Tek,
Re: Holy Wars - CDMA, TDMA, GSM, and Gilder
I think your Holy Wars post shoulda made "Cool Post". More on this subject:
>> A Lull In 'Holy War'
May 22, 2000
Wireless Week
By Rikki Lee
Before the presidents of the GSM, CDMA and TDMA associations began their panel last week at the second annual Wireless Partnering International conference, CTIA President and CEO Tom Wheeler dubbed this first-of-its-kind triple play as a "historic moment" for the industry.
One might expect such a comment coming from Wheeler, author of the book "Leadership Lessons From The Civil War." Yet the similarities between that bloody conflict and the long-standing technology ?holy war? among the three camps are hard to find nowadays. Although not yet a love fest, interaction among the groups has changed from petty bickering over one another?s second- or third-generation technology choice to practical business ventures.
While the United States has near-national TDMA, GSM and CDMA carriers, intense competition among the three types of networks isn?t as common everywhere else in the world. So, wherever it serves their economic interest, the three sides engage in partnerships to increase international roaming opportunities for subscribers.
The GSM Association?s CEO Robert Conway says the group's Global Roaming Forum is devising standards for roaming on GSM networks by TDMA, CDMA and integrated digital enhanced network customers. Lately, TDMA and GSM proponents have been working on interoperability standards for roaming between the two networks, including the migration toward a next-generation data standard.
In addition, China Unicom, which soon will launch that country's first CDMA network, is reaching out to the dominant GSM camp. The CDMA community worked with manufacturers to create a phone with a subscriber identity module, which will enable Unicom?s customers to roam on the country?s GSM networks.
But despite furthering each other?s coverage needs, not everything is quiet on the technology front, especially between CDMA and TDMA. An editorial in the May 1 Wall Street Journal by technologists George Gilder and Richard Vigilante lambasted AT&T's recent wireless group stock offering and resurrected an old debate, suggesting that the carrier?s TDMA networks are "drastically inferior to the coherence upgrade path of the CDMA competition." Gilder has a $500,000 investment in CDMA technology creator Qualcomm.
The article rankled TDMA proponents at the conference (which was co-hosted by the three associations). "It's this type of thinking that could delay what we?re doing" on 3G networks, says Leo Nikkari, vice president of strategy and industry relations at TDMA group Universal Wireless Communications Consortium. He suggests that Internet companies such as America Online?which lately has increased its wireless investment?might read such an article and "not treat us seriously."
While this spat stayed behind the curtain, partnering opportunities remained center stage at the conference, which gathered about 300 attendees interested in relationships with companies no matter what their technology or service. And the growth of partnerships for international business may drive the third Wireless Partnering International conference overseas, perhaps to Asia, according to Kathryn Condello, CTIA vice president of industry operations.
Perhaps such moves will help douse the simmering embers of the hot technology wars. <<
- Eric - |
