The urban alternative
Broadband wireless may be the perfect high-speed access solution for the business scene
internettelephony.com
KELLY CARROLL
Living in a city often takes patience and money. Parking is a hassle. The
masses always seem to gather at the same time and place you are. And "it's
sold out" becomes a much too often heard phrase. But those are the breaks
some endure in return for easy access to great culture, restaurants, clubs, public
transportation and other conveniences that the suburbs might not offer. However,
suburban dwellers might consider the "city annoyances" too high a price to pay
for access to the fun stuff.
Broadband access technologies can be considered in a somewhat similar vein.
Although cable modems are the preferred access solution for the residential
market, broadband wireless is a fit for small and medium-sized businesses
nestled in dense metropolitan areas or in regions where DSL or cable do not
reach.
The case for fixed wireless broadband is a good one: It is fast, easy to deploy
and relatively cheap. But it is unfair to say that wireless broadband technology
has gained a leg up on DSL or cable modems. As far as technology goes,
wireless can be considered more of a complement to the other broadband
options as opposed to a competitor--at least for now.
Friend or foe
"A lot of providers have and are using all three technologies in order to access
business and consumer end users," says Christopher Whitely, a project
manager with Insight Research.
When the FCC decided to sell spectrum such as local multipoint distribution
system (LMDS) in the 24 and 38 GHz range, it inspired the formation of
broadband wireless providers such as Advanced Radio Telecom, Teligent and
Winstar Communications. Although public recognition has been somewhat
stalled by consumer skepticism, the technology has become a viable option for
some small and medium-sized companies. Whether it will compete with cable
modems or DSL technology in the U.S. residential market remains uncertain, but
it looks to have a good shot internationally, where infrastructure is less abundant.
Even if LMDS is not currently in demand for the residential market, in three years
interest is expected to grow, says Dan Scharre, executive vice president and
chief technology officer for Adaptive Broadband (Figure 1). "It will get to
residents because of economies of scale," he says, noting that there always will
be three access choices.
"It will all depend on price points and customer demand," he says. "No
technology will dominate because each has its pros and cons. There will always
be a mix."
Success in delivering wireless broadband access ultimately will be measured by
rollout and service speeds. "We cannot sit on the sidelines waiting for a miracle,"
says Hamid Akhavan, senior vice president for technology information at Teligent.
As far as Akhavan is concerned, Teligent has been leading the charge for the
technology. "We are spreading wireless as far as we are able because we are
focused on building a network."
After being influenced by the "hyped demand for DSL-based access," Akhavan
says Teligent recognized that broadband wireless could be a beneficial market
play.
However, while broadband may be the primary vehicle for some, it will be
secondary for others that are looking to capitalize on the best use of it, says
John Skoro, marketing director of broadband wireless access at Nortel Networks.
"LMDS is not the best fit for everything," he says. Instead, Skoro predicts all
high-speed access technologies will be in many companies' portfolios.
"I do not see it as competitive [with DSL or cable modems] but complementary,"
says Tom van Overbeek, CEO of Wavtrace. "There will not be as many units as
the cable market, but there will be more revenue per unit."
Every company will have what van Overbeek labels a "reality distortion
zone"--each may think its technology is better than the other company's when
what really matters is if it is economically beneficial, he says.
Variations on a theme
Last year Teligent introduced its own solution for broadband access: a wireless
DSL product called SmartWave DSL. Targeting small and medium-sized
business customers located in buildings that fiber ignores, the company is
chancing technology without compromising its offerings.
"We are pushing the envelope as far as it can go without damaging the services,"
Akhavan says. Unlike copper wire connections, SmartWave DSL technology is
not limited to the proximity to a telephone switch. Instead, it combines the
advantages of DSL technology inside the customer building with the benefits of
the digital SmartWave fixed wireless networks outside the building. The company
offers reduced costs for businesses that do not demand "dedicated" broadband
access every minute of the day but instead want and need a reliable, two-way,
high-speed connection when they get on the Internet.
About 14 months after initiating its DSL plan, the company has attained about
10,000 customers and provides local, long-distance, high-speed data and
broadband Internet services in 40 markets and 7000 buildings.
This is an example of the broadband wireless edge: It can be rolled out quickly to
thousands of buildings at a cost well below what it would take to lay fiber. With
800,000 commercial buildings in the U.S. without fiber access, the wireless
broadband option looks to have found its niche.
In about 30 markets, Teligent has deployed Nortel's Reunion broadband wireless
access solutions at 24 GHz(Figure 2). Per the solution, the network node
equipment at the base station facilitates the multiplexing and channelization of
multimedia content between the ATM or IP network and the customer premises
equipment access sites via the network interface units. Reunion provides up to
an OC-3c or STM-1 per sector capacity and can support up to 16 sectors per
base station complex. It allows an operator to serve large corporations, small and
medium-sized business or tenants of multidwelling units. With an open
architecture, services can be tailored according to customer or market.
Winstar also is going after the small and medium-sized business market,
knowing that high-speed access does not always come easy for such
organizations. With 38 and 28 GHz spectrum and other radio spectrum, the
company now reaches customers in more than 45 markets. Besides offering its
customers speedy Internet access, the company also hopes to buy them time.
"We can take away the basic back-office functions and put them onto the
network. This allows them to focus on business instead of managing this," says
Rick Calder, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Winstar.
Time is of the essence, especially when it comes to the changing nature of
technology.
"The need or demand for broadband capacity is enormous and driven as
companies transmit more data and as the use of the Internet proliferates in
business," says Bob McCambridge, president and chief operating officer of ART.
"The limitations of fiber have created a bottleneck and have limited the broadband
business access market."
While the speed of DSL is between 6 and 10 Mb/s, ART's broadband wireless
technology has reached 100 Mb/s and is expected to hit 155 Mb/s this year,
which gives the company an advantage as the business market begins to
demand more speed for applications such as streaming media. In early January,
ART announced plans to build high-speed, IP metropolitan area networks in 10
markets this year, targeting ISPs, interexchange carriers and application service
providers.
"We are building a metropolitan network that has fully integrated fiber and
broadband [wireless]," McCambridge says. "It is IP at the core and at the edge
so end users have the ability to extend their LAN through our metropolitan
connection to a huge WAN capacity." This defines the network architecture of
the 21st century, he says, noting that Morgan Stanley Dean Witter predicts the
overall broadband market will grow from more than 20 billion to 42 billion by 2002,
25% of which is in wireless broadband.
Full speed ahead
Broadband wireless has been slow to attract service providers in the U.S.
primarily because they have alternatives to choose from, van Overbeek says.
This has made the technology more popular in the international arena.
"It is the industry consensus that the best applications for broadband wireless
are international," says Insight's Whitely. "But there are places here that meet
the same criteria or are not served well by cable or DSL."
Although there are high expectations about what wireless can and cannot do,
McCambridge is confident that ART's broadband wireless network works as well
as other options. Cable modem technology may command the residential market
now, but broadband wireless will have a significant portion because it is a
cost-effective, high-quality solution that traditional carriers like, he says.
"[Carriers] see it as an important way to extend the network reach, and the
beauty is customers do not have to wait for the phone company to get them
service."
Whether broadband wireless will make inroads into the residential realm remains
unclear considering the abundance of copper in the U.S.
"Who knows how far the Internet will take us or if e-business will continue to
change how the world operates?" Akhavan says. The demand the Internet has
created for bandwidth likely will inspire many providers to gamble on broadband
wireless to gain additional market share, while hoping their networks will stand
up to whatever the future invents.
When discussing the broadband demand, Winstar's Calder looks back on the
long-distance market for comparative perspective. As the functionality of
long-distance improved and competition increased, prices took a dive. The same
can be said of the broadband economy, he says. And Calder makes sure to
reiterate
KELLY CARROLL
Living in a city often takes patience and money. Parking is a hassle. The
masses always seem to gather at the same time and place you are. And "it's
sold out" becomes a much too often heard phrase. But those are the breaks
some endure in return for easy access to great culture, restaurants, clubs, public
transportation and other conveniences that the suburbs might not offer. However,
suburban dwellers might consider the "city annoyances" too high a price to pay
for access to the fun stuff.
Broadband access technologies can be considered in a somewhat similar vein.
Although cable modems are the preferred access solution for the residential
market, broadband wireless is a fit for small and medium-sized businesses
nestled in dense metropolitan areas or in regions where DSL or cable do not
reach.
The case for fixed wireless broadband is a good one: It is fast, easy to deploy
and relatively cheap. But it is unfair to say that wireless broadband technology
has gained a leg up on DSL or cable modems. As far as technology goes,
wireless can be considered more of a complement to the other broadband
options as opposed to a competitor--at least for now.
Friend or foe
"A lot of providers have and are using all three technologies in order to access
business and consumer end users," says Christopher Whitely, a project
manager with Insight Research.
When the FCC decided to sell spectrum such as local multipoint distribution
system (LMDS) in the 24 and 38 GHz range, it inspired the formation of
broadband wireless providers such as Advanced Radio Telecom, Teligent and
Winstar Communications. Although public recognition has been somewhat
stalled by consumer skepticism, the technology has become a viable option for
some small and medium-sized companies. Whether it will compete with cable
modems or DSL technology in the U.S. residential market remains uncertain, but
it looks to have a good shot internationally, where infrastructure is less abundant.
Even if LMDS is not currently in demand for the residential market, in three years
interest is expected to grow, says Dan Scharre, executive vice president and
chief technology officer for Adaptive Broadband (Figure 1). "It will get to
residents because of economies of scale," he says, noting that there always will
be three access choices.
"It will all depend on price points and customer demand," he says. "No
technology will dominate because each has its pros and cons. There will always
be a mix."
Success in delivering wireless broadband access ultimately will be measured by
rollout and service speeds. "We cannot sit on the sidelines waiting for a miracle,"
says Hamid Akhavan, senior vice president for technology information at Teligent.
As far as Akhavan is concerned, Teligent has been leading the charge for the
technology. "We are spreading wireless as far as we are able because we are
focused on building a network."
After being influenced by the "hyped demand for DSL-based access," Akhavan
says Teligent recognized that broadband wireless could be a beneficial market
play.
However, while broadband may be the primary vehicle for some, it will be
secondary for others that are looking to capitalize on the best use of it, says
John Skoro, marketing director of broadband wireless access at Nortel Networks.
"LMDS is not the best fit for everything," he says. Instead, Skoro predicts all
high-speed access technologies will be in many companies' portfolios.
"I do not see it as competitive [with DSL or cable modems] but complementary,"
says Tom van Overbeek, CEO of Wavtrace. "There will not be as many units as
the cable market, but there will be more revenue per unit."
Every company will have what van Overbeek labels a "reality distortion
zone"--each may think its technology is better than the other company's when
what really matters is if it is economically beneficial, he says.
Variations on a theme
Last year Teligent introduced its own solution for broadband access: a wireless
DSL product called SmartWave DSL. Targeting small and medium-sized
business customers located in buildings that fiber ignores, the company is
chancing technology without compromising its offerings.
"We are pushing the envelope as far as it can go without damaging the services,"
Akhavan says. Unlike copper wire connections, SmartWave DSL technology is
not limited to the proximity to a telephone switch. Instead, it combines the
advantages of DSL technology inside the customer building with the benefits of
the digital SmartWave fixed wireless networks outside the building. The company
offers reduced costs for businesses that do not demand "dedicated" broadband
access every minute of the day but instead want and need a reliable, two-way,
high-speed connection when they get on the Internet.
About 14 months after initiating its DSL plan, the company has attained about
10,000 customers and provides local, long-distance, high-speed data and
broadband Internet services in 40 markets and 7000 buildings.
This is an example of the broadband wireless edge: It can be rolled out quickly to
thousands of buildings at a cost well below what it would take to lay fiber. With
800,000 commercial buildings in the U.S. without fiber access, the wireless
broadband option looks to have found its niche.
In about 30 markets, Teligent has deployed Nortel's Reunion broadband wireless
access solutions at 24 GHz(Figure 2). Per the solution, the network node
equipment at the base station facilitates the multiplexing and channelization of
multimedia content between the ATM or IP network and the customer premises
equipment access sites via the network interface units. Reunion provides up to
an OC-3c or STM-1 per sector capacity and can support up to 16 sectors per
base station complex. It allows an operator to serve large corporations, small and
medium-sized business or tenants of multidwelling units. With an open
architecture, services can be tailored according to customer or market.
Winstar also is going after the small and medium-sized business market,
knowing that high-speed access does not always come easy for such
organizations. With 38 and 28 GHz spectrum and other radio spectrum, the
company now reaches customers in more than 45 markets. Besides offering its
customers speedy Internet access, the company also hopes to buy them time.
"We can take away the basic back-office functions and put them onto the
network. This allows them to focus on business instead of managing this," says
Rick Calder, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Winstar.
Time is of the essence, especially when it comes to the changing nature of
technology.
"The need or demand for broadband capacity is enormous and driven as
companies transmit more data and as the use of the Internet proliferates in
business," says Bob McCambridge, president and chief operating officer of ART.
"The limitations of fiber have created a bottleneck and have limited the broadband
business access market."
While the speed of DSL is between 6 and 10 Mb/s, ART's broadband wireless
technology has reached 100 Mb/s and is expected to hit 155 Mb/s this year,
which gives the company an advantage as the business market begins to
demand more speed for applications such as streaming media. In early January,
ART announced plans to build high-speed, IP metropolitan area networks in 10
markets this year, targeting ISPs, interexchange carriers and application service
providers.
"We are building a metropolitan network that has fully integrated fiber and
broadband [wireless]," McCambridge says. "It is IP at the core and at the edge
so end users have the ability to extend their LAN through our metropolitan
connection to a huge WAN capacity." This defines the network architecture of
the 21st century, he says, noting that Morgan Stanley Dean Witter predicts the
overall broadband market will grow from more than 20 billion to 42 billion by 2002,
25% of which is in wireless broadband.
Full speed ahead
Broadband wireless has been slow to attract service providers in the U.S.
primarily because they have alternatives to choose from, van Overbeek says.
This has made the technology more popular in the international arena.
"It is the industry consensus that the best applications for broadband wireless
are international," says Insight's Whitely. "But there are places here that meet
the same criteria or are not served well by cable or DSL."
Although there are high expectations about what wireless can and cannot do,
McCambridge is confident that ART's broadband wireless network works as well
as other options. Cable modem technology may command the residential market
now, but broadband wireless will have a significant portion because it is a
cost-effective, high-quality solution that traditional carriers like, he says.
"[Carriers] see it as an important way to extend the network reach, and the
beauty is customers do not have to wait for the phone company to get them
service."
Whether broadband wireless will make inroads into the residential realm remains
unclear considering the abundance of copper in the U.S.
"Who knows how far the Internet will take us or if e-business will continue to
change how the world operates?" Akhavan says. The demand the Internet has
created for bandwidth likely will inspire many providers to gamble on broadband
wireless to gain additional market share, while hoping their networks will stand
up to whatever the future invents.
When discussing the broadband demand, Winstar's Calder looks back on the
long-distance market for comparative perspective. As the functionality of
long-distance improved and competition increased, prices took a dive. The same
can be said of the broadband economy, he says. And Calder makes sure to
reiterate what seems to be the mantra of wireless broadband: the quickest
provider in the broadband race will be the most successful. |
