EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES: Fact, Not Fiction

WiMAX: Standard for Wireless Broadband

The WiMAX standard for a wireless metropolitan area network (MAN)
technology will connect 802.11 hotspots to the Internet and provide a wireless
extension to cable and DSL, for the last mile broadband access. The WiMAX
broadband standard 802.16 provides up to 31 miles of linear service-area range
and allows users connectivity without a direct line-of-sight to a base station.
The technology also provides shared data rates of up to 70 Mbps, which,
according to WiMAX, is enough bandwidth to simultaneously support more than 60
businesses and hundreds of homes with T1-type connectivity. 

The WiMAX standard is promoted by the Worldwide Interoperability for
Microwave Access (WiMAX) forum. It consists of leading equipment and component
manufacturers from the industry including Agilent Technologies, Ensemble
Communications, Hughes Network Systems, Intracom, Nera, Nokia and Provigent.

The Purpose: It aims to promote deployment of broadband wireless access
networks, by using a global standard and certifying interoperability of products
and technologies. For network operators this would mean interoperability between
equipment vendors and for equipment vendors it would mean fewer product
variants. And the end-users emerges a winner as WiMAX gives faster and cheaper
access.

WiMAX also plans to certify that products are compliant with the
interoperability requirements set forth by WiMAX.

Open standards like WiMAX would make it possible to have wireless equipment
from many sources. As new carriers compete with incumbent operators, cost of the
systems would eventually go down. This could be passed on to customers. And,
competition between access technologies will eventually lower the cost of
services.

Gigabit Ethernet: Faster Traffic on Tested Platform

Gigabit Ethernet is an extension of the widely used 10 Mbps
Ethernet and 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet standards for network connectivity. At
1000 Mbps, Gigabit Ethernet is 100 times faster than Ethernet and 10 times
faster than Fast Ethernet. As Fast Ethernet becomes more widely deployed,
Gigabit Ethernet would be increasingly used to help fortify bandwidth at the
network backbone and the server.

The main factor driving 10 Gigabit Ethernet is the increase in Internet and
intranet traffic. The 10 Gigabit Ethernet enables Internet service providers
(ISP) and network service providers (NSP) to create high-speed links at a very
low cost between co-located, carrier-class switches and routers. The technology
also allows the construction of MANs and WANs that connect geographically
dispersed LANs between points of presence (PoP). These connections will use dark
fiber, dark wavelengths, or SONET/SDH networks.

Gigabit Benefits: Gigabit Ethernet uses the same transmission schemes and
frame formats as Ethernet and Fast Ethernet. Design, installation, configuration
are also similar. Thus, there is no need for complex and slow emulations. Due to
its compatibility with old formats, there is no need to purchase additional
protocol stacks or invest in new middleware. Established Ethernet and Fast
Ethernet management systems can be used.

Adoption of Gigabit Ethernet would mean increased network performance levels
including traffic localization and high-speed cross-segment movement. It would
be easier to add and manage more users and ‘hungrier’ applications on the
same network. In the long run, it will reduce the overall cost of the service.

VDSL: ADSL Improved

As use of fast Internet connections grows, the demand for broadband
(high-speed) connections steadily increases. The current technologies, such as
cable, modem, and asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) are not fast enough
to support the integration of home services such as digital television and
video-on-demand. To suit the requirements of the users, another digital
subscriber line technology known as, very high bit-rate DSL (VDSL) has been
developed.

VDSL provides an incredible amount of bandwidth, with speeds up to about 52
megabits per second (Mbps). When compared with the maximum speed of 8 to 10 Mbps
for ADSL or cable modem, VDSL could be as significant as the migration from a
56K modem to broadband. As VDSL becomes more common, you can expect that
integrated packages will be cheaper than the total amount for the currently
separate services.

IP TV: TV on Your Desktop

Internet protocol television (IPTV) or TVoIP can deliver TV-quality
live video programming–including: management broadcasts, training programs,
university classes, business TV, and satellite programs–to desktop PCs,
classrooms, and meeting rooms.

IPTV will allow users to enjoy digital broadcasting services and images,
distributed through high-speed broadband connections. TVoIP is a distribution
system where the last-mile access is via a high-capacity two-way IP network; and
bandwidth intensive services such as TV and video-on-demand are carried into the
living rooms in IP frames.

The use of network-efficient multicast technology makes it possible to
deliver high-quality video content with optimal network performance. TVoIP uses
a set of servers that work in tandem to broadcast and rebroadcasts programs.
Companies, such as Cisco, offer broadcast server and control server and an IPTV
client viewer for live delivery along with space for archive servers for
on-demand viewing or scheduled rebroadcasts.

The servers used have capture cards to encode and transmit programs according
to the directions they receive from control server. Broadcast servers are used
for multicasting live or prerecorded programs from devices such as video
cameras, VCRs, DVDs, satellite, and cable feeds; as well as prerecorded Windows
Media, AVI, MP3, and MPEG files.

IP TV Benefits: Training: The use of IP TV, for training, cuts down on costs
as it is more economical than sending the employee to the training center.

Business TV to the Desktop: IP TV makes it easy and economical to deliver
current stock market trends, financial news, and satellite broadcasts right to
the knowledge workers’ desktops.

Corporate Communications: It makes corporate communications only a
mouse-click away from any employee anywhere in the world.

Distance Learning: IP TV can be used to implement a distance-learning
curriculum. Universities and other institutions of higher education can offer
tele-courses to network-based students on a fee or credit basis.

WCDMA: Wonderful CDMA?

Wideband code-division multiple-access (WCDMA) is one of the main
technologies for the implementation of third-generation cellular systems. WCDMA
is based on the radio access technique proposed by ETSI Alpha group, and the
specifications were finalized in 1999.

From the outset, WCDMA was designed to provide cost-efficient capacity for
both modern mobile multimedia applications and traditional mobile voice
services. One of the key benefits of the technology is efficient and flexible
support for radio bearers, in which network capacity can be freely allocated
between voice and data within the same carrier. WCDMA also supports
multiple-simultaneous services and multimedia services, comprising multiple
components with different service-quality requirements in terms of throughput,
transfer delay, and bit-error rate.

WCDMA brings much faster and easier access to existing services and enables
development of a wealth of new exciting applications. Subscribers can, for
example, enhance a mobile voice call with online live video, or surf the Web
while simultaneously speaking on the phone.

In WCDMA, user data is spread over a bandwidth of about 5 MHz. The wide
bandwidth supports high user-data rates and also provides performance benefits
due to frequency diversity. The wideband carrier is also cost-effective as more
users can be served by means of a single transceiver.

IPoS: Catching-up With Terrestrial
Services

The new network equipments and management solutions enable IP traffic
over the new generation of higher-bandwidth Ka-band satellites. This improves
multicasting standards and last-mile connectivity.

Internet connection through satellite connects directly to
the leading Internet backbones, at high rates, uninterruptedly. IP over
Satellite (IPoS) gives fast and high-quality Internet connection as well as
audio and video communications with every part of the world. Satellites extend
the reach of the Internet and IP-based private networks to places that are
poorly served by the terrestrial infrastructure. It is possible to use
fixed-orbit or inclined-orbit satellites for the IPoS service, in accordance
with customers’ needs.

However, using a satellite might be expensive and bit errors
can impact performance. Also, satellite links must be integrated with
terrestrial networks. As TCP/IP has become the de facto standard for all
computer networking, it is critical for satellite operators and users to
understand the fundamentals of TCP/IP because TCP is not designed for long
delay, high bit error, and asymmetric bandwidth conditions–typical of
satellite networks. The IPoS network must overcome these limitations to create
an efficient and responsive network that does not suffer from the performance
constraints and can compete with terrestrial alternatives.

EvDO: Wi-Fi Challenger

Wi-Fi has a challenger for the wireless space. It is called evolution data only
or EvDO and is being developed as the new standard for high-speed cellular
networks.

EvDO is a wireless network solution, which provides data connections almost
10 times faster than a regular modem.

In addition to being faster than Wi-Fi, EvDO can work over existing
cell-phone networks and deliver a connection wherever there is a mobile-phone
signal. In contrast, Wi-Fi users must be within 300 feet of a base station or a
hotspot.

However, the cellular companies are facing constraints over spectrum use and
at the moment have their networks clogged with voice traffic. If they implement
EvDO without updating their networks and buying additional spectrum, which would
require huge investments, benefits of EvDO are likely to be lost. At the moment,
the EvDO solutions industry is bullish and it has been gaining popularity in US
and South Korea. Though investments would be the key in EvDO rollout, telecom
equipment makers and network solution providers should be ready to take the hit
in anticipation of larger benefits.