You'll find a lot of good information about WaveRider if you search the link below. Here's just one example.
Best regards,
Chisy
------------
Tuning in to wireless broadband - Unplugged technology brings more flexible and secure Web access.
By: Stephanie Neil
06/05/00
eWeek
Search Alerts
Receive alerts from ZDNet's Tech InfoBase for:
Full Text Shari Leyva thought she had plenty of time. In June of last year, she called three DSL providers in an effort to get her home office wired with the high-speed Internet connection she would need for a new job beginning in September. Six months later, however, Leyva was still waiting for someone to do the installation.She was stuck. Living in Gilbert, Ariz., Leyva is the customer service sales manager for a promotional advertising company based in Los Angeles, and she needed a high-speed Internet connection to pass spreadsheets and graphics files among her home office, company headquarters and overseas business partners. A 56K-bps dial-up modem wasn't going to do it for her.Frustrated, Leyva took a risk. She called Sprint Corp., of Kansas City, Mo., seeking broadband alternatives to digital subscriber line. Within three days, she was passing data through a 2M-bps wireless connection from Sprint Broadband Direct. "I was amazed at how fast [Sprint] installed the system," Leyva said. And the benefits exceed the speedy delivery. "There is no dial-up, it's online all the time, and I don't get kicked off [the connection]," she said.Leyva is among the growing number of individuals and businesses in need of quick access to fast, flexible Internet connections. Many of these are turning to broadband wireless technologies. Companies launching e- businesses or using the Web to open new markets can't afford to wait weeks, or, as in Leyva's case, months, to get a line installed. Where it's available, wireless broadband can usually be ordered and installed in a day or two. Furthermore, two-way broadband is capable of handling large data files that include graphics and video. Broadband links are always on and ready to go, and, experts say, they have security, manageability and cost advantages over traditional alternatives such as T-1 or DSL lines. What's more, wireless broadband is beginning to support a wide range of services. Providers such as Sprint, for example, are talking about adding voice-over-IP capabilities, which will give e-businesses a one-stop shop for service and support.Wireless broadband does have limitations, however. As with any fixed wireless service, there must be a clear line of sight between the towers transmitting and receiving the wireless signal. If there is an interruption, which could be caused by bad weather or other factors, service can be interrupted. But, experts say, that is only a major issue for services that use higher-frequency bands, such as LMDS (Local Multipoint Distribution System). And carriers using LMDS are solving that problem by keeping transmitters close to one another, in urban areas and by building wireless rings. Other wireless broadband technologies, such as MMDS (Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service) and ISM (Industrial Scientific Medical) band, because of the low frequencies on which they transmit data, can withstand bad weather and great distances, making them ideal for far-flung offices, industry experts say.The availability of broadband wireless can also be an issue. While carriers are building out their broadband wireless networks rapidly, the service is not yet available everywhere. Sprint, for instance, just recently launched its service in Phoenix. The company will launch wireless broadband in Tucson this month and plans to be in up to 20 other markets by the end of the year. Other carriers are close behind. Their services should be fairly widespread by early next year.Wireless broadband is not a single technology but rather a collection of technologies, each with slightly different properties. The Sprint Broadband Direct service used by Leyva in Arizona uses MMDS and is carried on wireless frequencies licensed by the Federal Communications Commission in the 2150MHz-to-2162MHz and 2500MHz-to-2690MHz spectrum bands. In the Phoenix area, Sprint has affixed to the top of South Mountain a digital transmitter that serves a 35-mile radius, including Leyva's residence. On top of Leyva's house is a diamond-shaped digital transceiver, which transfers the signal to a wireless modem that communicates with her desktop.It sounds complicated, but it's not. In fact, for carriers, installing wireless equipment is much less expensive and easier than laying land lines. That means wireless is becoming increasingly widespread. Besides Sprint, major carriers, such as WorldCom Inc., are carving out a market in the MMDS arena. Meanwhile, less well-known yet powerful players, such as NextLink Communications Inc., WinStar Communications Inc., Advanced Radio Telecom Corp. and Teligent Inc., license some of the more sophisticated bands, including LMDS and millimeter-wave platforms. Other carriers are building wireless broadband services over the unlicensed ISM spectrum (for a breakdown of wireless broadband technologies, see chart, Page 68).One characteristic that broadband wireless technologies share is strong security. The spread-spectrum technology that wireless services use to pass signals scrambles the transmission so that anyone trying to intercept data retrieves nothing more than unintelligible blips. Experts caution, however, that because it's "always on," wireless broadband does require firewall protection to discourage denial of service attacks.While the strong security of the technology is reassuring, many companies turning toward wireless broadband for Internet access are doing so for another reason: speed. Wireless gives them access to broadband Internet access quickly.That's what sold Gary Muth on wireless broadband. Muth is vice president of international business development at IcebergMedia.com Inc., which hosts Webcasts of live events-typically rock concerts. "Up until now, we've used ISDN lines, which takes [about] 10 days to have one installed," said Muth, in Toronto. Now, the company uses Wave Rider Communications Inc.'s LMS, or Last Mile Solution, to stream concert video and audio over the Internet. The LMS service uses license-free radio bands."For outdoor shows it is wonderful [since] the alternative is to string cable, and that is not practical when you have a large audience," Muth said. Recently, for example, IcebergMedia organized a Webcast of a Red Hot Chili Peppers show from downtown Toronto. To string cable would have been time-consuming and dangerous with so many people walking around, he said.So Muth rigged up the Internet connection for his Webcast event by positioning the wireless bridges used by the WaveRider LMS product. It is a line-of-sight solution, which means the devices have to have a clear path to communicate. But, Muth said, it takes a minute to set up and works in good weather or bad.Like Leyva, Muth stumbled across the wireless networking option when his firm was moving to a new building and discovered it could not get other types of broadband Internet access in the new digs for at least three months. To solve that dilemma, the company connected to its previous location through LMS. It was a roundabout way to get speedy access to the Net, but it worked (see related story on wireless WAN technology, Page 62). As a result of his experience, Muth is constantly thinking about how he can use wireless technology to expand his business.For Muth's vision to come true, broadband wireless-based services will have to become more widely available. But that's beginning to happen as carriers start building out their networks and wireless ISPs (Internet service providers) jump on board. One such wireless ISP, North Rock Communications Ltd., in Hamilton, Bermuda, began offering customers Internet access using the WaveRider LMS equipment out of necessity."We live in an area where there is an incumbent monopolistic telco," said Tom Coelho, general manager of North Rock. "And getting service orders through them is problematic. If a customer wants an upgrade from a 128K to a 265K circuit, it could take a month, and that is not suitable for a fast-paced Internet company."Using the wireless solution, it takes North Rock about two days to get a customer the broadband service it needs. The connection is deployed quickly, and it is fast. ISDN is a 128K-bps connection, and T-1 is a 1.54M-bps connection. The WaveRider equipment enables a sustained throughput of 6M bps.Not only is wireless quicker to set up and faster than many traditional broadband alternatives, experts say it is often more reliable because it's easier for carriers to manage."Carriers have an easier time managing the bandwidth and adding capacity," said Andy Fuertes, an analyst with Allied Business Intelligence Inc., in Irvine, Calif. "For a cable guy to add capacity, he would have to go out and split the node, which is not cheap. But the MMDS guy just puts a new base station in, and he can do that cheaply."It's that kind of flexibility that makes it easier for wireless carriers to intelligently manage broadband capacity."We can find out what the problem is and fix it even before the customer notices there is a problem," North Rock's Coelho said.Leyva can testify to that. "One time I got a call from Sprint saying they wanted to look at my antenna because they noticed that it was putting out too much of a signal, which caused my modem to work harder," she said.The ease with which wireless broadband networks can be built and extended also means carriers can grow their networks at less cost. According to Sprint, it can cost from $25,000 to $3 million per mile to lay new two-way, hybrid fiber coaxial cable or fiber-optic cable. But the cost of installing a tower for the MMDS network is $6 million, or roughly $2,000 per square mile-much less than the cost of hard-wiring.What does that mean for the wireless broadband customer? Often, lower- cost, faster Internet access. For instance, users signing up for the Sprint Broadband Direct wireless service for two years pay $99 for the equipment and then $39.95 per month for the residential product or $89.95 per month for the business product. Compare that with a T-1 connection, which typically runs around $1,000 per month. Even compared with a less expensive DSL line, wireless broadband can represent a small savings. For example, Flashcom Inc., of Huntington Beach, Calif., is currently offering DSL access to home users for $49.95 per month and to business customers for $99.95 per month.The bottom line, industry experts say, is that wireless broadband access is growing, and as it does, it is becoming a viable high-speed Internet access option, particularly for companies big and small that must remain nimble to stay afloat on the changing tides of e-business."Wireless broadband is at a point where it is going from a place where only a few people knew about it, but now it is turning a corner," Fuertes said.As far as Leyva is concerned, wireless broadband has already turned the corner to become a viable tool for e-commerce. She's brainstorming new uses for wireless broadband services."I couldn't tell you what the future brings, but I'll always be trying to use it for all kinds of things," she said.About now, Leyva is probably glad those DSL installation guys couldn't work her into their busy schedules.Sorting out the wireless optionsMany people see wireless broadband connectivity as a homogeneous group of technologies. In fact, there are a couple of variants, each optimized for different scenarios. Here's a quick breakdown of the options available to subscribers:TYPEFREQUENCYDISTANCECOMPARABLE TECHNOLOGY MMDS2.1-2.7GHz35 milesDSL lines or cable modem. Good for residential access. ISM2.4-5.8GHz5-25 milesWireless LAN links. Will be used as an extension to MMDS in the local loop. LMDS28-31GHz3 milesISDN or T-1. Geared to urban areas. Wireless fiber (millimeter wave)28-38GHz1 mileHigher-end services than a T-1 line. Carriers are building wireless rings around cities, enabling the radio links to work as a traditional fiber ring.Source: eWeek reporting COPYRIGHT 2000 ZDNet
Accessed from Computer Database Plus (c) 1997 Information Access Co. All rights reserved.
cma.zdnet.com |
