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Technology Stocks : The *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rob S. who wrote (20763)	4/9/2007 5:57:51 PM
From: axial	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 46821

Rob, there's been a lot of to-and-fro on the advantages/ disadvantages of WiFi/WiMax. So your responses answer some questions. Peter has been a strong advocate of WiFi ("WiMax is whatever they say it is"). Not that there's anything wrong with that; I think most observers are aware of the commercial turf war in wireless. But the question that remains is: "So why is anyone* buying into WiMax?"* Where licensed spectrum is available, the case for WiMax as an adjunct to existing mobile networks is good. Granted, price points have to move down. The power usage of OFDM-enabled portable devices still leaves something to be desired, too. Mobile operators need a way to migrate to all-IP, beyond what was anticipated in IMT 2000. Simply put, they can't handle the emerging paradigm in the way they had planned. Their existing networks can be shaped to handle premium service, but they can't bear the cost and load of future throughput demand when it runs parallel to a discounted wireless market, especially for voice. This is a market that will sacrifice QOS for price. If they don't find a way to bridge the cost/throughput gap, and the impact on traditional voice revenues, they're in trouble. Femtocells are another question: depending on range, we should also look at UWB as an alternative. It could be a fragmented market, which takes us back to the question of multimode devices, which takes us to software radio, which takes us to regulatory questions, and so on. Long-term, multimode devices seem to be the answer, notwithstanding changes in spectrum allocation. At a guess, the user market will look to OEMs to solve the problems, and regulators will move with technological trends set by them. But as you say, "only if I live long enough!" Jim

To: Rob S. who wrote (20763)	4/10/2007 4:30:37 AM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 46821

Responding to both posts, thanks, Rob S. Some of Jim's questions overlap my own. You've piqued my interest in the femto-to-pico solution, to the point that I see I could use some more reading in that area. I think back to some of the installations I've seen over the years for commercial properties and wonder about the efficacy of one or two APs per floor that were positioned "just right" after RF field surveys, compared to using a shotgun approach of many more points based on smaller footprints. Of course, there are roaming issues to be concerned with, as well. Do the femtos you've alluded to accommodate roaming and handoffs between adjacent areas, or is that function shipped upstream to the picos? Or, am I just off to a bad start with this whole notion? FAC

To: Rob S. who wrote (20763)	4/11/2007 2:07:34 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 46821

Editorial: Odd bedfellows: NextWave acquires IPWireless Lynnette Luna, Editor - Fierce WiFi April 11, 2007 fiercewifi.com Why would a professed WiMAX company acquire a firm that builds networks based on a competing technology? NextWave Wireless, which has been pumping a lot of money into developing WiMAX and building its own chipsets, announced plans to acquire privately held IPWireless, the maker of TD-CDMA wireless broadband technology, for $100 million in cash at closing, another $25 million in cash and $75 million in NextWave stock. NextWave has an interesting strategy, however. It's in a unique position of owning a rather substantial swathe of spectrum in the 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz and Advanced Wireless System bands (1710-1755 MHz and 2110-2155 MHz), while amassing pieces to make it a provider of broadband products and technology. NextWave sells WiMAX chipsets through its NextWave Broadband subsidiary, and has gotten into the deployment of WiFi networks through the $13.3 million acquisition of Go Networks. The company is also involved in mobile video to cell phones through the acquisition of PacketVideo. With all that spectrum, does NextWave plan to become a service provider? No. "A service provider is not something we have aspirations to be but we want to make spectrum available to those who want to enter the space and use our products and technologies," said Roy Berger, NextWave's executive vice president of marketing and communications. "The possibilities are very broad, and we're having lots of discussions with a lot of people who are interested in enhancing existing wireless capabilities or in many cases companies who are not currently viewed as service providers and want to become service providers." TD-CDMA is a commercially proven technology that has been deployed commercially in a handful of countries, including the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Germany, South Africa, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Last October, New York City officials awarded a five-year, $500-million contract to global defense company Northrop Grumman to build a broadband wireless public-safety network based on TD-CDMA. Sprint Nextel had evaluated the technology, even investing $14 million in the company, but ultimately went with WiMAX because it struggled with the lack of an ecosystem surrounding TD-CDMA. It could very well be the public-safety community that lifts the TD-CDMA ecosystem. The TD-CDMA system in New York is utilizing 10 megahertz of licensed spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band obtained via lease agreements with Sprint Nextel, the nation's largest holder of 2.5 GHz spectrum, and Trans Video Communications, owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn. That model could be replicated in many other cities using NextWave spectrum. Meanwhile, NextWave, which quietly went public last year and raised $355 million last month, is aiming to launch at least one market to show off its capabilities. Can the company make its strategy fly? It seems there is a significant amount of money that has to go into this business model with difficulty in scaling given the fact that WiMAX isn't commercial yet and TD-CDMA lacks an ecosystem. --Lynnette ------