Metalink Ltd., a provider of high-performance wireless and wireline broadband communication silicon solutions, today announced that it will demonstrate its WLANPlus chipset, a technology based on the emerging 802.11n standard, with unique capabilities for wireless multimedia distribution, at Interop Japan in Tokyo, June 5-9, 2006, at booth #4U22.

The demonstrations will feature the delivery of high-definition television (HDTV) over wireless LAN, at wire line quality, using Metalink's WLANPlus technology. WLANPlus is an advanced Wireless Local Area Networking (WLAN) technology, designed to enable high-throughput, rich-content, quality-critical applications. Targeted at the emerging 802.11n standard, WLANPlus introduces a significant increase in WLAN throughput and range over 802.11a or 802.11g. WLANPlus addresses the growing need for wireless A/V streaming and high-speed data. Exhibiting breakthrough data rates in true indoor environments, WLANPlus is suitable for products and services that require guaranteed performance and large bandwidth, while supporting WiFi legacy interoperability. This solution provides an optimal high-throughput wireless interface for various consumer electronics products such as Residential Gateways, DTV, HDTV, Set Top Boxes, Media Adaptors and Digital Video Recorders (DVR).


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Is it time for Muni WiFi from the Big Wireless Carriers?

Back in 2001 while taking some courses to finish my Masters degree I wrote a paper on the business case for a wireless carrier like Verizon Wireless, who I was working for at the time, to deploy WiFi equipment at each of their cell locations. While using existing infrastructure and asset the big wireless carrier could quickly build a large wireless data network. But Verizon Wireless and Qualcomm had a different view of what the future of wide area wireless data looked like. Qualcomm still wants to discount the compelling use of WiFi technology for Muni wireless broadband systems. Mobile WiMAX may be a way to have WiFi like connection across a lager area.

According to Yankee Group estimates there are around 300 municipal wireless projects in the US, and municipal wireless projects will probably account for a USD 400 million spend next year, a heady year-on-year growth, albeit from a modest base. I may be way off base but it seems that the big wireless carriers could easily take control of this rapidly growing Muni WiFi movement and spin it to their advantage. The wireless carriers are seeing a shift in traditional voice revenue as IP convergence takes place as more data and IP packets travel across these wide area wireless connections. For now it is still a distance versus speed issue. Meaning distance away from a Cell Site/AP versus the actual bandwidth the users will experience out in the field. Newer UTMS and EVDO technologies have significantly increased the mobile data speeds but are still much slower than the old 802.11b standard that has been around for some time now. This is why it is important to use a Mobile Router solution either via hardware or software that allows for the user to seamless roam between wireless networks. This is where I feel the wireless carriers could have really stepped up and hit a home run with Wide Area Networks in place and with the in house resources the major wireless carriers could have deployed smaller higher speed WiFi type network that would roam onto their wide area mobile data networks. Sprint and T-Mobile probably did the most with regards to WiFi with agreements with Star Bucks, major airports, and hot spots aggregator like Boingo and Wayport. Maybe the timing is now right for the big carriers to take 802.11 seriously and use it to their advantage.

Can WiMAX kill 3G?

This morning I notived a very interesting article on the growth of WiMAX and how it could change the wireless broadband lndscape.

“We need some big elephants,” says the senior executive of a Tier 1 vendor in Vienna this week. The "elephants" he means are simply the incumbent operator customers and large national networks that with large procurement contracts would drive the WiMAX community forward, and prices down for everyone, leading to further economies of scale in a virtuous cycle. Some of this may just be beginning to happen.


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M2Z offered U.S. Treasury 5% of gross revenues

WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - Three Silicon Valley venture capital firms are backing a project to grab a slice of valuable U.S. wireless airwaves to offer nationwide high-speed Internet service, according to a recent regulatory filing.

M2Z is trying to capitalize on President George W. Bush's call to have universal access to high-speed Internet, known as broadband, by 2007. The United States recently fell to 16th in world rankings for broadband penetration.

"M2Z's ultimate goal, through its own service, is to drive development of the broadband marketplace so that access is affordable and future penetration levels are near-ubiquitous throughout the country," the company said in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission.


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Toronto Hydro Deploys Canada's Largest Wi-Fi Zone

Toronto Hydro Telecom plans to make Toronto the largest ubiquitous Wi-Fi zone in Canada. Negotiations with Siemens Communications Group relating to the terms and conditions of equipment supply, implementation and services are ongoing and have not yet been finalized.

"Siemens’ proposal was based on leading-edge third-generation wireless technology that more than meets our criteria for reliability, speed and scalability. That's exactly what a world-class city such as Toronto needs in order to steer a course to greater competitiveness and productivity," said David Dobbin, President, Toronto Hydro Telecom.



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The United States Department of Commerce (2002) noted, “Broadband high-speed, always on Internet connectivity represents the next phase in the evolution of the Internet. Most experts predict broadband access will enable the creation of new applications and services that will transform economies and significantly impact the competitiveness of the businesses of the future”. It is clear that the internet has changed the way we work and go about our dialy lifes. But According to Nielsen/Net Ratings data, as of March 2004, the United States broadband penetration of home connectivity was 45 percent, while at work penetration stood at 70 percent. Nearly three out of four U.S. households with a phone have access to the Internet, an overall penetration rate of 75 percent (Nielsen/Net Ratings, 2004). More recently, wireless Internet access has entered the mainstream of the United States and industrialized countries. As a result, broadband access to the Internet has increased and become more available to the general population.

Wireless networks have now become mainstream fueled by the avaiabilty of wireless enable laptops and PDA's. According to Gartner, an estimated 99 million people will be using Wi-Fi by 2006. The numbers are fast approaching a true mass-market level. Wi-Fi is cheap, powerful, and, most important, it works. Among the geeks, Wi-Fi has become a fascination, a glimpse of the future of the Internet. Like the Web, it is open, unregulated, and free. Anyone can deploy it, and millions have. For many it is an epiphany - the unforgettable impact of being in the presence of something important and new. Wi-Fi technology is not limited to the office environment alone. With the proper broadcast technology, it can become an extensive wide area network, permitting an enterprise to link its staff together through a virtual private network across a corporate campus or across the country.

Wireless Public Safety Infrastructure

Wireless connectivity has emerged as a vital public infrastructure just as important as the leased landline networks, roads, bridges, water systems. During the industrial age we saw trains, planes and automobiles change the way we work and live. Today during the information age many new technologies have changed the way we live as well and how public safety personnel respond to, and react to security concerns, threats, and incidents as they happen. As cities across the country explore building city wide WiFi or Wireless Broadband Networks to blanket their particular areas, many are watching how these initial deployments. According the MuniWireless.com there are over 300 cities and towns across the US who either have Muni Wireless RFP’s on the street or in the process of deploying systems.

Smart Valley is probably the largest government led Muni WiFi effort underway to date. Collectively Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network (JVSVN) and the San Mateo County Telecom Authority (SAMCAT) seeks to build a 1500 sq mile high speed wireless data network that would cover the entire Silicon Valley. If there is a place that could honestly do this I believe Silicon Valley would be the place that could. Digital Communities (www.govtech.net) did a survey of State and Local governments and found that 61 percent of the respondents believed that public safety is the area where wireless technology is most likely to deliver the greatest value.

Nationally first responders increasingly use wireless to enhance safety and increase productivity. The benefits of having wireless access in the field are obvious. The major obstacle and challenge is finding the funding to purchase the needed equipment to build out the wireless system. Over the past year it has matured a little, but for the most part the Muni WiFi space is still in its infancy.

Basically there are several ways a city can successfully deploy a wireless broadband system. One way is to have a WISP/ISP build own or operate the network and try to generate revenue, but this has a very challenging ROI business model. Cities can partner with a WISP/ISP and share the revenue/costs, which is much more attractive to the municipalities, and according the EarthLink is their preferred way of doing business with their new Municipal Networks Business. Another way is for the local governments build their own private network. Most of the Muni Wireless systems are deployed for public net access for citizens. I believe that a separate infrastructure should be deployed for mission critical public safety personnel who do not share the same network with the general public.