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If WiMax technology lives up to the hype, faster data speeds over much greater distances than offered by Wi-Fi hot-spots will be the norm

Wireless technology is transforming the way people and businesses communicate. Cell phones, wireless LANs, wireless home networks, and Wi-Fi hot-spots mean that voice and data communications can take place just about anywhere at any time.

But the big change in communications won't come about until high-speed wireless services become commonplace, something that hundreds of vendors are working feverishly to bring about. The technology of choice is called WiMax, a next-generation version of Wi-Fi that offers much faster speeds and a much greater range.
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"WiMax will enable the wireless Internet and bring about changes of biblical proportions in the way we communicate with each other," Hossein Eslambolchi, CIO and chief technology officer for AT&T, the leading long-distance company, said in an interview last year.

Today, tens of thousands of Wi-Fi hot-spots provide data speeds of a few megabits per second over distances of a few hundred feet. Wireless LANs can reach speeds of more than 50 Mbps, but their reach is still limited. WiMax, if it works as promised, will deliver data speeds of 70 Mbps or more over distances of more than 37 miles--true wireless broadband service.

The market for fixed, or single-location, wireless services, including Wi-Fi and WiMax, is expected to reach $12.4 billion by 2010, according to WinterGreen Research.

But there are still many questions that need to be resolved before WiMax is widely deployed. Standards for the technology are moving forward and equipment is being developed. But the business case for widespread deployment and adoption has yet to be made, and it still isn't clear who, beside equipment vendors, will be the driving force behind bringing WiMax to the mass market.

The WiMax Forum, an industry association, has finalized specifications for fixed WiMax (802.16d) and plans to begin testing equipment for certification this summer. The forum is still working on specs for mobile WiMax (802.16e), which will enable use by people walking down the street or traveling in cars.

Intel and Fujitsu Microelectronics America are both expected to introduce WiMax chipsets this week at the Broadband Wireless World Show in Las Vegas. Both vendors are expected to have equipment makers and service providers on stage with them to help herald in a new era in high-speed wireless communications.

"WiMax is a cost-effective way to bring high-speed Internet access to the next generation of computer users," says Joe English, director of marketing for Intel's broadband wireless division.

Several vendors already are delivering prestandard WiMax products that are being tested by a variety of service providers and some businesses and other organizations.

The U.S. Army is testing prestandard WiMax gear from Telos Corp. at bases such as Fort Carson in Colorado for point-to-point and point-to-multipoint communications. An Army spokesperson wasn't available to discuss the deployment, but Telos says the technology is being used to extend the Army's wired network to hard-to-reach places. The system provides speeds of up to 72 Mbps at a range of 50 miles in point-to-point mode or 15 miles in point-to-multipoint mode. It also incorporates Telos' Xacta Secure Wireless system to provide the high levels of security that the military requires for wireless communications, the company says.

Razor & Tie, a New York record label, replaced a DSL line and a T-1 connection with a high-speed wireless service from TowerStream Corp. "The DSL just wasn't fast enough for us," says Charles Subbiondo, the company's director of office technology. "TowerStream gave us 1.5 Mbps but can provide us with any amount of bandwidth that we want. We liked them because we can expand capacity."

The 75-person company needs a high-speed connection because it sends and receives a lot of large files. "Being in the music business, we are constantly transmitting and exchanging video files and audio files with our customers and our suppliers," Subbiondo says. "We also have our own Web sites that are monitored and managed at this location, so the bandwidth is used to connect to those sites on a regular basis."

Razor & Tie also is looking at using wireless broadband for employees who work from home in the New York metro area. "WiMax could be an area of growth for us in the long term," Subbiondo says.

TowerStream now delivers T1 (1.5 Mbps) and 1-Gbps line-of-sight services to businesses in urban markets such as Boston; Chicago; Los Angeles; Newport/Providence, R.I.; and New York. "We build a metro-area network that covers the whole city with a core high-speed backbone [and] deliver high-speed Internet access from base stations to customers' rooftops or windows," says TowerStream chief operating officer Jeff Thompson.

While faster data speeds attract much of the attention, it's the greater range of WiMax that changes the game. Much like cellular service, WiMax signals are designed to blanket neighborhoods or entire cities. An idea of what that means can be seen in the citywide deployments of Wi-Fi systems now taking place in some locations.

In October, Rio Rancho, N.M., deployed a Wi-Fi system to cover 103 square miles using equipment from Proxim Corp. and services from Azulstar Networks. The system uses several hundred transmitters located throughout the city. "It's a Wi-Fi system that is going to grow as the city continues to have more communities developed," says Peggy McCarthy, assistant to the city administrator.

Rio Rancho deployed the network for several reasons, she says. The city hopes the network will bring in business, give frustrated residents alternatives to service provided by phone and cable TV companies, and provide service to those living in rural areas where cable and DSL aren't available. "We have one neighborhood that's remote enough that it doesn't even get cable or natural gas, but it's going to get broadband wireless," McCarthy says. And an all-digital film studio has unveiled plans to build a facility in the city and transmit video signals to Hollywood without compression.

The network provides fixed and mobile high-speed Internet access as well as more advanced services such as point-to-point VPN connections, voice over IP, wireless video surveillance, and high-speed access for cars traveling at speeds of up to 55 mph and for boats up to 15 miles offshore. Azulstar offers connections of 4 Mbps, CEO Tyler van Houwelingen says.

The system is designed so the transition to WiMax will be easy. "We're creating a footprint for very widespread adoption of WiMax," McCarthy says.

The Rio Rancho deployment shows the potential of high-speed wireless. But in most cases, cities aren't likely to deploy the technology. While WiMax can effectively serve a population such as Rio Rancho's, it's a "far cry from plunking down a bunch of WiMax equipment in the middle of New York City and trying to compete with Time Warner Cable and Verizon for existing broadband subscribers," says Charles Golvin, an analyst at Forrester Research. WiMax might make more sense for connecting Wi-Fi hot-spots and cellular data networks, he says.

WiMax was originally viewed as an alternative to telephone and cable services, and it was expected that long-distance carriers like AT&T and MCI would use the technology to bypass the local service provider networks and connect directly to customers. But now that both of those companies--the nation's two largest long-distance companies--are being acquired by local phone companies, it isn't clear whether they'll have the same enthusiasm for WiMax as they once did.

In addition, WiMax will have to compete with proprietary wireless systems and faster data services that are being introduced by cellular companies.

WiMax opens the door to innovation, Shakouri says.

Still, Mohammad Shakouri, a VP at the WiMax Forum and an executive with wireless equipment maker Alvarion Ltd., says WiMax technology will be incorporated in notebook computers and PDAs, and services will be available by 2006.

"Our vision is to move away from the idea of providing 'pipes' to the home or business and to focus on providing information to the end user, whether that person is at home, at work, or on the go," Shakouri says. "If we can develop a wide area infrastructure to meet those needs, then it will open the door for more innovative uses in our everyday lives."

Many large telephone and cable companies are actively testing WiMax--but none has made a commitment to actually deploy it, Forrester's Golvin says.

Local phone company BellSouth sees WiMax as a promising technology that "enables us to fill in the gaps in our DSL coverage to extend broadband services to rural areas and in the future introduce new and unique wireless services to complement our wireline services," says Mel Levine, director of product development at BellSouth's science and technology division.

But BellSouth is testing a proprietary wireless system that offers speeds of 1.5 Mbps and has a 3- to 5-mile range, and it has no plans to deploy WiMax until it has proven to be more than just hype, Levine says.

That's the challenge for WiMax. Tech vendors have hyped the technology so much that a backlash has developed--and all of this has taken place before anyone has deployed or used the technology. But if WiMax does live up to the hype, it has the potential to dramatically change the way people and businesses communicate.

Sidebar: A ROAD MAP FOR WIMAX

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June 2004 IEEE 802.16d specification for fixed WiMax finalized

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Summer 2005 IEEE 802.16e specification for mobile WiMax finalized

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July 2005 Certification of equipment for fixed WiMax starts

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2005-2006 Initial deployment of fixed WiMax

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4Q 2006 Certification of equipment for mobile WiMax starts

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2006-2007 Initial deployments of mobile WiMax

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Copyright © 2005. InformationWeek.

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