By 2010,
Wimax will replace
Wi-Fi as the technology of choice for public wireless networks,
as
barriers currently preventing widespread adoption are removed,
analyst firm Gartner has predicted.
"There are two particular attractions of Wimax for municipal
networks: wider area coverage than Wi-Fi and operation in licensed
as well as unlicensed spectrum," said Ian Keene, research
vice-president at Gartner.
Last month, the Wimax Forum tested key mobility features such as
such as handover, or
"
roaming mobile" - where a terminal is handed off between two
base stations, simulating a mobile environment.
Although some low-cost products have been tested for
compatibility with the 802.16-2005 Wimax standard, Keene said these
were not expected to become available until late 2007, and
integration into large numbers of PCs and PDAs was not expected
before 2010.
Nathan Burley, an analyst with Ovum, said, "The technology is
less specified than comparable 3G broadband technologies, and it
will take time to develop the scale economies essential to compete
with 3G."
A survey of 538 IT decision makers by Forrester Research found
that 50% were not interested in rolling out Wimax as part of
expanding their enterprise network and telecoms infrastructure, and
only 6% had deployed it.
However, the technology is being used as the wireless backhaul
part of some mesh networks, and fixed Wimax is being deployed for
wireless links to municipal buildings. In addition, Pipex Wireless'
second commercial trial of Wimax services went live in Warwick last
month.
Analysts agree that key to the technology's success will be the
allocation of spectrum for its use. The 2.5GHz spectrum could be
used for mobile Wimax networks in the UK, although competing for
that space will be other high-speed broadband technologies.
Industry regulator Ofcom is expected to auction this spectrum in
early 2008.
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>>
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