March 2009

Gartner Report : India to Have 6.9 Million WiMAX Users by 2011

admin on March 31, 2009

According to the predictions made by Gartner, a leading market research company, India will have 6.9 Million mobile and fixed WiMAX subscribers by the end of 2011, significantly higher from 35,200 in 2007.

As mobile frequencies will not be available in the short term, Gartner does not expect mobile WiMAX rollouts to be available at larger scales before 2009, at the earliest. Therefore, most WiMAX connections in the short and mid-term will be for nomadic or fixed wireless applications.

While the government policy proposes extensive rural coverage using WiMAX, Gartner believes that due to the limitations of the spectrum allocation, the only deployment for a sustained business case is to bring WiMAX broadband (point-to-point 802.16-2004) to rural centers in villages or schools, hospitals and so on. Mr. Naresh Singh, principal research analyst, said, “Indian will remain an important market for WiMAX technology, but the Indian government has failed to create enough enthusiasm among operators to take the technology across the country. Thus, the government should offer easy and affordable licenses to mobile carriers so that they get attracted towards the WiMAX market.[...] Overall, the long term potential of the Indian WiMAX market heavily relies on spectrum allocation, WiMAX ecosystem maturation, and the timeliness of WiMAX and 3G licenses.””

gartner-india-wimax-forcast

According to Gartner, the timeline and bandwidth of 3G and WiMAX licenses will heavily impact the future mobile broadband access market share in between 3G and WiMAX. The permission for mobility in the WiMAX license will also influence the future of WiMAX growth.… Read the rest

Sprint’s WiMax Plan for 2010 : Boston, New York, San Francisco and Washington

admin on March 31, 2009

sprint-wimax-network Sprint outlined its plan for WiMax services and equipment on Wednesday. Not surprisingly, Sprint’s plans to sell WiMax service lines up identically with Clearwire’s WiMax deployment schedule.

” Sprint continues to lead the wireless industry by harnessing the power of WiMax [...] The availability of Sprint 4G in more places this year and our aggressive expansion of Sprint 4G service demonstrates our commitment to provide 4G capabilities and devices nationwide for our business, consumer and government customers. These capabilities enable significantly enhanced performance and productivity for our customers.” said Todd Rowley, vice president of Sprint 4G, in a statement.

This year, Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Chicago, Seattle, Philadelphia and Portland will get WiMax . In 2010 the service will come to Boston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. In the next two years, Sprint plans to launch multiple 4G devices including a single-mode 4G data card, devices embedded in laptops, a small-office/home-office broadband modem and also a tri-mode phone.

Sprint is pushing to expand its Wimax services before its rivals get going with networks based on Long Term Evolution technology.… Read the rest

Interview with Market Expert David Klein about Wimax

Ari Zoldan on March 31, 2009

centris David Klein is the Executive Vice President of CENTRIS, a Los Angeles-based market research firm specializing in household use of voice, video, data, and electronic products and services. Mr. Klein has over twenty years of experience in research and planning, with a particular emphasis on media, the Internet and technology, and television and film. He is a sought-after speaker, frequently cited by the press as an expert in technology and media. He frequently advises clients on new media, effective advertising, and brand portfolio management.

Are consumers willing to pay for Wimax? Absolutely. Having reliable broadband not limited by location is definitely something that consumers are willing to pay for and when they see what specifically they can do with it, WiMAX could become a major player in the consumer’s consideration set.

Where is Hollywood placing its bets in new media? A bunch of places. With new media, Hollywood likes to follow the advertisers and advertisers are taking serious looks at mobile and wireless. The personal experience, the interactivity, the control. These have the potential to create a more intimate brand-consumer relationship. And in the age of commercial skipping, this is where advertisers want to be,.

What are the growth engines for WiMax and broadband services in general ? Clearly, video has made a big splash when looking at it from a business standpoint. As speeds increase, video will continue to transform the online experience from a text-based interaction to a multi-capability, viewer-centric interaction, that involve consumers on a personal level.

What can content developers do to expand their online presence ? This is where most content developers fall short. It is essential to understand that repurposing content from one media platform to another does very little to build a media brand or create a unique online interaction. Content developers need to ask themselves the following questions: Does my online experience provide a unique experience that fully leverages all of the capabilities of the platform and do these capabilities make for a deeper experience with the brand? At the end of the day it is about more brand interactions not substituting interactions from one platform to another.

Can anyone make money in the new media landscape ? Even in a challenging economy, it is important to remember that economic cycles dictate that 20% of the time, the economy is contracting, meaning that downturns are temporary and very few companies actually … Read the rest

Wimax coming in Rural Areas

Ari Zoldan on March 31, 2009

rural-wimax Cutting-edge. Fast-paced. High-tech. No, these phrases are not describing a major metropolis. They are the terms that will be associated with the spacious grass fields and dusty dirt roads of rural America –with the help of WiMAX technology, that is.
Recent developments in the WiMAX field have shown a great move toward the small towns and suburbs all over the nation, providing high-speed internet access to areas which have never had such a big-city luxury. Much of the WiMAX technology’s efforts to spread to rural parts have been facilitated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the stimulus package proposed by President Obama, which allocates $7.2 billion for complete broadband and wireless Internet access.
On March 30, 2009, the most recent display of the WiMax move was publicized. AlphaStar International, a direct-to-home satellite broadcasting service, and Computers & TeleComm (CTC) announced a new partnership that will use government funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment stimulus package to develop high-speed WiMax services in rural areas. This new WiMax network will contain terrestrial WiMax transmitters and the AlphaStar Teleport satellite that will be used for backhaul.
Yes, it is possible for the wonders of WiMax to reach the hills and valleys yonder, a fact which exhibits the ubiquity of WiMax. Wherever, whenever, and however, WiMax can jump right in, adapt to the technological environment, and save the population from those oh-so-aggravating internet stalls and glitches. Besides for its apparent adaptability, WiMax is also a low-cost network which provides reliable services. Customer satisfaction increases as a result, thereby spreading its popularity around the globe.
WiMax is a powerful technology; it can improve the lives of rural country dwellers and have an international impact on the world as well. Its true capacity is only beginning poke at the surface of the modern age. Don’t sit back and watch the WiMax whirlwind storm by. Hop on.… Read the rest

Overview of Airspan’s WIMAX products

admin on March 30, 2009

Airspan is a worldwide leader in broadband wireless with over 400 customers in more than 100 countries. As a founding member of the WiMAX Forum™, Airspan has led the way in WiMAX, being among the first wave of companies to achieve certification for its base station and end user premises equipment. Airspan is also leading the race to Mobile WiMAX. Through a careful choice of advance technologies, the flagship base station HiperMAX is software upgradeable to Mobile WiMAX. The recently announced MacroMAXe and MicroMAXe products also use the same baseband technology first developed for HiperMAX. The IEEE 802.16e-2005 compliant, quad-band MiMAX USB device, announced in 2006, will be the first Wave2 compatible Mobile WiMAX device for laptops.

airspan-overview

Airspan has always taken the lead to bring real-world solutions to WiMAX networks. Two examples of particular note are the seamless integration of WiMAX and Wi-Fi technologies and the introduction of VoiceMAX. Airspan’s Intel-based EasyST and ProST CPEs have versions with Wi-Fi Access Point functionality. This capability enables them to simultaneously offer both WiMAX and Wi-Fi, thus enabling the service provider to address a variety of markets including fixed, nomadic, portable and Mobile WiMAX together with any Wi-Fi enabled device. The challenges associated withdelivering time critical services such as voice and video over a shared medium such as wireless access are well known. Airspan’s VoiceMAX gives operators the ability to deliver carrier-grade VoIP through a software suite that provides admission control and manages network congestion to deliver the best user experience for VoIP calls across a HiperMAX network operating fixed, nomadic and mobile profiles simultaneously. We in Airspan believe that now is the right time to build your WiMAX networks. The advanced technologies we have embedded into our productsensure that whether you plan to start with Fixed WiMAX and migrate to Mobile WiMAX in the future or go for Mobile WiMAX from the outset, your investment is safe and your network is ready for tomorrow’s opportunities. Its industry leading technologies and solutions coupled with years of experience of building and supporting large BWA networks make Airspan the ideal partner for Mobile and Fixed WiMAX deployments.

The Ultimate WiMAX Product Family

Base Stations : HiperMAX, MacroMAXd, MacroMAXe, MicroMAXd, MicroMAXe

End User Devices : MiMAX USB, EasyST, EasyWiFi, EasyVoice, ProST, ProST-WiFi

Network Products : ControlMAX, VoiceMAX

Network Management : Netspan

Airspan WiMax Products Brochure [QuantumWimax.com]

… Read the rest

The HiperMAX base station from Airspan

admin on March 30, 2009 | 1 comment

Airspan WiMAX HiperMAX - Base Station Airspan HiperMAX is the ultimate Mobile WiMAX base station designed for high-density deployment situations. HiperMAX has been architected to provide a highly scalable, fully redundant base station product that will continue to deliver the optimum performance for years to come.

HiperMAX is fully compatible with the Mobile WiMAX Network Reference Model (NRM) as part of the Access Service Network (ASN). HiperMAX supports the reference point (R6) between the base station and the ASN Gateway as well as the reference point (R8) between base stations. HiperMAX interworks with Airspan’s ASN Gateway called ControlMAX and with other third party ASN gateways.

HiperMAX form Airspan represents the state of the art, next generation base station design and includes:

Fully upgradeable, software defined, PHY and MAC layers enabling simultaneous support for both mobile WiMAX (SOFDMA) and Fixed WiMAX (OFDM)
Fully digital, OBSAI based, fibre optic interfaces between indoor and outdoor equipment, which can operate at up to 3km.
Multi-channel transmit and receive diversity
2×2 and 4×2 MIMO configurations
4 or 8 channel Smart Antenna Systems (SAS)
Support for FDD and TDD profiles HiperMAX is designed to deliver the best link budget with the highest capacity and net throughput; all essential qualities for macro-cell deployments used in typical wireless roll out.

Airspan HiperMAX implements an all-outdoor radio with up to eight-element antenna array system. All Airspan HiperMAX base stations support SAS and multi-channel Transmit and Receive diversity and are platform ready for SDMA, which uses the antenna array to enhance capacity and improve frequency re-use. HiperMax base stations cooperate with the IMS which is part of the Connectivity Service network (CSN) to deliver voice and other multimedia services and can also be configured to support VoIP applications, using a standard media gateway to the PSTN.

The flexibility of the HiperMAX architecture allows many deployment configurations including those suited to both macro and micro cellular installations. It supports all outdoor as well as split indoor / outdoor configurations allowing the operator to select the deployment model best suited to operational expense considerations and site access constraints.

A HiperMax base station from Airspan configured for traditional multi-sector macro-cell deployments consists of a baseband section, suitable for location within a protected environment, and an outdoor RF section. The indoor boards, referred to as blades within the ATCA standard, are housed in a 5 or 14 slot NEBS compliant ATCA chassis. The outdoor enclosure contains the RF subsystem components, … Read the rest

Company Profile : Airpsan

admin on March 30, 2009

logo Airspan

Airspan Networks, Inc. provides broadband fixed wireless access equipment and other technologies that enable the delivery of data and voice services using radio frequencies. The company offers voice-over-Internet protocol network infrastructure equipment and solutions, such as soft switches and gateways; network management systems that perform configuration, alarm, test, and performance management activities;…

…more information about Airspan on Wimax Equipment Blog

… Read the rest

Update: Rural WiMax Effort May Now Be a Reality

admin on March 30, 2009

With the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allocating at least $7 billion to begin efforts to spread wireless broadband availability to underdeveloped regions of the United States, AlphaStar International and Computers & Tele-Comm (CTC) announced a new partnership to begin this process. Reports have shown the new partnership will use government funds from the stimulus package to develop high-speed WiMax services in rural areas.
The companies plan to have a network that consists of terrestrial WiMax transmitters and the AlphaStar Teleport satellite service that will be used for backhaul. The companies also plan to use network backhaul handled via satellite link allowing them use low-cost government-approved hardware for their ground network that will ensure reliable WiMax services. In turn, customers will use low-cost radios at their locations to deploy the wireless services, which will be used to stream high quality audio and video.

Projects such as these are only a small component to the entire stimulus effort to begin breathing life back into the nation’s economy. This localized WiMax expansion effort can lead to other useful innovations in the telecom industry that will ultimately advance and prepare the United States for the 21st century. By uniting the nation through cheaper and efficient wireless services, the WiMax industry is one step closer in not only bridging technological divides, but in becoming the technology of the future.

… Read the rest

In Stat: Wimax Deployments Resilient despite Economic Downturn

admin on March 19, 2009

In a research piece published yesterday In Stat, a research firm based in Arizona is staying positive on the future of Wimax expansion. According to the report, there were 132 announced deployments in the fourth quarter of 2008, consisting of 95 HSPA, 18 WCDMA, 12 mobile WiMAX, 6 CDMA EV-DO, and a single TD SCDMA.
Based on the contract award activity over the past few quarters, In-Stat expects most of the deployments through new live networks to be WiMAX and HSPA. In addition, the report states that a significant slowdown in contracts for WCDMA and CDMA EV-DO equipment has been observed.
“Based on contract awards, WiMAX deployments are remaining resilient in the face of the economic slowdown, although some operators are slowing the deployment rate” says Daryl Schoolar, In-Stat analyst. “The Wimax equipment heavy weights of Alcatel-Lucent, Alvarion, Motorola and Samsung are benefiting from the trend. Other vendors to watch include Cisco, Huawei and ZTE.”
According to the press release, ln Stat contends that WiMAX will have to prove itself over the next couple of years with the rise of HSPA and LTE. In-Stat expects mobile WiMAX to be attractive in developing countries and remote locations in which fixed broadband networks are not yet deployed. It is still unknown whether or not mobile WiMAX will be competitive in locations with existing 3G cellular and fixed broadband networks

… Read the rest

Interview with Marc Wallis “Clear” Wimax Subscriber In Portland, Oregon

admin on March 18, 2009

“I have been using mobile service since the middle of December and home (fixed) service for about 1 month. In regards to] mobile service – I use the mobile service frequently, but not every day – and to this date, the service is not failed (ie. not been available in an area I know it should be there when I wanted to use it). now, I have come across spots that are dead – little to no signal. I’m hoping over time, they will locate and eliminate these dead zones. They only officially launched in January, so I am sure they have not tested every possible connection spot.

The only limitation I’m finding is that mobile service indoors is spotty. At my house, it’s fine indoors. At Costco, indoors, it’s fine. But at the hospital, in the waiting area (deeper inside an 8-story building) I couldn’t get a signal. I finally did get my signal up on the 7th floor, in a patient room near the window. As long as I’ve been outdoors, I’m getting good solid service in the areas that I travel.
Here is a google map that I’ve created mapping the connection speeds I’m getting at various places in my area

How has your experience been with fixed Wimax?

so far, so good, it hasn’t failed yet, in the 1 month I’ve had it. I found the location in my home with the best signal strength, connected it to a network switch that is running hard wires to some spots in my house as well as a WiFi access point. All my computers are happy. I’m getting an average of 2.0 – 2.5 Mbps when using the computers on my home network -both wired and wireless.

Do you Feel the price is right for the service that you are getting ?

Yes, it’s very cost effective. For my home service, I’m paying $30/month with no contract. If I signed up for a contract, I could save even more.
Even the mobile service, advertised at $50/month for unlimited usage, is good.

I’ve always been a mobile internet user, but have been limited to wifi hotspots. Now, I can connect anytime anywhere I want to … that’s extremely convenient for me. I could be in my car parked in the middle of a field and still get access to the internet and the things I need/want to do. … Read the rest

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March 2009

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