Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

[khemara_qc]

WiMax has momentum, but alternatives are here now

News Story by Stephen Lawson

http://www.computerworld.com/networkingtopics/networking/story/0,10801,104071,00.html

AUGUST 19, 2005 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - In the race among wireless broadband technologies, the still-developing mobile WiMax is building up a head of steam with a community of supporting vendors. But less well-publicized approaches are available now and have some intriguing advantages.

Two of the more prominent WiMax rivals on the market are Fast Low-latency Access with Seamless Handoff-Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (FLASH-OFDM), sold by Flarion Technologies Inc., and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Time-Division Code Division Multiple Access (UMTS TD-CDMA), which IPWireless Inc. promotes as an easy migration for cellular operators. FLASH-OFDM got a boost earlier this month when Qualcomm Inc. agreed to acquire Flarion. Both of these technologies offer mobility today and are in commercial use.


WiMax, which has the potential to work on a wide range of both licensed and unlicensed radio frequencies, is based on the 802.16 family of standards set by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Gear for fixed implementations is expected to be certified by the WiMax Forum industry group starting late this year. Mobility will come with a standard called 802.16e, probably heading for approval late this year, according to Mo Shakouri, vice president and a board member at the WiMax Forum. Certified gear based on that standard is expected to go into commercial deployment in 2007.


Many in the industry are drawn to the potential economies of scale of a standards-based technology. With a variety of vendors using the standard to build competing products, certified for interoperability, customers should see lower prices and avoid being tied to one vendor, analysts said.


U.S. mobile operator Sprint Corp. has not committed itself to one wireless broadband technology but is a member of the WiMax Forum and is working with equipment vendors to move mobile WiMax forward. Though there is still work to be done on finishing a specification and building a vendor community, Sprint is optimistic.


"What we think is very unique is this global ecosystem around this standard-based approach," said Len Barlik, vice president of technology development at Sprint.


On the other hand, the benefits of the Flarion and IPWireless technologies go beyond the fact that they can be deployed today.

FLASH-OFDM requires less radio spectrum than does WiMax and can be adapted to many different bands depending on what frequencies a service provider holds, said Ronny Haraldsvik, vice president of global communications and marketing at Flarion. That means it could be used with low-frequency bands that offer greater range and thus require fewer base stations, he said. By contrast, certified WiMax products will work only in the frequency bands adopted by the WiMax Forum. The organization initially is focusing on 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz, though it may also adopt a lower band, according to Shakouri.

In addition, FLASH-OFDM is designed for network latency of 50 milliseconds or less, which means less typical delay than on WiMax, according to Haraldsvick.


Citizens Telephone Cooperative in Floyd, Va., plans to deploy Flarion's system by year's end and hopes to take advantage of the low latency to offer voice-over-IP services, said Marketing Manager Robert Weeks.


Cellular One of Amarillo in Texas already offers a commercial Flarion-based service that can deliver about 2Mbit/sec. to a laptop PC card over the GSM carrier's existing 1.9-GHz licensed spectrum, said Kim May, marketing manager. It supplements the operator's Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) data service, which has a top speed of 384Kbit/sec.


UMTS TD-CDMA is based on the existing UMTS variant of 3G and can be added easily to a 3G operator's network, said Jon Hambidge, vice president of marketing at IPWireless in San Bruno, Calif. Because of its connection to the UMTS standard, it will be allowed on frequencies that in some parts of the world are reserved for that type of technology, he said.


By contrast, WiMax is likely to involve new spectrum, new technology and even new zoning approvals for antennas, Hambidge said. In addition, UMTS TD-CDMA excels at delivering good bandwidth all the way to the edge of a cell, he said. There are commercial IPWireless networks today deployed by GSM operator T-Mobile Czech Republic AS and other service providers, and Orange SA in France is currently running a trial, according to IPWireless.


Both of these technologies have just one vendor today, though both companies have licensing relationships with large network gear companies. Flarion's partners already include Siemens AG, and the Qualcomm acquisition could help it get in the door at the many vendors that now license CDMA technology from Qualcomm. Meanwhile, a major partner of IPWireless is UTStarcom Inc., an Alameda, Calif., company with a foothold in China.