Roaming Free - Flarion Performs Seamless WLAN-to-WAN Handoff
01-03-2002
Sean Buckley, staff editor
[FAC: Two days ago this was the subject of discussion on the 4G board. The article below is a perspective from Telecommunications Magazine's TelecomFlash Newsletter.]
telecomflash.com
If mobile IP data had one overriding dream it would be to create a common user experience over any air interface whether it is 802.11, OFDM, WCMDA, TDMA or CMDA. Even though the wireless data market is still nascent, giving a user the ability to switch from a data session on his PDA on a wireless LAN and back into the public wireless WAN without missing a beat is a sign this dream could soon be reality.
Making due on this IP promise, Bedminster, N.J.-based Flarion Technologies recently demonstrated such a seamless mobile data handoff between an 802.11b wireless LAN network and a fully mobile WAN. Unlike other 3G wireless technologies that have a circuit-switched architecture designed for voice, Flarion's flash-OFDM utilizes an all IP-based infrastructure that can handle the bursty nature of data sessions.
Through a simple flash-OFDM PC card, users can mobilize their desktop experiences with an always-on connection to any laptop, PDA or other IP-enabled device with the capability of 3 Mbps burst speeds. This type of speed and flexibility is key for operators looking to find a means of differentiation with tiered classes of service for new mobile data services to deliver to their mass market and business enterprise customers.
This mobile data handoff demonstrated a typical real-life scenario in which a person working on a PDA in an enterprise LAN environment leaves the office and drives away but continues to experience an always-on broadband connection in a mobile WAN. During the demonstration, the car traveled within the range of two intersecting macro cellular sites at highway speeds.
The demonstration took place in Bedminster, N.J., late in November 2001 with off-the-shelf network hardware and software, including flash-OFDM modems and the Flarion RadioRouter base stations as the air interface.
Flarion's CTO, Rajiv Laroia, sees flash-OFDM as a direct complement to emerging wireless data market. "Our vision is that you want to be on your LAN at home or office and switch over to the WAN when you leave," he said. "When you are on the LAN, you get slightly better performance at a slightly reduced cost than on the WAN." Although flash-OFDM may not displace the embedded base of technologies that incumbent wireless providers have already deployed, the company's technology continues to gain ground. This year, Flarion added to its board of directors Andrew Viterbi, who was responsible for the commercialization of CMDA. The company also has been granted an experimental license in the 700 MHz band, which the FCC plans to auction sometime in 2002. This auction could potentially create new opportunities for existing and new carriers as they move to provide wireless data services.
In addition, Flarion has gained $45 million in Series B equity financing from Cisco Systems, Nassau Capital and lead investor Pequot Capital. Also participating in this round were Series A investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Charles River Ventures and Lucent Technologies' New Ventures Group.
Of course, Flarion is not alone in this market. Other vendors such as PacketAir, a spinoff of Nomadix Wireless that has emerged with mobility management technology, and Tanvity and I-CDMA are beginning to make noise with their IP-based wireless data solutions. The challenge for any of these companies is to convince large carriers to use these alternatives in networks where they have made significant capital and technology commitments in 3G technologies and their various upgrade paths.
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