireless Communi-

cations Services (WCS) spectrum band.The company initially deployed service

last August in Athens, Ga., offering access speeds of 1.5 Mb/s, and has since deployed in Biloxi, Miss.; Gulfport, Miss.; New Or-leans; Palatka, Fla.; and most recently in DeLand, Fla., in January. Susan Steele, senior director of wireless broadband for BellSouth, said in late January that the carrier’s broadband wireless expansion plan called for it to continue aggressively de-ploying base stations and building out new markets through 2006 and 2007. She said

then that the company is aiming to meet a goal of having 22 base stations deployed in the 2.3 GHz range by 2007 to comply with minimum use requirements for the WCS spectrum formulated by the FCC.

Also in late January, BellSouth issued a further request for proposal for broad-band wireless equipment in the 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz ranges, what Steele at the time referred to as a “WiMAX RFP,” even though WiMAX Forum-certified equip-ment is not yet available in 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz profiles. Steele, though, also said

CONSUMER EXPERIENCE

LearningFROM EXPERIENCELearningFROM EXPERIENCELearning

As the industry awaits Mobile WiMAX, carriers and vendors are getting valuable experience from trials and commercial deployments to help them improve the user experience. By Dan O’Shea

8


that BellSouth would be working within the WiMAX Forum to coax the group to work on these profiles.

The RFP was intended to detail the importance of price and speed-to-market requirements. “Price is a huge issue, and the bar has been set in broadband by DSL and cable modems already,” she said. Steele did not say where and how soon BellSouth plans to commercially deploy the equip-ment. “We’d like to get the responses and choose vendors to get something in our lab by the second quarter,” she said.

AT&T also has been pursuing its own strategy for WiMAX. The company launched trials in Middleton, N.J., and in Atlanta over the last couple of years, and though the New Jersey trial only involved a single pre-WiMAX base station and a couple of en-terprise customers, the Atlanta trial was ex-panded last summer to involve several sites. In public speeches over the last two years, different AT&T technology executives la-mented the shortage of viable and available spectrum in which WiMAX could be de-ployed in the U.S.—for the trials, the carrier giant worked with spectrum “on loan” from the FCC. The merger with BellSouth would seem to help solve that spectrum problem, at least to some small degree.

Even before AT&T and BellSouth an-nounced their planned deal, there was an-other service provider megamerger—the union of Sprint and Nextel—that had broadband wireless and WiMAX as one of its footnotes. Both Nextel and Sprint owned spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band, and their marriage made Sprint Nextel the single largest owner of 2.5 GHz spectrum.

Before their merger, which was an-

nounced in early 2005 and closed last Au-gust, Nextel already was pursuing tests and field trials of pre-WiMAX broadband wireless systems, including solutions using orthogonal frequency division multiplex-ing (OFDM) from Navini Networks, IP-Wireless and Flarion Technologies, among others. OFDM is the technology specified in the IEEE’s 802.16-2004 standard. In its earliest trials, Nextel, which operated an iDEN network, was looking for a wireless upgrade alternative that could match 3G. Company executives said at the time that they were looking for a broadband service solution that could be offered to customers

somewhere near the $20 per month range.Meanwhile, Sprint’s experience with the

2.5 GHz spectrum has been star-crossed. The company originally began offering MMDS services at least seven year years ago, but the solution never caught on and in 2001, with 52,000 customers signed up, Sprint stopped actively marketing the service. Later, in mid-2002, the company began trials with both Navini and IPWire-less but has never committed to a broad commercial rollout (Though it recently extended its trial with IPWireless). Also, last summer, just before the merger with Nextel closed, Sprint signed on with Mo-torola to do an 802.16e technology trial and to contribute to the development of a Mobile WiMAX solution. Sprint also has a WiMAX-related partnership with Intel.

To top it all off, Sprint Nextel said late last year that it was teaming with Samsung Telecommunications America to test tech-nologies based on 802.16e, presumed to in-clude WiBro, which Samsung pioneered in South Korea. (It was the primary vendor for one of the first public trials of WiBro with Korea Telecom at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit last November.)

Barry West, chief technology officer of Sprint Nextel, said the relationship would provide the carrier with important informa-tion about infrastructure and handsets by testing Samsung terminals in lab and in field environments but also would provide guid-ance for developing future services. “The agreement with Samsung will help align technologies and validate requirements for

Source: Senza Fili Consulting, on behalf WiMAX Forum

ROAD MAP FOR WiMAX USER DEVICES

2006

2007

2008

2009

802.16-2004WiMAX

802.16eWiMAX

First certified productsOutdoor CPE

Indoor, self-installable CPEPCMCIA card for laptops

First certified products

PCMCIA card for laptops, indoor self-installable CPEs

Mini PCMCIA card for laptops

PDA, smartphone

Source: Sky Light Research

WiMAX CPE PRICING POTENTIAL

CPE ASP

$ 400

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

02004 2005 2007 2010

As volume increases, CPEs will decrease. The decrease in price will be rapid as equipment manufacturers try to get a stronghold on the consumer market.

9

future wireless offerings,” he said. “We are evaluating multiple options for 2.5 GHz applications and fostering strategic rela-tionships with ecosystem partners that are vital to progress on next-generation wireless broadband access and infrastructure.”

After Sprint Nextel, Clearwire, the Kirk-land, Wash., service provider founded by Craig McCaw, probably is the second-larg-est owner of licenses in 2.5 GHz spectrum. The company has been quietly but busily launching networks over the last three years in several countries. It serves 29 mar-

kets in the U.S. over the 2.5 GHz spectrum and serves other markets in Belgium, Ire-land, Denmark and Mexico, among others, over 3.5 GHz spectrum. Clearwire typically offers service between $30 and $37 per month, according to its Web site, and access speeds are about 1.5 Mb/s for downlink and 256 kb/s from uplink.

Clearwire’s Mexican partner, MVS.net, has been particularly busy of late, work-ing with vendor NextNet Wireless, which itself is owned by Clearwire, to launch voice over IP and data services earlier this

year. Jose Antonio Abad, CEO of MVS.net, said in January that average call volume was 1.6 million calls per month, generat-ing more than 3.7 million VoIP minutes per month across Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Toluca and Mexicali.

MVS.net is a carriers’ carrier. Some of its clients include Avantel (a joint venture of MCI), Alestra (a joint venture of AT&T) and its own ISP Ego. Miguel Calderon, Avantel’s executive vice president of marketing, said after the launch, “We are thrilled with the rapid uptake—our subscriber base is grow-ing beyond our expectations, and call vol-umes are on the rise. We are experiencing the mass-market appeal of this technology firsthand and are happy to report that we are already ahead of our forecasted unit sales by 20%.”

In Europe, service providers have been particularly aggressive deploying pre-WiMAX services. Irish Broadband has used equipment from Alvarion, Navini and others to offer a wide variety of services and bandwidth classes to both businesses and consumers for a range of monthly fees. Iberbanda in Spain has been similarly ag-gressive, deploying Aperto Networks gear as part of a national network buildout that

CONSUMER EXPERIENCE


began in early 2005. Service providers in Kiev, Ukraine, and Islamabad, Pakistan, also recent deployed Aperto’s system at 3.5 GHz.

The trial and commercial rollouts are giving all of the service providers in many countries necessary experience in selling broadband wireless to the masses. Though the industry is still very early in the evolu-tion of WiMAX, with only a handful of actual WiMAX Forum-certified systems commercially available so far, these service providers have banked important informa-tion about what their customers are willing to pay and how they want to use the service. to pay and how they want to use the service. They are also already bringing broadband They are also already bringing broadband They are also already bringing broadband to the table for applications that can’t be to the table for applications that can’t be to the table for applications that can’t be addressed in other ways. NextNet customer addressed in other ways. NextNet customer addressed in other ways. NextNet customer addressed in other ways. NextNet customer Evertek, a wireless ISP in Sioux City, Iowa, Evertek, a wireless ISP in Sioux City, Iowa, Evertek, a wireless ISP in Sioux City, Iowa, Evertek, a wireless ISP in Sioux City, Iowa, deployed a solution for the local police deployed a solution for the local police deployed a solution for the local police deployed a solution for the local police force that enables police officers to access force that enables police officers to access force that enables police officers to access force that enables police officers to access force that enables police officers to access and send information from their cars over and send information from their cars over and send information from their cars over and send information from their cars over and send information from their cars over a high-bandwidth wireless connection. In a high-bandwidth wireless connection. In a high-bandwidth wireless connection. In a high-bandwidth wireless connection. In a high-bandwidth wireless connection. In one situation, police are even able to access one situation, police are even able to access one situation, police are even able to access one situation, police are even able to access one situation, police are even able to access a video streaming feed to monitor security a video streaming feed to monitor security a video streaming feed to monitor security a video streaming feed to monitor security at a local high school.at a local high school.at a local high school.at a local high school.

Roxanne White, general manager of Roxanne White, general manager of Roxanne White, general manager of Evertek, said, “We were thrilled that we did Evertek, said, “We were thrilled that we did Evertek, said, “We were thrilled that we did not have to wait for WiMAX technology.” not have to wait for WiMAX technology.” ◗

Airspan Networks is the new leader in Broadband Wireless and WiMAXsystems, and are proud tobe a charter board member of the WiMAX Forum.

Airspan’s AS.MAX product line for Fixed and Mobile WiMAX

includes four distinct Base Station types and Indoor and

Outdoor CPEs and a 16eUSB USB Device.

EasySTThe World’s First Indoor WiMAX Modem• Add-on Wi-Fi AP and 2 port VoIP

IAD with Battery Back up• 4 x 90 Degree Auto Selecting

7.5dBi antennas• +24dBm Output Power• Support for Switched Diversity, and

Uplink Sub-channelisation• SIM Card support for Operator ID / Frequency Selection

HiperMAX and MicroMAX-SDRThe world’s first Dual-Mode, Fixed and Mobile WIMAX Base Stations• Full support for 256 FFT OFDM and 512 and

1024 FFT SOFDMA• Supports 2 x 2 MIMO, and 4-Channel Beam

forming Smart Antennas• Operates in all key WIMAX Bands

(2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz, 3.3-3.7 GHz, 4.9 GHz)

Fixed and Mobile WiMAX

Service Type Description

Unsolicited grant services (UGS)

UGS is designed to support real-time data streams consisting of fixed-sized data packets issued at periodic intervals, such as T-1/E-1 and VoIP.

Real-time polling service (rtPS)

rtPS is designed to support real-time data streams consisting of variable-sized data packets that are issued at periodic intervals, such as MPEG video.

Non-real-time polling service (nrtPS)

nrtPS is designed to support delay-tolerant data streams consisting of variable-sized data packets for which a minimum data rate is required, such as FTP.

Best effort (BE) BE service is designed to support data streams for which no minimum service level is required and which can be handled on a space-available basis.

Source: WiMAX Forum and Westech Communications white paper

WIMAX SERVICE TYPES

11


JJuan Pablo Alfaro believes in the benefits of Juan Pablo Alfaro believes in the benefits of

JJuan Pablo Alfaro believes in the benefits of

JJJuan Pablo Alfaro believes in the benefits of



JWiMAX. He isn’t just sitting around waiting WiMAX. He isn’t just sitting around waiting JWiMAX. He isn’t just sitting around waiting JJWiMAX. He isn’t just sitting around waiting JJWiMAX. He isn’t just sitting around waiting JJWiMAX. He isn’t just sitting around waiting Jfor them to mature. The general director for them to mature. The general director Jfor them to mature. The general director JJfor them to mature. The general director JJfor them to mature. The general director JJfor them to mature. The general director Jof MetroVia/Unitel in Guatemala watched of MetroVia/Unitel in Guatemala watched Jof MetroVia/Unitel in Guatemala watched JJof MetroVia/Unitel in Guatemala watched JJof MetroVia/Unitel in Guatemala watched JJof MetroVia/Unitel in Guatemala watched Jfour different cellular companies busily four different cellular companies busily Jfour different cellular companies busily JJfour different cellular companies busily JJfour different cellular companies busily Jbuild out their separate networks in Guate-build out their separate networks in Guate-Jbuild out their separate networks in Guate-JJbuild out their separate networks in Guate-JJbuild out their separate networks in Guate-JJbuild out their separate networks in Guate-Jmala City, each of them setting up their own Jmala City, each of them setting up their own JJmala City, each of them setting up their own JJmala City, each of them setting up their own J60-meter antennas at every potential cell J60-meter antennas at every potential cell JJ60-meter antennas at every potential cell JJ60-meter antennas at every potential cell Jsite location in the city, all just to sell what Jsite location in the city, all just to sell what JJsite location in the city, all just to sell what Jwas basically the same service.Jwas basically the same service.JThe company saw an opportunity to

JThe company saw an opportunity to

Jbecome a broadband wireless service pro-vider using a wholesale model that would encourage competition in the market for services like voice over IP (VoIP). “Our vi-sion was to build a single WiMAX network for all to share,” he said. “It did not make any economic sense to build an indepen-dent network for every operator. Instead, we envisioned building a single network for all ISPs that could benefit from the fact of sharing Capex with multiple operators.”

MetroVia has two ISPs on their network offering Internet access today, and one of which will be offering a VoIP product over the network.

Alfaro said his company has been work-ing closely with vendor NextNet Wireless to ensure its capability to offer a quality VoIP service. “The issue of VoIP and QOS in our network is a major concern,” he said “For registered ISPs with VoIP products registered in our network, we are able to offer QOS and allot specific resources for their VoIP calls.”

That is accomplished with the help of a NextNet system capable of distin-guishing and defining different layers of service.“Voice over a broadband wireless system is still something that the industry is relatively new at,” said Chuck Riggle, vice president of business development for

NextNet. “In a competitive market situ-ation, the quality of service has to be like what you would get from a landline telco.”

Alfaro said MetroVia is very focused on bandwidth management, measurement and traffic shaping in its network and in coop-eration with its ISP customers. “Each ISP uses bandwidth differently, and we have, basically agreed to work together to traffic shape all protocols needed for applications beyond surfing and e-mail,” Alfaro said.

For MetroVia, going with a wireline tech-nology was not necessarily an alternative. “Getting wiring permits in our cities is almost impossible,” Alfaro said. “Also, the economics of deploying a plug-and-play ap-plication over a wired application are much better. Thanks to our wireless network, we have been able to provide services in all the

different zones—metropolitan areas as de-termined by our municipality—of the city from day one. This would have been impos-sible with any other wired application.”

The reasons that Alfaro gives for going wireless are exactly the reasons most people in the WiMAX community believe that qual-ity VoIP can be a killer app in a developing country. Far and wide, in Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe, there are many service providers that have rapidly begun offering VoIP over broadband wireless con-nections. In some markets, there are simply no alternatives, while in other markets, there is intense competition. Quality is key in both environments.

“You can do VoIP over any kind of con-nection, but can you do real ‘IP telephony’ with all the quality features over that con-

VoIP

WiMAX Puts ServiceQUALITY ON DISPLAY Depending on where you live, VoIP could be a killer app, a necessity or both. And quality isn’t necessarily something that carriers and users are willing to sacrifice. By Dan O’Shea

12


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nection?” asked Paul Sergeant, senior mar-keting manager for alternative access for Motorola. “There is a difference.”

The WiMAX Forum created service qual-ity types that are relatively similar to exist-ing quality types for wireline packet service quality types, such as best effort, available bit rate, variable bit rate and constant bit rate. “The Applications Working Group in the WiMAX Forum came up with different application configurations and defined how much latency or jitter is acceptable for different services,” NextNet’s Riggle said.

For WiMAX, the corresponding service quality types include best effort, non-real-time polling service, real-time polling ser-vice and unsolicited grant service. QOS was not part of the very first wave of WiMAX Forum certification testing late last year and early this year, but several vendors have been adhering to these quality expecta-tions for a while.

“QOS wasn’t part of [first-wave] certifi-cation testing,” said Elvis Tucker, director of solutions and alliances for Aperto Net-works. “QOS is not mandated in the stan-dard either. While those service types are defined, how the service flows are actually managed is not. That’s where vendors need

to be careful. In a network with different kinds of applications and expectations for performance, you want to have a way of managing that nailed-up connection on an end-to-end basis.”

The top-level service type in WiMAX—unsolicited grant service—is the one that targets high-quality voice communica-

tions, as it is designed to support real-time data streams that have predictable packet sizes. Meanwhile, the real-time polling service type is designed for bursty traffic containing variable packet sizes—that corresponds directly to the nature of most video applications.

Even if whole real-time polling service

Source: WiMAX Forum and Westech Communications white paper

Service Type Real Time?

Interactive gaming Yes

VoIP, video conference Yes

Streaming media No

Information technology No

Media content download (store and forward)

No

WIMAX SERVICE CLASSESApplication Type Bandwidth

Interactive gaming 50 – 85 kb/s

VoIP 4 – 64 kb/s

Video Phone 32 – 284 kb/s

Music/speech 5 – 128 kb/s

Video clips 20 – 384 kps

Movies streaming > 2 Mb/s

Instant messaging < 250 byte messages

Web browsing > 500 kb/s

E-mail (with attachments) > 500 kb/s

Bulk data, movie download > 1 Mb/s

Peer-to-peer > 500 kb/s

13


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seems right for some video appli-cations, Aperto’s Tucker notes that users who are increasingly getting used to the idea of being able to watch TV on their mobile phones ultimately may not toler-ate shaky or distorted video.

“In some ways, video is even a more sensitive application than voice,” Tucker said. “It requires a lot of bandwidth and can’t really tolerate much latency.”

NextNet’s Riggle added, “I’m not sure that WiMAX will be a direct replacement for something like cable TV but maybe for streaming applications or specialized video streaming applications or specialized video applications.”applications.”

Tucker, whose company also has de-Tucker, whose company also has de-Tucker, whose company also has de-ployed VoIP networks for many carriers ployed VoIP networks for many carriers ployed VoIP networks for many carriers ployed VoIP networks for many carriers worldwide, estimates that at least 50% have worldwide, estimates that at least 50% have worldwide, estimates that at least 50% have worldwide, estimates that at least 50% have some form of voice applications going over some form of voice applications going over some form of voice applications going over some form of voice applications going over their networks. “We have one that is even their networks. “We have one that is even their networks. “We have one that is even their networks. “We have one that is even their networks. “We have one that is even running Vonage’s service over its network,” running Vonage’s service over its network,” running Vonage’s service over its network,” running Vonage’s service over its network,” running Vonage’s service over its network,” he said. “Voice is the second-largest applica-he said. “Voice is the second-largest applica-he said. “Voice is the second-largest applica-he said. “Voice is the second-largest applica-he said. “Voice is the second-largest applica-tion we see after Internet access, and I would tion we see after Internet access, and I would tion we see after Internet access, and I would tion we see after Internet access, and I would tion we see after Internet access, and I would say that video is in the 20% to 30% range.”say that video is in the 20% to 30% range.”say that video is in the 20% to 30% range.”say that video is in the 20% to 30% range.”

In many cases, VoIP is being deployed In many cases, VoIP is being deployed In many cases, VoIP is being deployed as part of a multi-service mix for specific as part of a multi-service mix for specific as part of a multi-service mix for specific customers in specific types of markets. Last customers in specific types of markets. Last customers in specific types of markets. Last month, VSNL in India and CSM in Indonesia month, VSNL in India and CSM in Indonesia

each deployed Aperto’s recently WiMAX Forum-certified system for multiple ser-vices, including voice and video.

Applications requiring some promise of quality have taken off well ahead of WiMAX Forum-certified products becoming a mass-market phenomenon. As for the evolution of WIMAX, MetroVia’s Alfaro is eagerly an-ticipating the benefits of standards, prod-uct certification and interoperability, but he knows that the broadband wireless success story is already being told.

“The great elusive WIMAX,” he said. “What is it? I think WIMAX as the stan-dard we all imagine as the perfect mobile, high-bandwidth application, with limit-less possibilities of access and undenied restrictions of usage, is not here today,” he said. “There are plenty of issues that need to be settled before WIMAX gives us all the benefits we expect from it. Having

said this, I believe WIMAX is the way of the future simply because of the ease and practicality of having a portable Internet access application that allows us to service clients efficiently without truck rolls or waiting times.”

But, he added, “In Guatemala, we say, ‘he who strikes first, strikes twice.’ WiMAX will be integrated into our network as it becomes an interoperable standard.”

Although service providers like Metro-Via and VNSL are getting a jump on the competition, it’s important to note that the worldwide market for VoIP and video over IP is still relatively young, with much more room to grow and mature. “You see numbers like 1 million new VoIP users being added every quarter,” Tucker said. “When you see that kind of growth, you realize that WiMAX will only continue to benefit from that.” ◗

VoIP

“WiMAX is the way of the future simply because of the ease and practicality of having a portable Internet access application that allows us to service clients efficiently.”—Juan Pablo Alfaro, MetroVia


OFDMA

IIn the last few years, orthogonal frequency In the last few years, orthogonal frequency In the last few years, orthogonal frequency

IIn the last few years, orthogonal frequency

IIIn the last few years, orthogonal frequency

Idivision multiplexing access vendors made division multiplexing access vendors made division multiplexing access vendors made Idivision multiplexing access vendors made IIdivision multiplexing access vendors made IIdivision multiplexing access vendors made Iquite a splash, promising high-capacity, quite a splash, promising high-capacity, quite a splash, promising high-capacity, Iquite a splash, promising high-capacity, IIquite a splash, promising high-capacity, IIquite a splash, promising high-capacity, Imobile broadband access well ahead of when mobile broadband access well ahead of when mobile broadband access well ahead of when Imobile broadband access well ahead of when IImobile broadband access well ahead of when IImobile broadband access well ahead of when IWiMAX and 3G services were expected WiMAX and 3G services were expected WiMAX and 3G services were expected IWiMAX and 3G services were expected IIWiMAX and 3G services were expected IIWiMAX and 3G services were expected Ito be available. However, more recently, to be available. However, more recently, to be available. However, more recently, Ito be available. However, more recently, IIto be available. However, more recently, Ithat hype has died off. After Qualcomm that hype has died off. After Qualcomm that hype has died off. After Qualcomm Ithat hype has died off. After Qualcomm IIthat hype has died off. After Qualcomm IIthat hype has died off. After Qualcomm Iannounced its acquisition of OFDMA’s big-announced its acquisition of OFDMA’s big-Iannounced its acquisition of OFDMA’s big-IIannounced its acquisition of OFDMA’s big-Igest booster—the former Bell Labs spinoff gest booster—the former Bell Labs spinoff Igest booster—the former Bell Labs spinoff IIgest booster—the former Bell Labs spinoff IIgest booster—the former Bell Labs spinoff IFlarion Technologies—in August 2005, the IFlarion Technologies—in August 2005, the IIFlarion Technologies—in August 2005, the Irelentless push to commercialize OFDMA as Irelentless push to commercialize OFDMA as Ia proprietary technology has ceased.

Why? OFDM pioneer Adaptix has a sim-ple answer: standards. OFDM technolo-gies have been so readily embraced by the standards bodies for both the broadband wireless access industry and the cellular industry, that pursuing the technology independently of the WiMAX Forum or the two major 3G standards bodies—3GPP and 3GPP2—is pointless, said Mike Pisterzi, CEO of Adaptix.

OFDM was implicit in the 802.16-2004 standard that created the foundation for Fixed WiMAX, and OFDMA was written into the 802.16e specification ratified last December by the IEEE and will pave the way for Mobile WiMAX solutions.

“OFDMA is mandatory in the 802.16e standard—it’s actually S-OFDMA, or scal-able OFDMA,” said Paul Sergeant, senior marketing manager for alternative access for Motorola. “So, we are doing OFDMA, and we’re all doing it, and it is also one of the reasons why 802.16e is not directly backward compatible to 802.16-2004.”

Although many products based on the 802.16e standard are still in the develop-mental phases, Adaptix has its own sec-ond-generation OFDMA Motion product line available with deployments in Asia. However, it’s betting the farm on its up-coming release of its third-generation tech-

nology, designed to meet the guidelines that have been laid out for Mobile WiMAX and the IEEE’s 802.16e standard. The potential for Mobile WiMAX is simply enormous, with poten-tial profiles from the WiMAX Forum targeting the 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz frequencies that are available and in use in many countries worldwide, as well as 2.3 GHz and other frequencies. Those initial WiMAX Forum pro-files also will cover a wide range of bandwidth channel specifica-tions, including 5 MHz, 7 MHz, 8.75 MHz and 10 MHz.

To continue to target niche markets with proprietary tech-nology makes little sense, if a standardized version of that technology would grab the mass markets as well as niches, too, Pisterzi said. “If a vendor is com-fortable with a non-standard technology and a small customer base, that’s fine,” Pisterzi said. “But the industry as a whole is moving toward standardization.”

Though often mistaken for one another, OFDM and OFDMA are actu-ally two different variants of the same

technology. Both divide one extremely “fast” signal into numerous “slow” signals, each spaced apart at precise frequencies. The advantage here is that those individual slow signals, or subcarriers, aren’t subject to the same intensity of multipath distortion faced by a single-carrier transmission—the data is traveling slowly enough that the effects of the distortion become negli-gible. The numerous subcarriers are then collected at the receiver and recombined

to form one high-speed transmission.The difference between OFDM and

OFDMA is that OFDMA has the ability to dynamically assign a subset of those sub-carriers to individual users, attuning the technology to the particular demands of mobility. Thus, OFDM technologies occupy nomadic, fixed and one-way transmission standards, ranging from TV transmission to Wi-Fi as well as well as Fixed WiMAX and newer multicast wireless systems like Qualcomm’s Forward Link Only (FLO). OFDMA, however, adds true mobility to the mix, forming the backbone of Mobile WiMAX and the 3GPP’s new standards for 3G long-term evolution (LTE). Further-more, S-OFDMA allows for an increase in range of channel bandwidths from 1.25 MHz up to 20 MHz.

OFDMA PreparesTO MOVE ONOFDMA PreparesTO MOVE ONOFDMA Prepares

The technology’s different flavors have been around for some time, but the 802.16 effort created an industry standard around them. By Kevin Fitchard


“Mobile WiMAX, or 802.16-2005, is re-ally misnamed,” said Mark Whitton, vice president and general manager for WiMAX at Nortel Networks. “802.16-2005 is an ideal solution for mobile, portable and fixed implementations of WiMAX, and it is essen-tially a superset of 802.16-2004, with sig-nificant performance advances like MIMO and scalable OFDMA.”

On the 3G side, the 3GPP recently final-ized the initial list of requirements for 3G mobility and coined the term LTE. The pre-liminary specs call for a complete shift in 3G standards away from wideband-CDMA to OFDM, meaning the future of wireless tech-OFDM, meaning the future of wireless tech-nology and its billions of users is headed in nology and its billions of users is headed in OFDMA’s direction. Cellular system vendors OFDMA’s direction. Cellular system vendors OFDMA’s direction. Cellular system vendors have jumped all over the new specifications, have jumped all over the new specifications, have jumped all over the new specifications, have jumped all over the new specifications, shoehorning years of research in OFDM and shoehorning years of research in OFDM and shoehorning years of research in OFDM and shoehorning years of research in OFDM and related technologies like multiple input/related technologies like multiple input/related technologies like multiple input/related technologies like multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) and smart beam multiple output (MIMO) and smart beam multiple output (MIMO) and smart beam multiple output (MIMO) and smart beam multiple output (MIMO) and smart beam forming into the new standards track.forming into the new standards track.forming into the new standards track.forming into the new standards track.forming into the new standards track.

“Where conventional smart antenna “Where conventional smart antenna “Where conventional smart antenna “Where conventional smart antenna systems deliver performance gains by add-systems deliver performance gains by add-systems deliver performance gains by add-systems deliver performance gains by add-systems deliver performance gains by add-ing complex, costly and bulky equipment ing complex, costly and bulky equipment ing complex, costly and bulky equipment ing complex, costly and bulky equipment to the tower top, MIMO takes advantage to the tower top, MIMO takes advantage to the tower top, MIMO takes advantage to the tower top, MIMO takes advantage of smaller and simpler changes in both the of smaller and simpler changes in both the of smaller and simpler changes in both the devices and the infrastructure to deliver per-devices and the infrastructure to deliver per-devices and the infrastructure to deliver per-formance improvements well beyond what formance improvements well beyond what

even the most complicated smart antennas can deliver,” Whitton said.

Nortel unveiled its LTE product line, called high-speed OFDM packet access (HSOPA) at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, France in February. The platform is intended to pick up where the latest UMTS uplink and downlink upgrades leave off. Nortel already plans to have a prototype built by the end of the year, ready for lab tests, and carrier trial equipment ready by 2007. Qualcomm is pursuing both OFDM and OFDMA, using OFDM for its multi-cast technologies and in its pursuit of the 802.11n standard for the evolution of wire-less LAN. And with its $600 million acquisi-tion of Flarion completed in January, Qual-comm is lending the weight of its $1 billion annual R&D budget to further development of Flarion’s OFDMA technology toward the IEEE 802.20 standard, a broadband wireless technology that not only has mobility but really fast mobility (the typical example is that of a user maintaining a constant data connection while riding a bullet train).

As for Flarion’s Flash OFDMA technol-ogy, Qualcomm isn’t quite so definite. Jeff Belk, Qualcomm senior vice president of marketing, said the vendor will continue

to support the existing product line and its existing customers but offered no insight as to whether it would continue to pursue the portfolio or simply wrap the technology up in its other OFDMA efforts. Regardless of Flash’s future as product line, Qualcomm is definitely gung-ho on the underlying technology itself.

“Qualcomm has the scale to exam-ine a broad range of technologies,” Belk said. “We’re not committing to just one product.” ◗

IMPOSSIBLE

> MADE SIMPLE

>BUSINESS MADE SIMPLE

What was once improbable is now reality, thanks to WiMAX technologies made

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OFDMA

Paul Sergeant of Motorola


OOn Fixed WiMAX versus Mobile WiMAX: I think it’s always been clear now that the O I think it’s always been clear now that the OO I think it’s always been clear now that the OO I think it’s always been clear now that the OO I think it’s always been clear now that the OO I think it’s always been clear now that the Ocustomers for Fixed WiMAX and the cus-Ocustomers for Fixed WiMAX and the cus-OOcustomers for Fixed WiMAX and the cus-OOcustomers for Fixed WiMAX and the cus-OOcustomers for Fixed WiMAX and the cus-OOcustomers for Fixed WiMAX and the cus-Otomers for Mobile WiMAX are really two Otomers for Mobile WiMAX are really two OOtomers for Mobile WiMAX are really two OOtomers for Mobile WiMAX are really two OOtomers for Mobile WiMAX are really two OOtomers for Mobile WiMAX are really two Ocompletely different groups of customers. Ocompletely different groups of customers. OOcompletely different groups of customers. OOcompletely different groups of customers. OOcompletely different groups of customers. OThe certification for Fixed WiMAX equip-OThe certification for Fixed WiMAX equip-OOThe certification for Fixed WiMAX equip-OOThe certification for Fixed WiMAX equip-OOThe certification for Fixed WiMAX equip-Oment and the current deployments are Oment and the current deployments are OOment and the current deployments are OOment and the current deployments are Oshowing that. The first wave of certification Oshowing that. The first wave of certification OOshowing that. The first wave of certification OOshowing that. The first wave of certification Ofor Fixed WiMAX equipment was really fo-Ofor Fixed WiMAX equipment was really fo-OOfor Fixed WiMAX equipment was really fo-Ocusing a lot on interoperability of outdoor Ocusing a lot on interoperability of outdoor Osystems, so I don’t think there was is ex-pected to be a real end-user market push for that. Some vendors chose to wait for Mobile WiMAX, but there are still a large number of vendors of Fixed WiMAX systems that have built a road map for 802.16e. Mobile WiMAX promises new economies of scale that will drive down price, and that will, of course, drive volume and adoption up.

On talk from some corners about VoIP being a killer app for Fixed WiMAX:VoIP is available on many broadband wire-less networks, and it is inevitably going to be a main application of broadband wire-less networks in the long run. It could be an application that is driving deployment in countries in less developed markets, whereas data and other types of services will be driving applications in countries that are in more developed regions.

On the evolution of 802.16e to Mobile WiMAX: Keep in mind that the very first mobile model

that we’ll see won’t be Mobile WiMAX, but the WiBro profile within Mobile WiMAX. At the same time, I don’t think that WiBro will provide a full picture of what we can expect from Mobile WiMAX. There is some question about how soon we will see full mobility hand-off at vehicular speeds, and that is something that I am really interested in seeing. So, we will see how quickly the technology progresses. At the same time, other mobile broadband technologies are progressing. There are things like HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access), and so Mobile WiMAX is not just evolving in its own window.

On other potential market hurdles in the evolutionary path for Mobile WiMAX:I think you could add spectrum availability to the top of the list of hurdles. Spectrum licensing is still a challenge in a lot of countries around the world. Then, there are things like power management. That is a big concern. The hurdles may have more to do with the inherent complexity of 802.16e. There will have to be a lot of different profiles created.

On whether there still could be adjustments to the 802.16e standard (last-minute changes delayed Fixed WiMAX certification earlier this year):That is kind of customary with standards or with any kind of certification process,

don’t you think? You don’t really know what you are going to have and what you are working with until you get it on the bench. It sort of depends on what you think you need to change once the pilot projects have been developed.

On the use of smart antenna technology in Mobile WiMAX systems: It’s a given that anyone building a system based on 802.16e is probably going to be using some form of smart antenna technol-ogy. Whether that is some variation of smart beam forming or MIMO (multiple input/multiple output) remains to be seen. ◗

Q&A

Donna CarlsonSKY LIGHT RESEARCHSky Light Research has done numerous reports over the last five years tracking and forecasting various developments in the broadband wireless and WiMAX markets. Its reports follow the market’s course from point-to-point and point-to-multipoint LMDS and microwave equipment through to Fixed WiMAX and the nascent and future development of the Mobile WiMAX market. The agency’s WiMAX product grid can be found on page 4. Donna Carlson, a principal analyst at Sky Light Research who just recently joined the firm, talked with Telephony editor-in-chief Dan O’Shea about the WiMAX dynamics at play as 2006 unfolds.

Donna Carlson of Sky Light

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Documents

WiMAX Guide