The Heat Is On

The summer is turning out to be a hot one for broadband wireless, and there are no signs that it will cool off any time soon. Although there were less than 100,000 broadband wireless subscribers in 1998, a recent Allied Business Intelligence (ABI) report said that number will reach more than 4 million by 2004. Although cable modems and ADSL services have had a head start, ABI reports the future of Internet access is wireless, including LMDS, MMDS, 38GHz and fixed-wireless technologies.

Some big-name players are recognizing the importance of joining the broadband wireless segment and are taking steps to make sure ABI's prediction becomes a reality. The proof is in the news and the onslaught of vendor and carrier announcements over the past few months.

The summer started with a bang when Sprint and MCI WorldCom announced billion-dollar investments in several MMDS companies. Then, Cisco and Motorola kicked off Supercomm '99 with their agreement to jointly purchase Bosch Telecom's fixed-wireless assets. The agreement creates a company called SpectraPoint Wireless, which will focus on delivering high-speed data, voice and video via broadband wireless technology.

Harris and Wavtrace have formed a strategic alliance to address the broadband wireless market. The companies will collaborate on distribution, manufacturing and technology. Harris will sell and support Wavtrace products, and will acquire a significant equity position in the company.

Announcements weren't limited to the vendor circle. Carriers saw their share of action as well. Advanced Radio Telecom (ART) announced a 251 million equity investment from Qwest and a group of investment funds. Qwest, which put up 90 million of the investment, gained a 19% interest in the company. The investment should help speed up ART's high-speed wireless network deployment. On the same day, Liberty Media Group, an AT&T affiliate, signed an agreement that gave it a 41% position in Teligent.

Several carriers also have announced vendor selections and trial deployments. At Supercomm '99 ART announced it is using Triton Network Systems' consecutive point 100Mb/s radio for its Silicon Valley Internet access trial. ART, which is focused on delivering Internet access to small- and medium-size businesses, will use the trial to evaluate Triton's Invisible Fiber Internet products for reliability, quality and cost-effectiveness. The pilot network will provide IP connectivity to five multitenant buildings for 90 days. If all goes well, ART will use the system as one of several technology solutions for commercial deployment.

Tri Corners Telecommunications has selected Newbridge Networks as its networking vendor for LMDS services. Full-scale services are scheduled to commence in December. Tri Corners is targeting video conferencing and premium IP services for business and residential customers, government, medical and educational institutions. Gateway Telecom also has selected Newbridge to provide LMDS networking solutions. The carrier plans to start offering commercial service in October 1999.

WinStar selected Giganet to supply its FibeAir 1500 OC-3 microwave radio system for high-capacity data, video and voice networks. And Quest Net, a regional ISP, announced it will use Wireless, Inc.'s WaveNet IP 2458 point-to-multipoint access routers for its network build-out.

In addition, Netro announced it has 12 active AirStar point-to-multipoint trial installations worldwide in Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and the United States through a variety of carriers. As of press time, five deployments support live traffic.

COOLING OFFWith all of this activity, it was no surprise that company stocks such as ART and WinStar spiked. It seems the broadband wireless segment has convinced Wall Street that it has a strong business case.

But despite all of the recent hype, the main technology the fixed-wireless industry is banking on, point-to-multipoint, has relatively few commercial deployments worldwide, especially in the United States. The industry still needs to address several issues before it can expect widespread deployment.

Although the debate between FDMA and TDMA has calmed down with most companies leaning toward the more resource-efficient and flexible TDMA, the war rages on between FDD and TDD technology. Journalists, carriers and analysts are bombarded with discussions on the right choice. Each side is touting its benefits. For example, Ed Champy, Spike Technologies executive vice president, said worldwide channels are allocated for FDD, which is not the case for TDD.

"TDD is new, but it will cost twice as much," added Cynthia Hillery, Netro vice president of marketing.

On the other hand, Ensemble Communications has developed an Adaptive TDD solution, which it claims is a lower-cost and more flexible solution than FDD. In addition, Carlton O'Neal, Ensemble vice president of marketing and sales, said TDD is the only solution for B-band carriers.

Meanwhile, most carriers still are evaluating their limited options, and many vendor-selection announcements are limited to trials and not commercial use. Every day vendors are introducing a variety of new products, but carriers aren't satisfied. This is mainly because a lack of technical standards has created a market saturated with proprietary equipment. It has become an ongoing concern for carriers and industry associations.

According to Dave Jones, Formus Communications vice president, technology, "The standards issue is unclear." But at the very least he said the industry needs a flexible channelization and RF etiquette plan.

Although the Broadband Radio Access Network group and the IEEE are working on projects to establish unified standards, it's not exactly happening at a rapid clip. According to Jones, solutions are at least one to two years away. That's not fast enough for this industry.

"Speed is of the essence. Companies can't afford to stand still. Potential delays that impact equipment reaching our fixed-wireless players is a serious concern," said Jay Kitchen, PCIA president, in a statement issued early last month.

An overall lack of commercial equipment is another problem. Kitchen has emphasized the shortage of LMDS equipment at 31GHz is a critical issue. And according to Jones, there is a desperate need for more complete solutions.

"We need end-to-end systems, not just radios," he said.

Another issue that continues to plague fixed-wireless carriers and customers is the high cost of infrastructure and customer-premise equipment (CPE). According to Spike's Champy, today's CPE costs can reach 2,000. A more ideal price is 500.

"CPE always is a high-cost area. It's a side of the market that needs to be price sensitive where we all must come together," agreed Ron Fangio, Alcatel senior director marketing and strategic planning for fixed wireless.

Much of this problem can be attributed to the lack of equipment choices. Although Jones said this is a problem today, he expects equipment prices will go down 20% to 25% a year. Adaptive Broadband's Salvatore Benti, senior vice president, strategic markets, agreed that equipment will continue to be expensive for the next two to three years until vendors can develop a volume that will reduce cost per user.

Digital Microwave's Paul Kennard, vice president, corporate marketing & CTO, also said the industry needs to find a way to reduce today's high RF link costs. Costs need to drop in half over the next few years, he added.

Broadband wireless carriers have to deal with issues beyond technology. ABI reported that carriers will have to create name and brand recognition and establish reselling channels, all areas in which wireline providers are well versed in local markets. In addition, carriers are dealing with rooftop-access challenges and customer-disconnect/reconnect issues.

But with competitive technologies such as fiber, DSL and cable modems moving forward, can this industry segment afford to wait one to two years for resolutions? Carriers and vendors claim field trials are picking up, and as more companies enter the broadband wireless segment, the choices will increase and prices will drop. With that in mind, they are adamant that fixed wireless is the future of Internet access.

* Alcatel introduced its 9900 system architecture for LMDS networks. The solution does not require external router boxes. It is designed to provideall network configurations and will support all U.S. frequencies.* Digital Mic rowave Corporation (DMC) expanded its Altium SONET/OC-3 radio product line to include U.S. frequencies at 6GHz, 11GHz, 18GHz, 23GHz and 28GHz. Altium point-to-point radios are designed for high-capacity network transmission.

DMC also announced its XP4 series digital microwave radios for LMDS 27.35GHz to 31.30GHz bands. Carriers can deploy the XP4 series as a backhaul or dedicated-access solution for a multi-point environment.

* Ensemble Communications announced that its Adaptix point-to-multipoint solution reaches burst rates up to 120Mb/s. Adaptix technology provides instantaneous asymmetry and bandwidth on demand through Adaptive TDD technology.

* Harris introduced its StarBurst point-to-multipoint product line, which will include Wavtrace products in the millimeter wave frequency 20GHz to 40GHz. The StarBurst system delivers IP or ATM-based multimedia services to small- and medium-size enterprises and residences.

Harris added the Aurora 5800 to its point-to-point product family. Using spread-spectrum technology, the Aurora 5800 operates in the 5.8GHz band. The product enables wireless link operation from 1km to more than 50km. The company's MicroStar outdoor point-to-point digital millimeter wave radio combines conventional indoor/outdoor radio architectures into a package designed to withstand harsh environments.

* IoWave has introduced ioLink 4, a carrier-class solution to provide scaleable bandwidth from 2Mb to 8Mb. IoWave's proprietary ioLink 4 applies the synchronous CDMA standard, enabling it to support four full-duplex, direct-sequence, spread-spectrum channels for T1/E1 communications.

* NEC America's NLITE microwave radio incorporates an indoor unit, outdoor unit and single coaxial cable for interconnection. It also introduced its 3000 series radios, which are the next generation of its 2000 long-haul, high-capacity radios.

* Triton Network Systems introduced its Invisible Fiber Internet solution, which is designed to offer affordable 100Mb/s Internet access to small- and medium-size businesses. The network connects to each end user within a building using a standard 100BaseT Ethernet connection.