August 2001 to November 2001: Competing 1xEV-DV Solutions
Four more articles here ...
>> Altera, Motorola Develop CDMA 1xEV-DV Solution
August 2001 Issue
Nikkei Electronics Asia
neasia.nikkeibp.com
Motorola's Global Telecom Solutions Sector is teaming up with Altera Corp for the design and development of Motorola's "Beyond 3G" cdma2000 1xEV-DV network solution. Altera is to supply programmable logic devices (PLD), and will place dedicated technical resources at Motorola's Arlington Heights research laboratories to leverage Altera's system-on-a-programmable-chip (SoPC) solutions.
Motorola's cdma2000 1xEV-DV (data and voice) solution is designed to provide average data rate speeds of 1.2 Mbps for mobile users, with peak data speeds of up to 5.2 Mbps. Altera's SoPC solutions provide the high-speed, parallel, signal processing required by this next-generation wireless technology, while the company's APEX architecture is expected to provide cost, performance and time-to-market advantages to Motorola. Currently, as many as 38 Altera APEX 20K devices power the cdma2000 1xEV-DV network solution, which was demonstrated at the 3G World Congress in Hong Kong, June 11-15.
Motorola is installing cdma2000 1x networks worldwide, with a migration evolution to 3G solutions with its cdma2000 1xEV-DO (data only) and 1xEV-DV solutions.
A 1,000-page specification proposal has been put forward to the 3GPP2 standards body, under the name "1XTREME" by Motorola, Nokia, Texas Instruments, Philips Semiconductors and Altera. The 3GPP2 is reviewing various proposals to determine a baseline text for a standard on the data/voice applications tothe 3G wireless network. Standardized specifications are expected to be approved this year. <<
>> Sprint, Verizon Split Over 1xEV
Peggy Albright
Wireless Week
August 6, 2001
wirelessweek.com
Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless, the two primary CDMA carriers in the United States, may part ways over a new CDMA technology called 1xEV as well as the next step to take following CDMA2000 1X.
Verizon told Wireless Week it is committed to the 1X evolution data-only standard, which grew out of Qualcomm's High Data Rate technology. Sprint PCS, apparently backing away from the technology roadmap it unveiled earlier this year, last week called EV-DO an "option" and is touting the advantages of 1X evolution data-voice, which offers data and voice capabilities as well as faster data speeds than EV-DO.
Nobody ever said that wireless operators that are network allies must embrace similar equipment installations and migration paths, and there are both competitive and technological reasons for the choices they make. But the stakes are high for equipment vendors and numerous other technology developers when it comes to what technology wins outs. The affiliations they form are likely to affect the critical standardization milestones that 1xEV-DV is expected to reach this fall [See related story clipped above].
EV-DO already has moved through the regional standardization process and is up for approval by the International Telecommunication Union. The technology should offer up to 2.4 megabits-per-second throughput in a 1.25 megahertz channel. Installation is as easy as most CDMA upgrades, but the operator must allocate an entire 1.25 megahertz channel to data, which results in a loss of voice capacity.
EV-DV is a proposed standard that originated with the 1XTREME technology put forth last year by Motorola and Nokia in part to offer enhancements beyond CDMA2000 1X and EV-DO's predecessor, Qualcomm's HDR. EV-DV should offer data at speeds up to 5 Mbps. It, too, can be deployed within a regular 1.25 megahertz channel of spectrum, but it offers voice and real-time data transmission capabilities, which EV-DO lacks.
The 1XTREME proposal, which has yet to go through the standardization process, has the support of Texas Instruments Inc., Philips Semiconductors and Altera. Competing against it is Qualcomm's own EV-DV proposal that is supported by Lucent, LSI Logic, LG Electronics and Samsung.
Despite its involvement in EV-DV, however, Qualcomm is pushing companies to adopt EV-DO. "We do have to focus on the technologies we feel have the best chances of succeeding, and so we're focused on the EV-DO," says Lindsay "Butch" Weaver, one of Qualcomm's founders and the company's executive vice president of engineering.
Verizon, which says it plans to launch 1xEV-DO around 2003, already is conducting trials of the technology. It says it will not make a commitment to EV-DV at this time.
"We're starting with 1X. We think we're going to learn a lot," says Gerry Flynn, director of advanced technology strategy and standards at Verizon. "We're going to learn more as we do DO. We're not in a rush to have DV because we just don't know what we'd do with it if we had it."
At Sprint PCS, Dean Prochaska, director of wireless industry standards, said his company will support both approaches, but if market conditions justify it, the operator could bypass DO and go directly to DV.
"From a technology perspective, we believe DV provides a lot more flexibility," he adds. "It's just a matter of where the data market will be in 2003."
Prochaska's comments are a departure from the technology roadmap that Sprint President Charles Levine unveiled last spring. At that time, Levine said his company anticipated installing 1xEV-DO by 2003 and 1xEV-DV by early 2004.
Since almost all of the major technology vendors have a stake in these technologies, the path these operators take could influence business for all. <<
>> CDMA Devotees Debate The Future For 1xEV-DV
By Peggy Albright
Wireless Week
August 6, 2001
wirelessweek.com
Nothing seems easy when it comes to technology development and standardization. That certainly is the case in the CDMA industry's effort to produce the newest evolution of the CDMA2000 1X technology, called 1xEV-DV, which stands for evolution data-voice.
The proposed standard, in the works for about a year now, is treading water following a delay in meeting the most recent goal of the Third Generation Partnership Project 2: deciding what the framework for that specification should be. Some companies eager to get products to market looked forward to solidifying the framework in May. That didn't happen, and now participants are aiming for October.
Agreeing on the basic framework is necessary for the 3GPP2 to reach yet another milestone: drafting the specification and publishing it so groups such as the Telecommunications Industry Association in the United States and its counterparts around the world can vote to standardize it. That goal now has been pushed off to February.
The delays make the next couple of months especially critical for EV-DV, which explains what some might characterize as heightened sensitivity to the process, particularly because of the potential revenue at stake. "DV is the end game where operators really want to be, and we're trying to make that happen," says John Touvannas, senior products manager in the CDMA systems division at Motorola.
His company's 1,000-page 1XTREME proposal, presented to the 3GPP2 a year ago in partnership with Nokia, provided the impetus for EV-DV. At that time, the industry was just beginning to accept the notion of standardizing Qualcomm's previously unpopular High Data Rate technology as the next evolution of CDMA2000 1X. With 1XTREME looming in the background, Qualcomm, supported by Lucent, got on the stick and pushed HDR approval through the 3GPP2 and regional standardization bodies. That data-only technology is now known as 1xEV-DO and is the precursor to the planned 1xEV-DV standard.
EV-DV advocates, however, say the DV technology, which offers data and voice as well as faster data speeds than DO, would have broader appeal among operators because it would not force an operator to sacrifice voice capacity (see related story on page 12). "You really have to have a firm business case to deploy spectrum just for data only," says Adam Gould, Nokia's chief technology officer for CDMA.
Once both technologies are available, they say, operators could deploy EV-DO and then EV-DV, or simply skip DO and go straight to DV. But Qualcomm, which currently is pushing its chips for EV-DO, is not actively advocating EV-DV. It still doesn't show up on its product roadmap or in its published white paper, "Economics of Wireless Mobile Data." "We believe very strongly that a combination of 1X and 1xEV-DO will be the most economical," says Anil Kripalani, senior vice president of global technology marketing at Qualcomm.
Nevertheless, the company has put forth its own EV-DV proposal, and so far counts Lucent, LG Electronics, LSI Logic and Samsung in its corner. Qualcomm also is courting Nortel, which isn't publicly jumping on board and says only that it is "examining numerous options for supporting 1xEV-DV."
Still fighting for consideration are two other proposals. One is LAS-CDMA, a technology submitted by standards organizations in China through LinkAir Communications that offers both voice and data speeds of up to 5.53 megabits per second. LinkAir claims its code minimizes signal interference caused by multiple users or neighboring base stations in conventional CDMA systems.
The other is Internet-CDMA, a component technology submitted by Tantivy Communications, which the company says could work with any of the other proposals to offer consistent data speeds throughout a cell site.
Nokia, meanwhile, has gone to the International Telecommunication Union to put EV-DV on its October agenda for consideration as an international standard. EV-DO already has gone through most of the ITU's standardization procedures. If EV-DV makes the agenda, it could provide additional impetus at 3GPP2 to get EV-DV out the door, although some think such pressure could prove counterproductive.
Gerry Flynn, director of advanced technology and standards at Verizon Wireless, is in that camp. "We really need to evolve the technology in a technically sound way and not get focused on the calendar," he says. <<
>> CDMA Carriers Face Standards Conundrum
Lynnette Luna
Telephony
September 10, 2001
industryclick.com
Some operators may wait for bigger, better data technology
CDMA operators are on the cusp of understanding the demand for high-speed data applications at just 144 kb/s, yet many carriers are aggressively pushing ahead for a new technology that promises data speeds of 5 Mb/s so they are prepared whether the demand for high-speed data explodes or only slightly sizzles.
By the end of this year, several CDMA operators will have migrated many of their markets to 1XRTT technology, a third-generation International Telecommunication Union standard that doubles voice capacity and adds packet data speeds of up to 144 kb/s. In 2002, those carriers will be able to add another option called 1X evolution data only (1XEV-DO), which uses a dedicated 1.25 MHz channel to deploy multimedia services at speeds of up to 2.4 Mb/s.
Qualcomm and some CDMA carriers see the combination of 1X technology and 1XEV-DO as the most economical way to roll out higher speed data services because 1XEV-DO is optimized solely for data. In addition, carriers can roll out 1XEV-DO as soon as next year.
“There are some carriers that are very committed to DO and see time to market as very important,” said Fran O'Brien, director of standards for Lucent Technologies. “DO is here now, the standard is completed, and vendors are developing product for the second half of next year.”
But some carriers say they'd rather wait for another solution that has yet to be standardized. It's called 1X evolution data and voice (1XEV-DV), and it promises even higher data speeds with real-time applications over a voice-over-IP network. Advocates say DV technology would have a broader appeal among operators because it wouldn't force a carrier to sacrifice voice capacity.
“There are some operators that have specifically told us that 1XEV-DO is not a realistic technology for them either because they have spectrum constraints or they've looked at the business case to say that financially it doesn't make sense,” said John Touvanas, senior product marketing manager of CDMA systems for Motorola, which has joined with Nokia to propose technology for the 1XEV-DV standard.
There wasn't much interest in these types of high-speed data enhancements until Qualcomm introduced its 1XEV-DO technology, or high data rate (HDR), nearly two years ago. The CDMA innovator is bullish about the data market, expecting users in the future to consume about 200 megabits apiece, giving the incentive to separate data on a separate 1.25 MHz channel.
But carriers are more cautious about the demand for high-speed data services, and some are leery about dedicating an entire 1.25 MHz channel solely to data. As Qualcomm was drumming up support early last year for HDR, CDMA carriers were intrigued when Motorola and Nokia approached the industry with their own voice and data solution called 1xtreme that promised to offer even higher data speeds and real-time applications.
However, Qualcomm's technology was the furthest along, and the CDMA community chose to table the 1xtreme proposal so operators could get to market as quickly as possible with a multimedia solution. 1xtreme was then considered for the second phase, 1XEV-DV.
As standards committees set out to look at 1XEV-DV, 1xtreme and at least seven other proposals were on the table at the end of last year. Today, 1xtreme is competing with one proposal from CDMA heavyweights Lucent, LG Electronics, LSI Logic, Nortel Networks, Qualcomm and Samsung Electronics. Their proposal is known as L3NQS.
The Third-Generation Partnership Project 2, an international standards body established by the Telecommunications Industry Association to develop CDMA 3G technology standards, was supposed to select a framework for 1XEV-DV by May, with the final specification done in July. That process has been delayed as the 3GPP2 worked to whittle down the number of proposals and finish standardization work of 1XEV-DO.
Many carriers hope that voting on the framework of 1XEV-DV technology will be completed this month during a 3GPP2 meeting in Japan, with the final specification finished by February. Assuming the CDMA community gets the standard written by February, CDMA vendors will ship commercial product 18 to 20 months later.
Time is of the essence for some operators. 1XEV-DV is a big deal to some CDMA carriers because it theoretically offers a more efficient network and faster data speeds than 1XEV-DO. Carriers will have the ability to mix voice and data on the same channel and offer real-time applications such as interactive gaming. The 1XEV-DO system, which doesn't allow for real-time applications, will hand off to the 1X network when customers want to interrupt their data sessions to make or receive a voice call.
Sprint PCS cdma2000 Upgrade Timetable
Date Upgrade Data Rate
Late 2001/early 2002 1X Release 0 144 kb/s
Late 2002 1X Release A 288 kb/s
2003 1XEV-DO 2.4 Mb/s
Early 2004 1XEV-DV 3 to 5 Mb/s
Sources: Sprint PCS, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
“With spectrum a limited resource, it doesn't make sense to do a wholesale deployment of 1XEV-DO,” said Chris Smith, executive vice president of network services for CDMA super-regional carrier Alltel. “Our preference is DV as the end path. That doesn't preclude us from using DO as customer demand warrants that.”
Oliver Valente, chief technology officer for Sprint PCS, said his company hasn't decided whether it will skip 1XEV-DO altogether because the company doesn't know where the data market is headed.
“If the data market takes off in a big way, [DO] could be deployed on a large scale. If higher-bandwidth services are not where the mass market goes, then we have more time with our 1X deployment,” Valente said. “We're aggressively pushing DV because it's the best solution. It allows for voice and data on one [channel] and doesn't limit the amount of spectrum for data.”
Gerry Flynn, director of advanced technology and standards for Verizon Wireless, the country's largest CDMA operator, is urging the CDMA industry to slow down, calling the aggressive move toward 1XEV-DV the Marie Antoinette syndrome.
“Let them eat cake, yet people would be very happy to have a piece of bread,” he said. “We have a ways to go in terms of understanding how these technologies will really work…. I know some carriers want the specification done on an aggressive schedule. At some point, you have to prove the technology really works.”
Flynn said Verizon plans to aggressively deploy 1X technology and determine what type of demand will exist for high-speed data services. “When the demand for data is more than what we can engineer effectively, then that seems perfect for 1XEV-DO, which is optimized for data,” he said.
A Nokia spokeswoman said simulation work of the 1xtreme proposal showed the technology proposal could process data two to three times faster than the proposal submitted by the L3NQS group. Flynn, however, would like to see a field trial of those results since the 1xtreme is not built on concept already proven with 1X technology and 1XEV-DO standards, although it is backward compatible with 1X technology.
“We are very concerned about deploying technology in an evolutionary process,” Flynn said. “1xtreme starts from a clean slate. That concerns us a great deal. It doesn't seem to concern other carriers at all.”
That's why it appears momentum is building for the Lucent/Qualcomm/Nortel proposal, which is built on existing technology concepts such as 1X and 1XEV-DO, even though the group has submitted just a portion of its simulations.
“The groundwork is built on mature technology that's already standardized,” said Lucent's O'Brien. “The foundation is from 1XEV-DO as well. That's how we came up with DV rather than starting clean.”
Motorola's Touvanas hopes all vendors and carriers will come up with a compromise to meet this month's 3GPP2 deadline. “Our proposal provides more data throughput,” Touvanas said. “We've been listening to operators, and what we're hearing is that we're doing the right thing. That's our fundamental drive for DV.”
Sprint PCS' Valente believes it's unrealistic to merge 1xtreme and the L3NQS proposal.
“I give Motorola credit for developing DV in the first place,” he said. “Now other companies are developing similar kinds of concepts. At this point, there appears to be momentum for Nortel, Qualcomm and Lucent.”
Enterprise Mobility Solutions on Horizon
Wireless Knowledge, Sprint PCS and Qualcomm announced an agreement to accelerate adoption of enterprise mobility solutions. As part of the agreement, Sprint PCS will offer enterprise customers the ability to mobilize their Microsoft Exchange- and Lotus Domino-based systems with Wireless Knowledge Workstyle at a significantly reduced cost. Sprint PCS also will work toward integrating critical data services for various platforms into its existing network. <<
Breakdown of 1X Technology
1XRTT: A 3G standard that adds 144 kb/s data speeds and doubles voice capacity for CDMA carriers. Deployed in 2001/2002.
1XEV-DO: 1X evolution data only; uses a dedicated 1.25 MHz channel to deploy multimedia speeds of up to 2.4 Mb/s. Deployed in second half 2002.
1XEV-DV: 1X evolution data and voice; mixes data and voice on the same channel and offers multimedia speeds of up to 5 Mb/s. Scheduled to be deployed in 2003/2004; not yet standardized.
1XEV-DV Debate: 1xtreme or L3NQS?
1xtreme: Proposed by Motorola and Nokia nearly 17 months ago. Based on newer concepts not built on previous standards work. Backward-compatible to 1X technology.
L3NQS: Proposed by Lucent Technologies, LG Electronics, LSI Logic, Nortel Networks, Qualcomm and Samsung Electronics. Based on standards work already done for 1X technology and 1XEV-DO.
The International Telecommunication Union's Third Partnership Project 2 is expected to vote on a framework for 1XEV-DV this month. <<
Epilogue
[a repeat from the post that kicked off this thread]
Consensus was reached on the baseline framework for CDMA2000 1xEV-DV (data and voice) by 3GPP2 in October 2001. Nominally the framework is a harmonization of different proposals and concepts from many of the 3GPP2 member companies. In actuality the basic framework is based on .... The 1xEV-DV standard published in March 2002 and obtained ITU 3G approval in May 2002.
The baseline framework was decided in time for an initial joint 3G Harmonization meeting in November 2001 which included discussions between 3GPP and 3GPP2 about their respective techniques for achieving higher data rates on their 3G systems. The 3GPP project for achieving higher data rates has been termed: HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) and the 3GPP2 project for achieving higher data rates has been termed 1xEV-DV (CDMA2000 1x Evolution for Data & Voice). This technology evolution will provide integrated voice with simultaneous high-speed packet data, video and video conferencing capabilities and 1xEV-DV will be backward compatible with IS-95A/B and CDMA2000 1x, allowing for a "graceful operator evolution for their CDMA2000 systems".
3gpp2.org
- Eric - |
