WiMAX Makes a Mesh

If WiMAX and Wi-Fi technologies can work together in a mesh environment, it would bring at least a temporary resolution to the issue of whether or not the technologies are actually competitive with one another. It seems that as the wireless newcomer, WiMAX always has been viewed as being potentially competitive with every other wireless broadband access technology, including 3G and Wi-Fi, but using WiMAX as the backhaul method in a Wi-Fi mesh topology will prove the two technologies to be complementary.

Even though companies like Intel and groups such as the WiMAX Forum are pushing for WiMAX to become the next great end-user broadband access technology, the large and growing variety of Wi-Fi-enabled laptops and other consumer electronics devices suggests that WiMAX will have to wait in line for a few years, InStat's Bogen said.

“It's already happening, but in 2006 and in 2007, Wi-Fi coverage is going to be everywhere, and Wi-Fi connectivity is going to be in all kinds of devices,” Bogen said. “By 2009, WiMAX will be getting penetration into more consumer electronics devices, but by that point, there could be 10 times or 20 times as many Wi-Fi devices.”

“We don't expect WiMAX to be an important subscriber technology for a while yet,” added Craig Mathias, senior analyst at the FarPoint Group. “In the meantime, the majority of the access will be Wi-Fi.”

Nortel's Gustafson agreed. “The advantages of Wi-Fi don't disappear just because WiMAX shows up. The two will coexist,” he said.

Network operators like MetroFi also like the idea of bringing WiMAX to the metro backbone and leveraging Wi-Fi in the access realm.

“Trying to do WiMAX to the notebook PC or to the home wouldn't provide any benefit to my customers or at least it definitely won't in 2006,” Haas said.

Eventually, the hybrid WiMAX/mesh architectures of the near future will give way to mesh networks completely consisting of WiMAX technology, many believe. That gradual migration will start with the certification of equipment based on the 802.16e Mobile WiMAX standard.

“The kind of WiMAX that is used in backhaul will not be the kind of WiMAX that goes to the end user,” Mathias said.

Irani said Strix is planning to develop an 802.16e WiMAX mesh system at the same time it is building its 802.16-2004 version, in order to be ready for the Mobile WiMAX market to take off.

It could be 2008 before that happens to a large degree. However, Bogen said that while Wi-Fi access will remain dominant for the foreseeable future, the move to WiMAX remains the long-term destination for mesh.

“WiMAX will be used as backhaul for mesh for now, but it could also emerge as a competitive technology,” he said. “That will happen at some point, but Wi-Fi mesh has a couple of years of growth ahead of it.”