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FEATURED TOPICDigital Transition -The term "Digital Transition" describes the process all organizations must go through in the 21st Century, as they leverage new technologies that provide new options for Applications, Equipment, Processes, and Networks that make them more effective. In contrast, the term "Municipal Wireless" is limiting. It puts the network technology ahead of the application and process changes that drive the business case. ORIENTATION |
Wireless has a Place at the Table(I think in this particular analogy, wireless is a napkin at the table - for more scintillating analogies, see also The 747 and the Helicopter). After much ado about FTTH, there was indeed some discussion of wireless topics at the Broadband Properties Summit 08 - it wasn't all about fiber, though nearly so. One panel in the MDU track (Multi-Dwelling Unit - that's apartments and condos) was interesting, titled "Wi Fi: Real-World Lessons and Functions." The Moderator was Henry Pye, AVP, Resident Services and Technology, JPI Partners, LLC. On the panel were: The Bottom Line (for those in a hurry) Wireless has a place ... as ... More after the jump (for those who really want all the details ... ) John Baloga - COO, Airwave Infrastructure Options slide Coverage and Capacity slide Steve Carlock, Sales, BelAir Chris Bowman, CTO and Co-Founder, Korcett Holdings Steve Sadler, Director, Ancillary Services, Post Apartment Homes LP Ian Davis, Lawyer, Muncsch Hardt Kopf and Harr Q&A "Please summarize the business value of wireless in an MDU facility?" (I asked this question!) Wireless has a place: Posted on May 13, 2008 at 12:49 PM | Comments (0) Back to Basics, Back to BackhaulHere's an article I came across recently that really drills down on Mesh backhaul - see Meshed metro Ethernet backhaul for Wi-Fi access networks. Posted on May 09, 2008 at 07:12 AM | Comments (0) Wi Fi Chips Ahoy
In browsing this recent report on the dramatic increase in Wi Fi chip production (see Five Years of Wi-Fi Chipsets: Five Times the Revenue, But Ten Times the Shipments, According to New ABI Research Data), my thoughts led me to three words that have related meanings: synergy, symbiosis, and system. Synergy Greek sunergia, cooperation, from sunergos, working together. Synergy happens when two events or people or trends combine to produce results that are far better than the sum. In other words, 1+1 does not necessarily equal 2, but 3, 4 or even 5...dramatic results ensue when forces come together to produce synergy. It's a good thing. Symbiosis from the Greek sumbiosis, companionship, from sumbioun, to live together, from sumbios, living together : sun-, syn- + bios, life. Symbiosis happens when two creatures find harmony in pursuing activities that are mutually beneficial. Think of bees and flowers. The bees get pollen to make honey and support their queen and their hive, and the flowers get an agent to help them reproduce with other flowers, given that as plants they are rooted to the ground. And humans get to enjoy the beauty of the colorful flowers, meant to attract the bees ... now that's not only symbiosis, its synergy (and it's beautiful). Nature, when it clicks, is unparalleled in its excellence and perfection. A system, from the Greek systema whole compounded of several parts, Systems are complex organizations of individual elements that when combined work together to accomplish some set of functions. Systems can vary widely in their complexity. These words share a common prefix - note that they all begin with the letters S and Y. What's up with that? As you can tell from their Greek roots, these words all talk about things coming together....we could go on and on with this analysis, but I think you get my drift. When you see these letters at the start of a word, look for things coming together and for results to ensue. What comes together with all these chips??? Networks, folks. See then this other report - let's bring them together here on this website... These aren't long articles, but summaries of newly released reports by research firm ABI. More on what these news items portend after the jump.
NEW YORK - In 2004, there were only 520 square miles of networked municipal Wi-Fi. However, ABI Research forecasts a nearly sixty-fold increase over the next several years, to more than 30,000 square miles. At present, the United States leads in municipal Wi-Fi deployments - but Canada, Japan, South Korea, and Western Europe are undergoing expansion of municipal Wi-Fi infrastructure and applications. Varying levels of maturity and acceptance exist within this market, spread across global regions and individual countries. The following is a snapshot of some major variations, according to recent analysis from ABI Research: -- North America: Leads in deployments; but in many cases, the region employs the wrong business plan of free consumer access and free infrastructure; consolidating incumbent service providers view municipal Wi-Fi as a competitive threat. -- Europe: Mobile-oriented rather than PC-oriented; incumbents initially resisted municipal Wi-Fi but now recognize in-building limitations and are incorporating it within service bundles for nomadic broadband Internet access, or as a way to compete out of region. -- Asia-Pacific: Status varies widely, but rapid uptake in advanced countries such as South Korea is resulting in innovative applications and the development of new end-user devices to leverage municipal Wi-Fi. -- Emerging Regions: Equipment costs remain prohibitive; there is interest in the technology, but compared with more basic services such as electricity, funding is a challenge; these regions are likely to be late adopters. ABI Research vice president and research director Stan Schatt believes that there are key financial benefits that should be included within the municipal Wi-Fi business case. "Wireless surveillance systems, for example, will provide financial returns by helping prevent possible terrorist attacks, decreasing overall crime, improving traffic flow, and even boosting tourism by creating stable communities," he explains. Once technology, business, and cost issues are resolved, nations will benefit from this simple and low-cost broadband Internet access technology, consequently broadening the range of the networked service. The key points I'd highlight after reading this are: Now for the news on Wi Fi CHIPS and DEVICES. NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New market data released by ABI Research shows that about 440 million Wi-Fi chip sets will be shipped over the course of 2008. This represents a tenfold increase over the number shipped in 2003; but over the same five-year period, the revenues they produced have multiplied by only five. "The tenfold increase in Wi-Fi chipset shipments since 2003 paired with a fivefold increase in revenues in the same period clearly highlights the falling average selling prices (ASPs) that we have seen as this market further matures," says senior analyst Philip Solis. "Although ASPs got a small boost last year due to the introduction of higher-priced 802.11n chips, in general prices have fallen by about half, even though we're moving to more complex chip sets that increasingly use OFDM and MIMO technologies for 802.11n." In 2007, Broadcom was the leading Wi-Fi chipset vendor. The company even widened its market lead over its competitors as it gained market share in the laptop segment. The growth areas for this market in coming years will be found where Wi-Fi chips are embedded in more and more device types. Wi-Fi IC vendors should tailor their strategies accordingly. Consumer electronics (home theater equipment, gaming devices, portable media players), mobile handsets and computer peripherals will all see increased rates of Wi-Fi penetration. "While CE products will initially see more Wi-Fi inclusion," Solis continues, "we expect that by 2011 they will be overtaken by mobile handsets. Mobile Internet devices (MIDs) will become increasingly significant as well." So, to ask a rather obvious question, just where are all the chips and devices going to be connecting? On Wi Fi networks, that's where. Right now, most Wi Fi routers are a) in business environments, interconnected in local area networks or LANs; b) in residences, as extensions of broadband connections, to provide connectivity throughout the home; and c) in Hot Spots, which mimic the residential model, providing free or for-fee connectivity for public users in coffee shops, book stores, fast food restaurants, libraries, rest stops, airport lounges, the list goes on and on - really Hot Spots now can be found just about everywhere that a person might stop and rest for a moment. They are the modern equivalent of the pay phone. But these two trends, Wi Fi Chip and Device expansion and Wi Fi Metropolitan Mesh Network expansion come together in cities and provide the modern equivalent of the cell phone. They allow roaming in a wider region while staying connected. The value that the public puts on such connectivity is still immature, just as early cell phones were originally seen as a luxury good or an expensive business device. But we all know the storyline about how over time cell phones evolved, as did their cultural acceptance, and ultimately changed the way we live and stay connected with each other. In similar fashion, metropolitan broadband will ride that wave of more and more connectivity in our lives. The fact that Wi Fi chips are increasingly available, ever dropping in price and ever increasing in capacity and utility means that they will find their way into more and more devices, which will only raise the value of the networks that allow those devices to be put to use. These two trends feed each other - the more Wi Fi devices there are, the more Wi Fi networks are needed. The more Wi Fi networks that are available, the more places to use Wi Fi devices, and the more valuable the Wi Fi devices become. It's a virtuous cycle, currently inhibited by forces that prefer the status quo and discriminate against "junky" Wi Fi technology, and are threatened by the changes they portend. But the changes will come, regardless of the low opinions those in the know have of this "cheap, non-carrier-grade" technology, because its appeal is universal and irresistible. But it will take time, because this transition is a complex equation. Two factors compel this social trend and technology adoption movement: 1) ever cheaper and better Wi Fi chips and devices; and 2) successful deployments of metropolitan Wi Fi networks, which provide case studies and show the way for others - proof points of the value proposition, if you will. Stay tuned and have faith, because over time these emerging trends will lose their shock value and come to seem more and more normal. The simplicity of the unlicensed business model, and the low cost of the Wi Fi gear will complete the equation and drive adoption still further. Nature has a way of supporting things like Synergy, Symbiosis, and Systems that exist in harmony and provide constructive benefits, because these natural solutions outcompete less elegant solutions over time. That's the idea behind Natural Selection - the cost of living is expensive, and so a premium is put on efficiency, often at the expense of style. Ask the Platypus, an egg-laying, venomous, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal, about efficiency and style. Who can argue that the platypus is no pretty sight to behold (unless maybe you are a newly-hatched baby platypus, that is). But the key thing to note is that its eccentric anomalies make it an efficient competitor in its niche and so it survives to reproduce... Man may be slow to learn from Nature, but in time, we usually get it and move ahead. I predict it will be the same with Wi Fi Systems. They'll find their niche in time and provide value where it makes sense. Along the way, they'll face resistance, which will fade as true value emerges. They may not live up to all the early expectations, but so what! Whoever said that Reality had to match the early Hype? Not me. Posted on April 02, 2008 at 08:22 AM | Comments (0) Worldwide Wi Fi Use Way Up - WOW!All along, the long-term future of Wi Fi has depended on widespread market acceptance of the standard to drive lower production cost of equipment. That's the way that industry standards work. It's one thing to see the client costs of Wi Fi come down, to see Wi Fi chips become embedded not only in laptops, but also in dual use cell phones, hand-held game devices, and who knows what else. It's another thing altogether to see the next leap in advancement of the system. We've long predicted that widespread adoption of Wi Fi client devices would stimulate more widespread deployment of Wi Fi networks in the enterprise and in metropolitan area networks (MANs). Now we see evidence of just such market penetration. Not only is the worldwide adoption of Wi-Fi accelerating, the pace of acceptance is growing even faster than experts had anticipated. At least part of the overall growth can be attributed to rapid acceptance in international markets. While analysts have been looking for the Wi-Fi market to expand, the rate of growth has exceeded expectations. "What surprised me the most was not just that it is growing, but the way it is growing," said Rick Bilodeau, senior director of marketing at iPass. A global roaming service, iPass forms relationships with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) around the world, allowing travelers to gain Internet access in far-reaching locations. Bilodeau draws his observations from iPass' most recent Wi-Fi Hotspot Index, a semiannual study that summarizes data collected from across iPass' 100,000 users. It looks at more that 80,000 hot spots in over 85 countries. The latest index covers the first half of 2007. The index show a rapidly accelerating growth rate, with the number of sessions up 68 percent in the first half of 2007, as compared to 44 percent growth in the previous half. Worldwide Wi-Fi Use Is Growing It's encouraging when one sees events in the real world confirming academic predictions in the lab. The thought is that the more volume of client Wi Fi chips, the lower the price and the greater the temptation of consumer device manufacturers to "wire" their devices for broadband communication with Wi Fi chips. But where will the devices be used? First, in enterprises, and we see that with this article. Second, in larger metropolitan broadband deployments, which they allude to at the conclusion of the article. While the iPass index does not quantify enterprise growth, Bilodeau suggested that continued expansion in that sector should soon begin to generate a visible impact in the overall Wi-Fi marketplace. "We are hitting that tipping point where enterprises are taking Wi-Fi seriously and considering it as a serious means of access, and not just an end-user gimmick," he said. Part of the recent growth also can be explained by a rapid escalation in the international markets. While many countries got off to a slower start than the U.S. in terms of Wi-Fi deployment, the tide is turning. In Europe for example, Wi-Fi usage almost doubled as compared to the previous half, while North American usage increased by a comparatively sluggish - though still explosive - 57 percent in the first half of 2007. But we have a long way to go with Wi Fi. Culture lags technology, and many users have become quite attached to their cellular handsets, despite the slower data throughput available from those networks. Still, the drop-off is steep as one moves down the list of top Wi-Fi nations. The U.S. clocks in at just over one million sessions, or single user log-in events, followed by the U.K. at 260,000 sessions. Yet the Netherlands, which ranks number five on the list of Top Ten nations, records just under 61,000 sessions. The only Asian nation to make the Top Ten list by usage was Japan, which hardly comes as a surprise, Bilodeau said. "There is more of a culture [in Asia] around the hand held mobile data service model. When people think of wireless data they think of that first, which is why we aren't seeing as much of the traction as we are seeing in other regions," he said, adding that the ease and low cost of Wi-Fi rollouts could soon begin to drive higher adoption rates in that part of the world. But there's more to the story - these statistics are rich! As they become used to the technology, they spend more time using it. I experienced the same thing with Wi Fi - it takes time to get used to a new way of using the Internet while away from the home or office. The real story comes through in the length of these sessions: The typical cafe user logged in for 61 minutes, up 22 percent from the previous half; restaurant users chomped and surfed for 44 minutes, up 122 percent; train stations, averaged 27 minutes per user, up 139 percent; and office services (Kinko's et al) scored just over an hour, up two percent. That all adds up, Bilodeau said. "The amount of time someone is going to spend in a given venue makes sense. An airport [session] is 40 minutes. So how long are you going to spend between flights? Forty minutes sounds about right." But so far, most of this article talks about Wi Fi client devices and Hot Spots. What about Wi Fi Zones and MetroNets? Notably absent from the iPass study are municipal and metropolitan Wi-Fi deployments. That's because there aren't enough to count, Bilodeau said. "The telling fact is that there aren't a lot of them in the world right now," he said. "The big ones we have been hoping for in Philadelphia and San Francisco and other cities just haven't come through yet." While municipal rollouts in particular have been struggling, Bilodeau said the situation could turn around fast, because of the very nature of such deployments. Due to the large number of people living in large municipalities, "it doesn't take a lot of muni usage to get you into the top five," he said. Just a few deployments could bring in a large number of users. This confirms what we have been saying all along. The more deployments are out there, the more opportunities there are for the masses to start using their Wi Fi devices in new ways in new places. And that takes time, and it takes MANs. We need networks to be deployed so that people will use them. This is an iterative process, where more use will stimulate more feedback, which will drive more deployments. I hope that private and public sector community leaders start to figure out that they can capture much of the excitement of Wi Fi by deploying a Hot Zone, at much lower cost and risk than a city-wide network. We'll see, I guess. Time will tell. Posted on October 20, 2007 at 04:46 PM | Comments (0) Making Metropolitan Broadband WorkNovarum, an independent consulting company focused on Wi-Fi, WiMax and 3G cellular data, tested both types of networks and found Wi-Fi is generally faster where it's available. This finding may not be surprising, since even the slowest form of Wi-Fi has a theoretical maximum capacity several times that of 3G. But the Wi-Fi systems are also fairly widely available, Novarum found. Based on whether there is enough of a signal to do real work on a notebook PC, networks in Anaheim, Santa Clara and Mountain View, California, all were available in 70 percent or more of Novarum's test area. One network, in St. Cloud, Florida, was 100 percent available. Metro Wi Fi Rates High One of the problems of this new industry is the lack of comparative data, so this was a welcome article, where an independent testing firm did a fairly simple test, driving around inside cellular wide area networks and municipal wireless networks and conducting a standard test of performance on laptops. What did they find? Wi Fi Mesh performs well - for many purposes, better than 3G cellular data options. While personally, this does not surprise me, it is in marked contrast to much of the more subjective reporting one is likely to read in the press, where anecdotal evidence is cited on this new network or that, often relating consumer complaints of poor service from Wi Fi Mesh networks when compared to wired cable or DSL Internet service. The facts are that when Wi Fi Mesh is compared to mobile cellular data, its only comparable alternative, it fares well. 3G cellular based mobile data service is provided on networks that were designed first and foremost for low-bandwidth voice communication for massive numbers of consumers. They do not hold up well under either the high bandwidth demands of website downloads, much less video streaming, or the high use demands of massive numbers of consumers. Not yet - some day maybe, but not yet. Thus, we see the expensive data plans offered by cellular companies that have the effect of limiting the number of users a network may be called upon to support - mostly business travelers pony up for such service. If you are merely planning to use a 3G network to check emails while on the road, one of the primary uses for business travelers, a cellular data plan makes sense and is worth the price. Once again, despite my approval of this particular test, I feel that when we compare 3G and Wi Fi Mesh, we engage in comparing apples to oranges - effectively, we try to make a "mobile data network" be a one-size-fits-all utility service. The fact is that Wi Fi Mesh networks are a decent relatively cheap alternative that provides better service over wider areas than Hot Spots or landline connections, adds a mobile access feature not found in either of those alternatives, and is available at a price point far more accessible to far more people than the relatively exclusive data plans of cell phone carriers. In contrast, cell networks do provide a valuable, but different kind of service: a more-expensive by-the-drink priced service, over even wider areas, but with even less bandwidth. Some day, we will get to ubiquitous service over mobile cellular, but it is farther off than the carriers would have you believe, IMHO. An interesting footnote is that those Wi Fi Mesh networks with added density of nodes perform the best. Better financed cellular networks have learned this reality of radio physics: many nodes fill in an area with coverage and eliminate dead spots. Less well financed pioneer Wi Fi Mesh systems risk suffering substandard performance reviews if their design of limited node coverage for economy sake results in sometimes spotty coverage. Let's hope we see more stories like this one, that discuss these systems based on facts and their actual capacities and intended purposes and supporting business cases, and resist the facile comparisons offered up by general media outlets that try to make a complex story simple enough to grasp without any effort. Posted on February 16, 2007 at 07:07 AM | Comments (0) Mesh Secrets Revealed: How Many Nodes Make a Network?When it comes to technology options for a municipal wireless network today, mesh networking is not only one of the most compelling wireless technologies available, but also one of the least understood. Where does this new technology fit in your plans? Does it even fit into your plans? While there are many issues that you'll need to consider in evaluating different telecommunications technologies, two critical questions will be: 1) Will the mesh network even work in my environment? (or what will it take to make it function well enough for my purposes?) and 2) How much will the mesh network equpment, deployment, maintenance, and operations end up costing me (in round numbers) - what's the Total Cost of Ownership or TCO? So evaluate these variables carefully before going too far down the mesh road - you're better off to find out how a proposed technology will work up front, than after you've made a decision. The good news is that mesh technology is already a valid solution for most environments and purposes, and its only getting better and cheaper as time goes by. Mesh networks are best used to provide an area with ubiquitous broadband coverage. Their principal benefit over other wireless technologies is their ability to provide alternate paths that work around obstacles and ensure quality coverage and adequate capacity, at an affordable price, for both network equipment and consumer premise equipment (CPEs). So, assuming adequate backhaul has been established (a big assumption, but a topic for another day), the number of wireless mesh nodes used to provide optimal coverage in the mesh network, as well as the cost per node, will be the key drivers in both the performance of the network and in the network's equipment cost. Consider then these variables in this UnwireMyCity Guide to help you decide on whether mesh networking would be a good fit for your city. This exercise should lead you to look at your proposed project and territory with a more critical eye and better prepare you for when you begin serious work on your network design, with or without professional help. Download and Print this handy UnwireMyCity Guide and keep it around as you evaluate your options. Posted on October 26, 2005 at 10:18 AM | Comments (0) Smart Wi Fi Fits Into Integrated Broadband FuturePyramid Research, a communications industry research firm, predicts the global number of Wi-Fi users could top 271 million by 2008, with 177 million of them in the U.S. Today's Wi-Fi community already supports a vibrant international business in Wi-Fi equipment, estimated at about $3 billion annually, according to extrapolations of figures produced by In-Stat, another market research company. But the very popularity of Wi-Fi also brings problems. As Wi-Fi networks become ever more heavily used, they may be unable to handle the expanded traffic, causing clients' devices to become bogged down with slow service and long delays. Scientific American.com: Smart Wi-Fi For those wanting a good overview of the basics of technology behind Wi Fi, I highly recommend this good comprehensive article in Scientific American. Wireless pioneer Alex Hills, now Distinguished Service Professor of engineering and public policy and electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, and formerly charman of Airespace (now a division of Cisco) does a good job of walking through the details of Wi Fi, explaining both why it is a formidible and promising technology, and where its warts will hold it back if not addressed. Check it out. See also these sidebar items: Posted on October 07, 2005 at 01:26 PM | Comments (0) Minnesota: A Conversation with Brad Mayer on Chaska.netI had the opportunity to get on the telephone recently to introduce a city IT network planner interested in learning more about municipal wireless networks to one of the experts in this new field, Bradley Mayer. Brad is on the city IT staff at Chaska, Minnesota, and was responsible for putting up their pioneer wireless mesh network last year (Chaska.net). I learned that Brad gets on a lot of calls like this - he's very experienced and pleasant to work with. Brad graciously allowed me to publish my interview notes for the benefit of UnwireMyCity.com readers (the questions came from the city network planner, not me). Access the interview by clicking HERE. Brad's contact info: Bradley Mayer 952-227-7561, bmayer@chaskamn.com Thanks a million, Brad! Posted on September 30, 2005 at 02:18 PM | Comments (0) Mesh Networking TutorialMesh Networking a Viable Alternative Add this informative, brief, easy-to-read tutorial to your library on Mesh Networking. Definitely worth a look. Posted on August 04, 2005 at 09:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack 600 Mbs over Wireless Networks? Huh?802.11n holds greater promise than we thought Hold on. Did I read that correctly? Unstrung reports that the IEEE committee on the 802.11n standard, which had been indicating a doubling of speeds to 108 Mbs when they conclude their standardization work, has been understating the case. One committee member, Bill McFarland from Atheros, anticipates over 600 Mbs, which should provide ample room for video, voice, data applications, and an elephant or two. This should raise a few eyebrows. Posted on July 07, 2005 at 06:26 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack Introductory Interview with New Belair Board MemberBelAir's Fox: Backhaul Key Issue in Metro Networks eWeek interviews Scott Fox, newly appointed to Belair Networks' board of directors. Posted on June 18, 2005 at 09:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack Motorola and Mesh NetworksRadio-Hopping Leaps Ahead Interview with Motorola executive describes routing protocol and innovative uses for a mesh network, such as this: Portsmouth, England, deployed the technology across its public transportation system, wirelessly connecting its 308 buses to 35 intelligent bus stops, where passengers can see where buses are on the router, whether they're running on time, receive service messages and pay fares electronically in advance of the bus's arrival. Posted on June 18, 2005 at 09:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack Mesh Neworks ExplainedMesh's Second Act This article from the January 2005 edition of Broadband Wireless Business provides a good overview of mesh technology, the providers, its capabilities and issues. Helpful. Posted on June 18, 2005 at 07:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack Mesh Networking Resources
Mesh networking is probably one of the hottest topics in metropolitan wireless these days. Does it live up to its promise? In some cases, yes. In others, there is considerable hype. Many claim to be mesh systems, but often aren't. Mesh is, as the name implies, a wireless technology comprised of a series of interconnected nodes. Developed to keep military devices interconnected in the field of battle, mesh systems have found their way into civilian uses. "Client mesh" describes such systems, where the client devices double as transmitters, passing along the signal until it finds its way to an Internet gateway. Other mesh systems use special nodes that talk to each other and serve as access points for client devices to send and receive data to and from the Internet. Here are white papers and resources regarding Mesh Networking. Tropos: Creating Capacity Using Superior Routing: The Metro-Scale Mesh Networking Facts Tropos: Receive Sensitivity: A Practical Explanation Tropos MetroMesh Architecture Overview Intel WiMAX and mesh whitepaper Posted on May 19, 2005 at 10:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack |
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