"I would say IMO that Ole George is talkin' through his hat, just a bit, when he mentions this "War" between the two OFDM bodies."
This is not "Ole George" speaking - it's me speaking. There is a war - and it involves standards politics, IP and money.
"The BWIF has been invited at least once (I believe more than once), to cooperate.."
Invited? Perhaps. Accepted? No. Do you understand the cost of admission? (I'm not alluding to membership fees.)
"Essentially the OFDM Forum's goal (which you can find on their Web Site), is to promote a blend of the best xOFDM, submit those proposals to the IEEE, and hopefully avoid anything like the Qualcomm vs Ericsson battle."
<g> No doubt this is their charter. Sounds all warm and fuzzy. Rather like the United Nations Charter for resolving world conflict. But standards bodies - in functioning reality - are primarily about standards politics and the politics of advantage.
The motive of OFDM participants (presently they're all vendors) - as is the case with all standards body participants - is to establish a competitive advantage - and blunt advantages of competitors - while developing a standard that will be approved by the majority of the membership.
It's an interesting little game.
"Flarion is free to join the OFDM Forum at any time.."
Yes. But again, do you understand the cost of admission?
It's rather unlikely, at this stage, that they will. They appear to have a strong lead regarding mobile wireless OFDM. Subjecting their technology and IP to committe-based "development" would be the price of admission. This would result in: 1) protracted delays as competitors extended proceedings to buy time to circumvent Flarion's IP, 2) modifications and dilution of Flarion's technology by competitors with their proprietary technology for purposes of injecting their IP - or hobbling the performance Flarion's technology (as regards the Forum's accredited standard based on Flarion's IP) if they perceive prospects for an alternate route not requiring Flarion's IP.
If you buy the benevolent image of standards bodies that you posit in your post, well... you're living in your own special little world.
"Other streaming video applications by Wi-Lan & Philips Semi. have produced bit rates in the tens of Megabits per second range. Don't know why Flarions product is so slow."
Wi-Lan's & Philip's aren't mobile.
"Of course, the patent dispute is about our wish to collect royalties.."
Damned straight. This isn't collegial. This isn't first about science or technology. This is about standards politics, advantage and profit. You know - earnings - the bottom line - what companies announce with trepidation quarterly. Screw the best technology - companies promote their technology.
"Essentially the OFDM Forum's goal (which you can find on their Web Site), is to promote a blend of the best xOFDM, submit those proposals to the IEEE, and hopefully avoid anything like the Qualcomm vs Ericsson battle."
No doubt they'd like to avoid another QCOM.
What a chuckle. |
