Keeping the faith

All technology sectors are plagued, to varying degrees, by developmental delays and broken promises. But the patience of the technology buyers also varies.

“There's been a lot of bad blood in this space.”
—Rami Hadar, co-founder of Ensemble Communications

Ongoing contention over rival technology formats is one of the things that keeps the broadband communications industry lively. Think of how mundane the analog-to-digital wireless network transition would have been, for example, if the warring air interface factions hadn't been around to hurl their acronym-laden battle cries at one another.

The broadband wireless access sector is not immune to the trend. One of the central debates in this realm surrounds the effectiveness of two different network architectures: point-to-point and point-to-multipoint.

Theoretically, the two architectures are about as simple as their names suggest. Point-to-point, the more established method, creates a dedicated bandwidth link. Point-to-multipoint is newer, and its supporters claim its shared-bandwidth and inherent bursting characteristics make it superior.

Ensemble Communications is a diehard supporter of the point-to-multipoint format. The San Diego-based company has been developing a point-to-multipoint system since it was founded in 1997. Its systems currently are in commercial trials in networks operated by LMDS license holder Adelphia Business Solutions, and Ensemble has OEM and distribution agreements with the likes of Lucent Technologies and DMC Stratex Networks. So things are moving along for Ensemble.

But service providers are impressionable—and antsy. They need revenue, and some will use every tool at their disposal to pursue it. And many of them don't consider point-to-multipoint systems to be one of those available tools.

Therein lies Ensemble's problem. The “bad blood” in Ensemble co-founder Rami Hadar's comment refers not only to delays in the commercial availability of point-to-multipoint systems, but also to some service providers' disappointment with what Hadar calls “first generation” point-to-multipoint solutions. His concern is that those factors have soured the industry's perception of the architecture. He believes carriers have turned prematurely to less-effective point-to-point solutions in cases where point-to-multipoint would serve their needs better.

So Hadar's mission is to curb industry skepticism about point-to-multipoint. To do that, however, he must convince service providers to be patient. Hadar and his Ensemble colleagues steadfastly believe that point-to-multipoint is the only architecture that will make broadband wireless a widespread, mainstream access technology—and that proof of that will be borne out over time.

Point-to-point has its place for connecting the tallest buildings with the biggest capacity requirements, Hadar agrees. But without point-to-multipoint, he says, those service providers will never be able to penetrate the mass of buildings 10 stories and below in size, where many more smaller businesses with more moderate bandwidth requirements lurk. In other words, they never will be able to get to the source of what could be truly considered mass-market revenue.

Ensemble has its work cut out for it. All technology sectors are plagued, to varying degrees, by developmental delays and broken promises. But the patience of the technology buyers also varies.

Right now the most important issue Ensemble and other point-to-multipoint backers face is how long service providers are willing to wait—and what it will take to restore their confidence. If their patience lapses, the broadband wireless sector could get even bloodier.

Contact Jason Meyers at jmeyers@intertec.com