Review And Comment Of This Week's BWIA Press Releases

This is a summary, and accompanying commentary of this week's postings from:

Broadband Wireless Internet Access Press Releases
Significant Press Releases relating to Broadband Wireless Internet Access, WiMAX, outdoor Wi-Fi, cellular Broadband

Monday, April 16, 2007:

Atria Networks Standardizes On Ruckus Wireless To Bring Outdoor Wi-Fi Indoors And To Create In-Building Hot Spots - This announcement was significant because it's indicative of the rapidly evolving nature of Metropolitan Wi-Fi networks moving towards the use of Wi-Fi clients with specialized capabilities. Wi-Fi is rapidly evolving new capabilities, but "innovating within the standard" as the PC industry used to say.

Sierra Wireless MP Rugged Modems Now Available With 3G Connectivity - I think these sorts of products presage the emergence of at least certain classes of vehicles having inherent Internet connectivity. There are a lot of high-value vehicles where, if you assume Internet connectivity, you can do some very interesting things. One application that comes immediately to mind is high-value vehicles that come with a warranty. The company can monitor the vehicle's performance and proactively take action when it appears a failure is immanent, such as a construction crane. There's a significant difference in the old "telematics" remote monitoring where the connectivity wasn't Internet - it was proprietary, low bandwidth, etc. Another application is putting an optional Wi-Fi HotSpot (enabled remotely) into high-occupancy vehicles.

Ruckus Wireless Unveils RIOT Metro Program - Clearly Ruckus Wireless is a company to be watched, affiliating and differentiating their products to better interoperate with Metropolitan Wi-Fi networks.. They get that Metropolitan Wi-Fi networks are a big deal, and they're way out in front of the rest of the consumer Wi-Fi industry on offering such capabilities, beating out fast-to-market companies like Linksys and D-Link.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007:

Harris Corporation Introduces High-Speed Broadband Ethernet Radio For Military, Homeland Security And Public Safety Use - Long range, high-speed, and easy to deploy.

Singapore Wi-Fi Deployment Offers Best Practices For Municipalities Worldwide - I can't imagine the complexities of deploying a city-wide Wi-Fi network in Singapore. This is a session I would have learned a lot from.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007:

Broadband Internet Access Peaking - Wireless Connectivity To Drive Next Phase Of Global Internet Usage -   Discusses the rise in Internet access through wireless telephony handheld devices.

Hughes Signs Contract with TerreStar to Develop, Manufacture and Install Turnkey Satellite Base Station Subsystem - Satellite, both as a backhaul and access technology, gets often overlooked, but it's the only way to get Broadband Internet Access in many, many parts of the world.

Mobile Assets Announces New Wireless Subsidiary - This announcement came across as a little too breathless.

Phoenicia Group Rolls Out BGAN Satellite Internet Technology In Libya - Again, satellite (see above), but this time in reference to Inmarsat's Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN).

Alvarion's 4Motion Solution Being Showcased At The Intel Developer Forum (IDF), Beijing, P.R. China - It's fascinating to me to contemplate that the Intel Developer Forum (IDF), dominated for so long by microprocessors, is now discussing WiMAX.

TeleCIS Wireless Streamlines Focus to Maximize Fixed/Portable WiMAX Solutions - I saw a brief mention of this development posted elsewhere and that sparked Wednesday's posting - Qualcomm Acquires Mobile WiMAX Assets of TeleCIS Wireless. In a post next week on Monday or Tuesday, I'll explain why I think that BWIA vendors like TeleCIS Wireless that are focused more on Fixed, rather than Mobile, WiMAX are going to going to do very, very well at least in the short term, and perhaps in the long term.

Thursday, April 19, 2007:

Celtel Congo Powers Mobile Network With $3Million of Ceragon's High Power Radios - I'm always fascinated with telecommunications deployments in Africa.

Moovera and Vodafone Collaborate On Wi-Fi For Public Transport - This press release sparked yesterday's posting - The Last Fifty Feet Are Wi-Fi.

Friday, April 20, 2007:

Demand Growing for Option's HSDPA 7.2 EXPRESS Data Cards and ICON USB Wireless Modems - Owners of  Mac Pro laptops (like me) are glad to see that wireless telephony broadband modem cards are finally emerging in the Mac Pro's new (no more PCMCIA) expansion slot format (ExpressCard/34).

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh