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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (20981)	4/1/2002 7:57:11 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197239

All Data All The Time wirelessweek.com Excerpt: A particularly intriguing wireless data technology was displayed by Flarion Technologies Inc., a startup founded by engineers from Lucent's Bell Laboratories. The Flarion system uses orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, a spread spectrum scheme like CDMA that uses a form of frequency hopping rather than CDMA's direct orthogonal code sequences for spreading. The OFDM channel width is 1.25 megahertz, the same as IS-95 and 1X channels, but Flarion claims that its spectrum efficiency, in terms of data throughput under similar channel conditions, is significantly better. Aside from its novel air interface technology, the Flarion system is interesting in two other regards. First, it didn't evolve from any of the current second-generation wireless technologies but is instead proposed as a "clean sheet" overlay alternative for data services. On the network side, the Flarion system is pure Internet protocol and thus is not integrated with existing voice-centric wireless networks. The second interesting thing is that one might think the company is perhaps three years or so too late with OFDM since major operators worldwide already are deploying 3G data networks based on UMTS and CDMA2000 technologies. But not so long ago pundits were saying exactly the same thing about an upstart called Qualcomm, which offered a radically different air interface technology CDMA even as the U.S. wireless industry was adopting TDMA as the nationwide digital wireless standard. And look who's on the Flarion board of directors: none other than Qualcomm founder and technology icon Andy Viterbi. Flarion really caused a stir this year by demonstrating during the first day's keynote session a streaming video download with a seamless handoff between their OFDM system and a Wi-Fi system. All of a sudden, it seemed, the GPRS and 1X folks were talking about how their systems also could be complemented by Wi-Fi in high-demand hot spots.

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (20981)	4/1/2002 11:37:17 AM
From: straight life	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197239

Defending the GSM decision By Brad Smith April 1, 2002 Wireless Week Bill Clift, chief technical officer of Cingular Wireless, is tired of defending his company's decision to put its network on a GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS migration path to 3G. Despite speculation that Cingular, the nation's second-largest carrier, would switch to CDMA technology, the Atlanta-based carrier announced in December a $4 billion deal with Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens to install EDGE across its network. But critics continue to say Cingular is spectrum challenged and moving to EDGE isn't going to solve that problem. Overlaying its existing TDMA properties with GSM also isn't going to help, critics say, because GSM is just not spectrally efficient. Clift, taking note of the criticism, defended Cingular's decision in a keynote address at the Comdex Chicago show in March, a convention devoted to a great extent to mobility. Some of his points have been heard before–GSM is the dominant standard globally, which means lower costs for infrastructure and handsets and international roaming possibilities. Furthermore, 30 percent of Cingular's footprint already uses GSM. New arguments, though, focused on some technology upgrades that Clift says answer critics' charges that GSM is not spectrally efficient. He came to the speech armed with a new $500 million contract with Nortel that he says will provide increased capacity. The three-year contract is for upgrades on Cingular's GSM/GPRS networks in the Carolinas, Georgia and Puerto Rico. Clift and Dave Murashige, a vice president for Nortel's wireless Internet division, say the upgrade will increase voice capacity 120 percent while requiring 18 percent less spectrum. That will enable Cingular to cut its capital outlay by 75 percent while handling 1,400 more voice calls every hour per cell site. Murashige says the capacity gains are realized through a combination of technologies using fractional reuse, frequency sensitivity and "cell tiering," which he compares to a cell site structured like a wedding cake. Cingular also will introduce adaptive multirate vocoders in its terminals and network infrastructure, which Clift says can boost spectral efficiency another 200 percent. AMR doesn't significantly add to the cost of handsets but is capable of dynamically adjusting signal strength for the most efficient use of bandwidth, he says. AMR, which has been used by European GSM carriers since last year, varies the speeds at which the vocoders transmit and receive, adapting to conditions based on the competing signals in the cell site. AT&T Wireless also plans to use AMR in its new GSM network and handsets. The Nortel contract also calls for a complete TDMA-to-GSM overlay of the Cingular network in Puerto Rico, which is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2002. Murashige says Nortel has worked on spectral efficiency in other networks, including TDMA, and has started working with smart antennas for CDMA networks. He says nearly every operator is trying to wring every bit of bandwidth it can out of its existing spectrum. "I think everyone's interested," Murashige says. "Anytime you have a resource that is as expensive and scarce as spectrum, you have to be interested. This allows Cingular to grow its subscriber rates, grow its GSM capacity and minimize the requirements for more spectrum through acquisition, auctions or allocations." In his speech, Clift hedged on Cingular's path to wideband-CDMA, or UMTS, saying that EDGE will provide 3G-type data rates and the carrier can let the market for 3G services grow without the burden of investing in new spectrum. He said he is not convinced UMTS as a technology is "completely baked" and that GSM/EDGE will provide the voice and data capacity Cingular needs. So, has Clift finally decided to stop defending Cingular's decision? Now that he feels he's answered his critics about the capacity upgrades, he may be done talking about the issue. No doubt, it was $500 million well spent. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author Information Brad Smith is IP/data editor at Wireless Week. His column is a monthly feature in Wireless Internet Magazine. He can be reached at bsmith@cahners.com.