0Bursting onto the scene: Start-up eyes `portable' Internet access opportunity

A group of seasoned executives with competitive carrier and wireless backgrounds plans to unveil a start-up venture this week that will pursue a new variation on the wireless data theme: network technology that uses excess spectrum in PCS bands to provide portable Internet access to laptops and eventually set-top boxes and other Internet appliances.

Burst Wireless was founded late last year by a group led by George Tronsrue, the former president and chief operating officer of Nextlink Communications who also has held senior executive posts at e.spire Communications, Teleport Communications Group and MFS Communications. Tronsrue was attracted to this new venture by the opportunity to enter untouched territory, he said.

"What got my attention is that we have a leadership and first-mover opportunity," Tronsrue said. "This could be for the Internet what the cell phone was for voice."

That same factor, however, is also what gives the effort a heavy dose of risk. To date, PCS spectrum has been used primarily for digital wireless voice and some rudimentary data services such as text messaging and limited Internet access. Metricom, meanwhile, has built a portable data network in several markets and provides its Ricochet 128 kb/s portable data access using spectrum in the 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz bands.

Burst not only faces the challenge of implementing new technology but also of acquiring the 10 MHz of spectrum per market that it estimates it will need to provide service. To that end, the company is negotiating a spectrum-for-equity deal with an incumbent PCS provider that Tronsrue declined to name, and it also plans to participate in the upcoming C Block PCS reauction as a designated entity.

"There's spectrum available on the open market that we've identified, and we will look to buy or partner to obtain it," Tronsrue said.

Burst might be able to acquire enough excess spectrum in certain markets, but trying to make the network seamless could prove difficult, said one industry analyst.

"I don't know if there's enough spectrum to build out a national network, but I don't think it's necessary," said Craig Mathias, a principal with The Farpoint Group. "They'll want to reach people where they live and work."

In the meantime, Burst has obtained an experimental license from the FCC to test its network format in Port Angeles, Wash. The company will use a truck containing base station equipment to handle wireless signals and network traffic.

Network technology is another area in which Burst has not forged any solid alliances with systems developers. The company has talked to ArrayComm and is in discussions with several other vendors, said Richard Compton, Burst's chief technology officer.

"We'll look for technologies that increase capacity by limiting the mobile aspects of wireless," Compton said. "Once you eliminate mobility, you no longer need handoffs and power control."

The envisioned network architecture and base station format is essentially a simplified version of the mobile format, Compton said.

"Rather than going into switches, the network goes into a series of routers, so it's much simpler and much cheaper," he said.

The transmission speeds that Burst plans to offer will be incremental. Initial service will be available at 144 kb/s later this year and increased to 256 kb/s in the first quarter of next year, Tronsrue said. Burst hopes to be able to offer up to 2 Mb/s by 2003, but that bandwidth would be shared by multiple users, he said.

Mathias said Burst's approach makes sense because people's needs and expectations about connectivity become more demanding all the time.

"If there's one great truth in networking, it's that whatever you have is not enough," he said. "The general rule is that, if you can offer bandwidth, you can make money."

The other potential competitive threat to a service like the one Burst is pondering is the promise of mobile data over upgraded third-generation wireless networks. But Burst doesn't see its approach as competitive with 3G wireless services, primarily because of the mobility factor and the transmission speeds that can be achieved.

"Mobile data to a handset is a narrowband application that's not as fully functional as the experience we'll be able to provide," Tronsrue said.

Besides Tronsrue, other Burst executives hail from Nextlink, AT&T Wireless Services, Lucent Technologies and the international division of Nextel Communications. Burst completed its first round of venture funding with Mayfield Group and several private investors and is currently working on its second round of funding.