Handful of smaller players offer innovative 3G alternatives - RCR Wireless News
June 24, 2002
Handful of smaller players offer innovative 3G alternatives
By ELIZABETH V. MOONEY
NEW YORK-IPWireless Inc., expected to announce the rollout of at least one new city network by
month's end, is among a handful of companies offering what Bear, Stearns & Company Inc. called
"Real 3G: Wireless Broadband Solutions and Service Platforms for Wireless Carriers."
Using multichannel multipoint distribution system spectrum, IPWireless joined forces with Teewinot
Wireless Data and Internet Connect Services to offer wireless broadband services to residents of
Missoula, Mont. In early June. Venture participants planned to reach cash flow break-even status
within three months after commercial deployment, but now expect to attain that goal within
one-and-a-half months, said Chris Gilbert, chief executive officer of San Bruno, Calif.-based
IPWireless.
"We can provide today 1 Megabyte per second 16 times cheaper than EV-DO, which will offer 385
kilobits per second when it's available in two years. ... Our system works at up to 120 m.p.h. with
very little loss of quality. We offer a low-cost, pocket-sized, plug-and-pay module," he said during the
"Real 3G" panel discussion at the recent Bear, Stearns' "Technology Conference."
Flarion Technologies, Bedminster, N.J., uses the flash-OFDM technology Bell Labs invented to
provide "an IP-friendly WAN overlay," said Ray Dolan, Flarion CEO.
"3G is fundamentally a voice network they are trying to make data-centric. It is similar to ISDN and
will suffer the same problems," he said.
"We can deliver at one-tenth the cost of UMTS, on a greenfield basis. We need 1.3-percent
penetration for cash flow break-even."
Flarion has completed a trial with Nextel Communications Inc. and is working with European carriers
looking to partner with Nextel, Dolan said. The start-up company also is marketing its technology
directly to mobile virtual network operators, large Internet service providers and manufacturers of
computers, routers and operating systems.
"Four of us here today are in the same space: WaterCove, Tahoe, ProQuent and Megisto," said
Peter Lojko, president and CEO of WaterCove Networks, Chelmsford, Mass.
"We (WaterCove) are radio agnostic, whether fixed or mobile. We integrate service and transport
intelligence into next-generation, carrier-class infrastructure with the goal of making mobile data
services profitable for mobile operators. ... There is no network intelligence in the Ericsson, Nokia,
Nortel and Lucent solutions."
Several European carriers are testing WaterCove's solutions, which allow them "to control the
session, apply services using existing infrastructure, support new services and scale them to
millions of subscribers and sessions," Lojko said.
The biggest problem for mobile operators as they migrate to 2.5-generation and third-generation
wireless is the revenue generation cliff off of which they are poised to fall, said Jules Meunier,
president and CEO of ProQuent Systems, formerly Avian Communications, Marlborough, Mass. In
Europe, each short message service transmission brings in 10 cents. However, with advanced data
services selling for $10 per Megabyte, carriers will reap just one-tenth of the revenues they received
from SMS, he said.
"There are 400 carriers worldwide, of which 250 matter from a data perspective, and 50 generate 80
percent of the business. We don't do transport at all, so we don't compete with the big guys; we
complement them. The big vendors stick to basics, and innovation comes from startups," said
Meunier, formerly president of Nortel's Wireless Networks Division.
Megisto Systems Inc., Germantown, Md., has started operating trials of its Mobile Services Delivery
Systems at several European sites, said Gordon Saussy, founder, president and CEO. The MSDS
are based on a core platform that is subscriber-aware and service-aware and allows roaming among
2.5G, 3G and wireless LAN networks.
Tahoe Networks Inc., San Jose, Calif., whose "founders pioneered broadband edge routers," is
focused on "what happens at the mobile Internet edge ... to apply subscriber policies, introduce
value-added services and account for usage and services," said Arthur Lin, president.
"In wireless, it's historically been the big guys. Our approach is to work with local distributors, like
our relationship with Oki in Japan. In a few months, we will have further announcements about our
first significant commercial deployment."
rcrnews.com |
