Wither 802.20 MBWA?
>> IEEE Suspends 802.20 Group
PCPro
21st June 2006
The IEEE has suspended the operation of a committee to establish the 802.20 wireless standard after it was revealed that the Group's chairman Jerry Upton had a 'relationship' with Qualcomm, one of the major players in WiFi technologies.
According to a report in EE Times, the suspension of the Group was forced upon the IEEE after Intel and Motorola threatened to file formal complaints over the methods used by Upton. The companies alleged that Upton has handled the draft proposals with a bias towards Qualcomm and Kyocera.
The 802.20 Mobile Broadband Wireless Access (MBWA) Working Group was established in 2002 to develop a standard method of building low-cost always-on broadband wireless networks. A draft standard was published at the beginning of this year. However, all work is now been put on hold while the IEEE investigates whether Qualcomm has unduly influenced the group.
This is not the first time that Qualcomm is alleged to have tried to influence the 802.20 group. According to EE Times, Qualcomm made at least three efforts to influence the Group to vote down a proposal for an orthogonal frequency-division modulation-based standard by Flarion. In the end Qualcomm bought Flarion for $600 million last August.
The suspension is effective from last Thursday (15 June) until 1 October. As a result an 802.20 plenary meeting in July and an interim meeting in September will both be cancelled.
Steve Malone ###
>> Intel, Qualcomm Bickering Derails IEEE Work Group
Electronic News
6/23/2006
reed-electronics.com
A squabble between Intel and Qualcomm seems to have at least temporarily derailed an IEEE work group.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) suspended all activities of IEEE 802.20, its Mobile Broadband Wireless Access (MBWA) Working Group, on June 8, the organization announced recently.
IEEE said in a statement announcing the suspension that "recent activity in the group appears to have become highly contentious – significantly beyond what is normally experienced in IEEE-SA." The institute also cited a "lack of transparency, possible 'dominance,' and other irregularities in the Working Group" as contributors to the decision to put the group's activity on hold.
The move to suspend the committee's activity was prompted partly by a complaint by two Intel engineers, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Reportedly, Intel alleged that the group showed an unfair "bias" toward Qualcomm as a result of MBWA Working Group chairman Jerry Upton's “relationship” with Qualcomm.
For its part, Qualcomm, a San Diego wireless technology company, argued that Intel and allied companies are using IEEE procedures to stall development of 802.20 technology because it is a potential competitor to WiMax, a wireless technology backed by Intel.
"It is very clear that Intel's sudden interest and the sudden influx of its allies is designed not to contribute to 802.20, but to disrupt and to try to stop its development -- because they see it as a threat," Ronny Haraldsvik, a VP of marketing in Qualcomm's mobile broadband business, told the WSJ.
The MBWA Working Group is not expected to reconvene until at least October, the IEEE said, to allow the institute time to investigate the allegations.
The MBWA Working Group was assembled in 2002 to develop a standard method of building affordable, ubiquitous, always-on and interoperable multi-vendor mobile broadband wireless access networks, worldwide, that could be used in vehicles going up to 250 km/hour. ###
WiMax Prospects Pick Up as Rival MBWA Technology Stalls
Martin Veitch
IT Week
26 Jun 2006
computing.co.uk
IEEE's decision to suspend progress of the 802.20 broadband wireless protocol could give a lift to WiMax
The IEEE’s decision to suspend its work on the 802.20 Mobile Broadband Wireless Access (MBWA) protocol could give a lift to WiMax, the 802.16 technology that is widely seen as its competitor.
The IEEE recently said it would pause the 802.20 working group that has the backing of Qualcomm, the US cellular communications giant that acquired 802.20 developer Flarion Technologies in January. This followed questions of whether participants had disclosed their affiliations in a proper manner.
The decision could aid WiMax, which Intel plans to use in future laptop chipsets to support speeds and distances beyond Wi-Fi.
Carlton O’Neal, vice-president of marketing at WiMax vendor Alvarion, argued that 802.20 is “a private Qualcomm/Flarion party, which they didn’t want to invite anybody else to”. He added, “I don’t think there’s a conspiracy to knock Qualcomm out of the market.”
Graham Currier of Pipex Wireless, which is building a UK WiMax network, said, “I think this is just housekeeping. WiMax is the standard for wireless broadband.” ###
>> WIMAX Standards Will Gain from OFDM Shootout, Panelist Says
Esther Surden
Communications Daily
June 28, 2006
tinyurl.com
The WiMAX industry will benefit from having the Intel camp and the Qualcomm camp "fight it out" in the standards organizations, a panelist said in a session called "WiMAX on the Way" at the C3 Expo Tues. in N.Y. When you look, Intel doesn't really own many of the patents, said Rupert Baines, PicoChip marketing vp. Qualcomm on its own and Flarion, which it acquired, have many patents affecting WiMAX, as do Samsung and Nortel and Nokia, which TI is backing, he said.
The future of wireless communications is based on OFDM technology and its various flavors, panelist Edgar Masri, COO, Redline Communications and Baines agreed. Baines, calling himself a strong backer of WiMAX standards, said while fixed WiMAX is economically viable now in areas without copper or where copper costs too much to deploy, it more importantly is a step toward 4G mobile technologies. The technology will provide high speed flexibility with an IP infrastructure, he said.
Some "70% of the world's population doesn't have easy access to copper" Masri added, noting the rapid development of the market for fixed WiMAX. WiMAX won't compete head on with ADSL in speed, he said. Rather, most companies in this market are trying to sell the technology by stressing WiMAX's unique features, such as its ability to get around line of sight restrictions, he said. Many installations are using WiMAX as a backhaul technology for Wi-Fi, both panelists said, especially where copper is too costly. They cited downtown Tokyo, where officials plan to cover the entire city with Wi-Fi access and use WiMAX as the backhaul, they said.
Neither panelist sees the U.S. as a developing market for WiMAX except when smaller carriers want to provide basic Internet connectivity, perhaps in rural areas. Yet outside the U.S., many so called "Tier One" carriers are interested in the technology. Asia is a prime market, Baines said, but "deployments in Asia take longer" because localities tend to do much more analysis and planning. Deployment in Africa, on the other hand, is much more opportunistic and moves faster than in Asia, he said.
The U.S. WiMAX market could take off with the auction of spectrum in the 2.5-2.6 GHz band. "Sprint owns a big chunk of this," Baines said: "They are very cleverly dining with everyone and flirting with everyone." Sprint has invested in TD-CDMA, and has been seen in discussions with Qualcomm. Nextel did a huge trial of Flarion's OFDM technology, which Qualcomm acquired last year. ###
- Eric - |
