Cisco Gives Broadband Wireless A Lift
By Meg McGinity, Inter@ctive Week
Post Date: October 28, 1999 3:48 PM ET
zdnet.com
Cisco Systems said it will lead a group of networking and communications powerhouses in an effort to set a new standard for broadband wireless communication.
The initiative, according to industry experts, will not only facilitate the migration of networking traffic from wireline to wireless systems, but will also give a much needed push to the big wireless investments made by global carriers such as MCI WorldCom and Sprint.
"Cisco lit the fuse on a big firecracker," said Gerry Kaufhold, principal analyst at market watcher Cahners In-Stat Group.
Cisco this week said it will join a group of 10 other networking and communications giants - most notably Motorola - to make Vector Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (VOFDM) the standard for the processors and other equipment used in access equipment such as modems. Other backers are Bechtel Telecommunications, Broadcom, Electronic Data Systems, KPMG International, LLC International, Pace Microtechnology, Samsung, Texas Instruments and Toshiba.
With the backing of Cisco and Motorola, VOFDM, which is an open standard not tied to any particular vendor's products, could push equipment prices down and drive the deployment of wireless data products.
"Two quality companies entering this space means quicker testing and quicker trials," said Larry Swasey, an analyst at Allied Business Intelligence. For Cisco, the move is another way to expand the market and another avenue for selling its equipment.
"Cisco is always looking for an opportunity and partners to make it happen," Kaufhold said.
The technology could be used to build wireless modem products possibly retailing for near the price of a cable modem, between $300 and $500. The modems would house chips built on the VOFDM technology to offer the end user multiple channels of programming and Internet access. Products could be available by the third quarter of 2000.
Once available, VOFDM-standard modems could help propel two nascent broadband wireless distribution systems, Local Multipoint Distribution Service and, especially, Multipoint Multichannel Distribution Service, as viable alternatives to deliver high-speed access services. MMDS is better suited for the residential or small-business play, LMDS for the metropolitan areas. Many observers are looking to these wireless distribution systems as complements to terrestrial-based Digital Subscriber Line and cable services. Installing wireless systems is a faster, cheaper alternative to laying fiber, according to industry experts.
Sprint and MCI WorldCom last spring bought up MMDS companies to the tune of more than $1 billion.
"It's what's now being called beachfront property," said Troy Wendt, Cisco product manager of MMDS. There is little equipment available in the MMDS space to let Sprint and MCI WorldCom roll out high-speed services. "We will be enabling an IP [Internet Protocol] infrastructure over broadband wireless," Wendt added.
The aim, according to Motorola spokesman Robert Edwards, is to offer to service providers a means whereby, if a wireline system is clogged, the alternative means - wireless - is available.
"The key will be all systems can talk to each other - any system that's fixed or wireless, narrowband or broadband," he said.
Motorola's ties to satellite ventures, including Iridium and yet-to-be-launched Internet-in-the-sky venture Teledesic, could be other means of delivering services to a bandwidth-starved customer base. Satellites gained more attention this week when Liberty Media issued a letter of intent to plunk down $425 million for a stake in satellite-based wireless broadband provider Astrolink. |
