ValleyShadow

The Remaining Stimulus Rounds Have Been Consolidated, But Your Options for Funding Have Not

In this week's column for GoingWiMAX.com, I decided to discuss the USDA's Rural Utilities Services (RUS) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) consolidation of the remaining two rounds of broadband stimulus funding. Back on November 10th, the RUS and NTIA announced that they would be consolidating the final two rounds of the broadband funding into one single round. They claim that they did this to "increase efficiency and better accommodate applicants", but the fact of the matter is that this consolidation has many organizations concerned. 

This concern is based on the prospect that a consolidated final round of funding will mean a) less time to prepare their applications, and b) more competition due to the perception that this is the final opportunity for broadband funding.

But just because the RUS and NTIA have consolidated the final “broadband stimulus” funding rounds into a single round does NOT mean that there is any less of an opportunity for funding – nor does it mean that this is the ONLY remaining option for funding. It is important to remember that – while the broadband stimulus funds are significant and are worthy of being pursued – they are not the only game in town when it comes to funding your broadband networks.

For the full article on the many options available to organizations seeking funding for their broadband networks, read it on GoingWiMAX.com here. 

3G’s Data Dilemma: The Re-Birth of Citywide Wi-Fi?

A couple of weeks ago I received a note from Sam Churchill, the founder and long-time editor of DailyWireless.org, asking me if I would be interested in becoming a contributing writer for DailyWireless. I've been reading DailyWireless.org for the last 8 years -- from just about the time it was founded -- so I was definitely excited to say yes. As I've mentioned before, I am already a regular columnist for WiMAX.com (recent articles here) and I recently started writing for GoingWiMAX.com (first article here), so this will be my third regular column (every other week). 

My first article for DailyWireless posted on Tuesday, and I had the opportunity to write about a topic that I personally find very interesting, but which I also predict is going to be one of the largest wireless trends of 2010 -- and that topic is the 3G data offload problem. 

Basically, what it comes down to is this: With the explosion of smartphones (led by the iPhone, of course) in the last 2 years, today's 3G networks are completely bogged down by the massive increase in data traffic brought on by the smartphone phenomenon. While cellular carriers' revenues have increased by 50-100 percent due to data revenues, the traffic on their networks has increased 500-1000 percent, meaning that they are not making anywhere near as much in additional revenue as they are forced to shell out to increase capacity. And the worst part for the carriers is that, especially in major metro areas where there is a higher concentration of people with smartphones, the performance of their 3G networks is so bad that customers are getting fed up and cancelling service. 

This is what I refer to as the 3G data offload problem. The 3G network was not built to handle a 1000x increase in data traffic, and thus, both voice AND data services suffer. So what are carriers supposed to do? 

That is exactly what I tackle in this first article for DailyWireless.org. I am sure there will be many more posts exploring this topic in depth, but I think this helps provide a good primer. Take a look at the chart below (from the article), and please read the rest of the article HERE. As always, please let me know what you think!

 

The Increasing Opportunities for Unlicensed WiMAX

I've been a weekly columnist for WiMAX.com for a couple of months now (I've posted links to a handful of the articles here on ValleyShadow.com), and just last week I was asked to begin writing for another wireless publication called GoingWiMAX.com.  I enjoy geeking out on wireless and obviously have a problem saying no to adding more work to my plate, so of course I agreed. I wrote my first article for them this week, and the topic chose to tackle first was licensed vs. unlicensed WiMAX.

The reason I think the whole licensed vs. unlicensed WiMAX topic is interesting is because not many people truly understand that the two technologies serve completely different markets. When you talk about WiMAX, most people automatically think of the licensed variant -- usually because licensed WiMAX captures more ink the press than unlicensed WiMAX. But the fact of the matter is that licensed WiMAX is only being deployed by the large, tier one carriers and service providers because -- wait for it -- securing the frequency licenses to deploy licensed WiMAX gear is incredibly expensive. I'm talking hundreds-of-millions to billions-of-dollars undertakings.

That's a lot of money, even for the large carriers -- so what do you think that means for rural broadband? Point-to-multipoint technologies (like WiMAX) have proven to be one of the most cost-effective ways of getting broadband out to remote, rural and under-served areas -- but via the use of UNLICENSED WiMAX, not licensed. The reason these rural areas don't have broadband in the first place is because the large carriers did not think it was worth the billions of dollars that would need to be invested to reach such a small population of people via either fiber or the equally costly use of securing licensed WiMAX frequencies. 

That is exactly where smaller WISPs and unlicensed WiMAX comes in. The smaller WISPs have picked up where the large carriers left off and are extending broadband service to many of the previously under-served areas. And since they can reap the benefits of WiMAX (high throughput broadband extended over long ranges) without the high cost of securing frequency licenses, unlicensed WiMAX and point-to-multipoint products are the solutions of choice.

But the applications of unlicensed WiMAX go far beyond just rural broadband and last-mile access. To get the rest of the story on the benefits of licensed vs. unlicensed WiMAX and to read more about the other hot applications for unlicensed gear, check out the FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Fixed Wireless Continues to Thrive in the Background

In this week's column for WiMAX.com, I decided to write about the lack of love that fixed wireless applications get from the media and public. For the most part, when people think about wireless, they think about mobile wireless applications -- the sexy stuff (using the word "sexy" in VERY loose, geeky terms) like being able to connect their smartphone via a mobile WiMAX network for mobile streaming video, etc.  If you take a look at the media coverage of mobile wireless (like mobile WiMAX, LTE, etc.) as compared to the amount of attention paid to fixed wireless solutions (like cost-effectively extending broadband to the under-served rural areas of this country), it is clear that more people are interested in mobile than fixed.  

I find this interesting, considering how much talk and press coverage there is around the desperate need to extend rural broadband. We can talk all we want about how much rural broadband is needed, but when it comes time to actually deploying it, how will that be accomplished? Fixed wireless, that's how. The cost of running fiber or copper for hundreds/thousands of miles to extend service to some of these smaller, remote areas is completely cost prohibitive, but fixed wireless provides the ability to not only reduce the cost of the initial deployment (by avoiding the high acquisition cost of fiber/copper, and the cost of deploying it), but by also eliminating the high cost of recurring leased line fees. 

Now don't get me wrong -- I'm an iPhone fanboy and love the ability to utilize mobile applications as much as the next nerd -- but I do think that the role fixed wireless technology plays into the future of our nation's communications infrastructure deserves a little bit more attention than it is receiving today. 

Regardless, even though people pay much more attention to mobile wireless applications, fixed wireless continues to plug along and kick ass in the background. 

Here's an excerpt of this week's article, followed by a link where you can read the full column at WiMAX.com:

"While mobile WiMAX may be the more popular, sexy sibling of the WiMAX family, fixed WiMAX actually has a larger share of the market today.  According to Gartner, the total fixed WiMAX deployments were more than double that of mobile WiMAX deployments in 2008 - and their projections are similar throughout 2011.  Though mobile WiMAX continues to gain steam with Clearwire's U.S.  rollouts (and now their planned Spanish deployment next year), fixed WiMAX continues to be a larger market by a factor of nearly 2x.  

The reason for this is largely due to the significant role that fixed wireless plays in the deployment of broadband to rural areas.  In Gartner's reports, it classifies the "fixed" applications of WiMAX as "DSL Reach Extension", "Developing Region Broadband" and "Backhaul for Mesh and Cellular" - illustrating that extending the reach of broadband services via wireless (and therefore eliminating the high cost of fiber) is a primary application for fixed WiMAX.  

And that brings us to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which has earmarked $7.2 billion for the specific purpose of extending broadband to rural areas - what we all refer to as the "Broadband Stimulus".  Though technologies like fixed WiMAX and other fixed point-to-multi point (PtMP) wireless technologies were already gaining significant ground and represent nearly double the market opportunity of mobile WiMAX today, the broadband stimulus is expected to provide an even greater spike in the demand for fixed wireless."

To keep reading, click HERE.   

WiMAX's Role in Untangling Traffic Problems

In this week's column for WiMAX.com, I tackle another interesting application of WiMAX technology that is gaining momentum -- traffic synchronization. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the trend of people utilizing WiMAX technology as the ideal solution for video surveillance networks, and with this traffic synchronization post I continue to highlight another of the many interesting applications for WiMAX (both licensed and unlicensed) and other point-to-multipoint technologies beyond the typical utilization for deploying broadband wireless access (BWA). 

Here's an excerpt, followed by a link where you can read the full article at WiMAX.com:

We've all seen the cameras at busy intersections, looming atop the traffic lights, ready to catch us if we dare to run a red light. These cameras are part of the now well-known "Red Light Running" program, where sensors detect red light violators and quickly snap a photo of both the license plate number and the driver. While nobody seems to appreciate the program when they receive their ticket in the mail, the program definitely works - some cities have seen as much as a 90 percent decrease in red light running-related accidents. 

Until recent years, the only realistic option for connecting the cameras at these intersections was to run a dedicated leased line to each camera at every intersection a city wished to deploy. This was not only an extremely costly solution, with leased lines running as much as $2,000 (in some cases more) per month, but installing a new dedicated wired line for each camera also required a great deal of labor, further driving up the cost and impeding the scalability of these systems. 

Today, however, cities and counties are turning to WiMAX technologies to remove the cost and complexity roadblocks that have prevented greater rollout of these programs. WiMAX, originally designed as a backhaul technology, has proven ideal for the increased bandwidths required by HD video cameras. And since today's wireless radios can not only backhaul the traffic from multiple cameras while (in some cases) powering co-located cameras directly from the radio via Power over Ethernet (PoE), WiMAX and other high-bandwidth point-to-multipoint technologies are ideally suited to drive down the cost of traffic camera connectivity while greatly easing deployments. 

READ the full article on WiMAX.com. 

Why the WiMAX vs. LTE Battle Isn't a Battle

For this week's WiMAX.com column, I decided to focus on the ongoing debate about WiMAX vs. LTE as the dominant 4G technology. This is a topic that the industry, press and analysts have been debating for quite some time, and the general trend is to pit WiMAX vs. LTE in a battle for 4G supremacy. Sure, it's a fun angle and adds a tinge of sensationalism to the story, but the simple fact is that there is no battle between these two technologies. Neither of them will "win" and squash the other. Instead, they will both have a distinct place in the 4G future. 

This column breaks down my thoughts on this so-called battle, and explains why the 4G future is not an either/or proposition. Here's a quick excerpt, followed by a link to the full article on WiMAX.com:

If you do a quick Google search on the term "WiMAX vs. LTE" it returns well over 3 million results, a clear sign that there is no shortage of opinions on the so-called battle that exists between these two next-generation (4G) technologies. You don't have to look hard to find a breakdown of the carriers and vendors that have pledged their support to one technology over the other, and analysis on how these organizations' support will affect the future of these technologies. Everyone is pitting the two technologies against each other in what they would have you believe is an epic battle for the future of wireless networks - but there's just one problem.

The WiMAX vs. LTE "battle" isn't a battle at all. 

Neither of these technologies will emerge as victorious over the other, and neither will be forced to accept a role as the "also-ran" in the annals of tech history. In fact, both WiMAX and LTE can and likely will play equally important roles in the future of wireless networks. At one point I hypothesized that those roles would be "access" and "backhaul" - with LTE providing the access technology of choice and WiMAX providing an ideal backhaul technology for 4G networks. But I no longer think that WiMAX and LTE need to be pigeonholed into those exclusive categories.

Today, it seems as though both technologies will become viable 4G access technologies, while WiMAX still maintains its position as an ideal backhaul technology as well. Now, some will claim that either WiMAX or LTE must win from an access perspective, but more and more, that does not seem to be the case... Read the full article at WiMAX.com.

Verizon Mi-Fi = Kick-Ass Portable Wi-Fi

First of all, I should be honest up front and admit that I have somewhat of a gadget addiction. And by somewhat, I mean that I freakin’ love me some gadgets. I currently own a Blackberry, an iPhone, a Palm Treo, and a Motorola Q9 – those are just the smartphones. I also have a Sony Mylo, an SMC Wi-Fi phone, and several other Skype-enabled Wi-Fi devices.  Add to all of that the laptops, my Amazon Kindle, digital cameras, my Flip Mino HD mini camcorder, etc., and I could fill a couple backpacks with all my gadgety goodness.

With that said, I can honestly say that just this week I picked up what is probably the best gadget I’ve played with in years. That gadget is the Verizon MiFi 2200. The Verizon MiFi is, quite simply, a portable hotspot that connects to Verizon’s cellular network and then converts that connection to Wi-Fi, enabling up to 5 Wi-Fi enabled devices to connect to the Internet via this tiny, portable device.  It is manufactured by Novatel, and it contains both an EVDO Rev-A radio (to connect to Verizon’s cellular network) and an 802.11 b/g radio (to provide Wi-Fi).  

Now, I love wireless connectivity as much as I love gadgets (kinda goes hand in hand). I also work in the wireless industry, so I love my Wi-Fi, and can’t wait until WiMAX service comes to the Bay Area.  I spend a lot of my time talking about the proliferation of Wi-Fi, and how we can utilize other complimentary wireless technologies to spread Wi-Fi to more and more places. And, depending on where you live, you might get the feeling that Wi-Fi truly IS everywhere.  Whether I’m in San Francisco or the Silicon Valley, it’s hard to walk into a restaurant, coffee shop or bar and not find an open Wi-Fi network that I can connect to.

But, the fact of the matter remains that Wi-Fi simply is NOT readily available everywhere today. Even in busy metro areas, many of the open networks that people used to connect to could be chalked up to unsecured personal Wi-Fi networks within range of the establishment you were in – not necessarily the establishment itself. But these days, people have become much more aware of Wi-Fi security risks, and it is rare to find an open personal Wi-Fi network to connect to. And more and more establishments are offering Wi-Fi through paid hotspot providers such as Boingo, T-Mobile, AT&T, etc. as opposed to offering free Wi-Fi to patrons (not unsurprisingly, because we’ve all seen the “patrons” who buy one cup of coffee and then turn the coffee shop with free Wi-Fi into their office for the entire day).

The Wireless Video Surveillance Opportunity: Why WiMAX is not just for Broadband Wireless Access

My next column for WiMAX.com posted yesterday, and this one discusses the fact that WiMAX -- despite the unbalanced coverage it receives as a 4G access technology -- also has other market opportunities in which the is very successful. Here's a quick excerpt, followed by a link to the full article:

If you take a look at the WiMAX headlines on any given day, you'll notice that a vast majority of the coverage WiMAX receives focuses on broadband wireless access (BWA) - regardless of whether that coverage is praising the technology for its performance and ability to provide service to underserved areas, or whether its questioning the technology's viability as the 4G technology of choice. Don't get me wrong - WiMAX is absolutely deserving of its role in shaping the 4G and BWA landscape moving forward. The WiMAX Forum itself defines WiMAX as "a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL".

But, that's not the whole WiMAX story.

WiMAX can be - and often is - used for a wide variety of applications outside of last mile access. The technology was originally designed with wireless backhaul as one of the primary use cases (as opposed to the afterthought it seems to be in most coverage of the technology), and its ability to provide high-throughput wireless backhaul makes it an ideal candidate for deploying bandwidth-intensive applications. 

But there is one burgeoning market in particular that WiMAX has carved out a well-defined niche in, and that is the video surveillance market. This is a market whose growth has exploded over the past 5 years, and that ABI Research forecasts will be a $41 billion a year market by 2014. 

Read the full article at WiMAX.com. 

Streamy’s CEO Explains Why They Are NOT FriendFeed

As soon as news of Facebook’s acquisition of FriendFeed broke, the conversation almost immediately turned to “what will replace FriendFeed?” The reason this question is so important is because in the official press release about the acquisition, Facebook stated that "FriendFeed.com will continue to operate normally for the time being..." (emphasis mine). Based on that language (which was chosen carefully, you can be sure), it’s reasonable that people jumped to the conclusion that Facebook’s acquisition of FriendFeed was primarily a “talent acquisition”, and that the service would eventually be shut down as the key features are integrated into Facebook.

What’s very interesting is where the conversation headed next. The conclusion that many came to was that a service by the name of Streamy would be the service that most FriendFeed expats would migrate to.

Now, I have been an enthusiastic Streamy user since March, and as soon as I was turned on to the service it quickly became my de facto start page. So, I was excited to hear that the service was finally getting the level of attention that I thought it deserved. But, just as soon as Streamy was suggested as a new home for FriendFeed users, suddenly the criticism began. Folks like Duncan Riley at the Inquisitr quickly pounced on Streamy, pointing out that it “is not FriendFeed.”

I think this criticism is completely unfounded, for one simple reason – Streamy has never claimed, nor do they claim now, to WANT to be FriendFeed. Apples and oranges come to mind. In fact, Streamy has a tight integration with FriendFeed, enabling people to utilize FriendFeed from within Streamy. BUT, it also goes much further than FriendFeed, by integrating a full RSS aggregator, drag-and-drop sharing functionality that enables you to share interesting stories and threads with your friends and social networks, as well as built in chat functionality (supporting all the major IM clients) – making it a much more well-rounded social sharing site than FriendFeed set out to be in the first place.

Can't Meet the Broadband Stimulus Extended Deadline? There's Still Hope.

I was recently asked to write a weekly column for a great wireless industry publication by the name of WiMAX.com, which focuses on the issues affecting the broadband wireless community. My first post went live today, and it provides a primer on the recent Round One broadband stimulus funding deadline, as well as the options open to the organizations that missed that deadline.

With the first stimulus deadline set to pass tomorrow, many organizations are finding themselves unable to submit their applications in time. Thankfully, there is still hope and a bevy of options for organizations seeking funding.

To read the full article, please check it out here at WiMAX.com.