May 13, 2008
LTE meets WiMAX
By Jack Shandle

Normally we think about

But from the semiconductor perspective, they are, in fact, complementary.

Systems houses that manufacture everything from PCs to mobile phones like to have something as close to a unitary architecture for worldwide distribution because it's so much more cost effective. Customization and regionalization is best done in plastic.

So while some of us are arguing over the merits of WiMAX and LTE, smarter people in the IC business are working on dual-mode chips. Sequans is probably the leader in this but the business formula is no secret and, as they say, the race is already on.

There are a fair number of similarities between the technologies—particularly as LTE moves more toward the IP space. The most important is the OFDM signaling.

We've already seen announcements for dual-mode phones. Both Sprint and Motorola have thrown some PowerPoint slides together, which is a bit easier than designing a chip.

Another dual-mode opportunity will raise interest in software-defined radio. My take on this is that SDR is one of those technologies that will be adopted incrementally.

Companies with serious SDR credentials will do a lot of the work but in the meantime established players will nibble around the edges and employ what one might call SDR techniques. It's already happening.
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May 06, 2008
Just when we thought it was . . .
By Jack Shandle

Just when we thought it was almost the time when we could use our

As you may recall, it wasn't all that long ago that we published a news item about the UK communications regulator Ofcom clearing the way for cell phone use in aircraft. (Ofcom approves use of mobile phones on aircraft.)

The objection is not safety oriented. It's more in tune with librarian sensibilities.

Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), John Duncan (R-Tenn.), Thomas Petri (R-Wis.) and James Oberstar (D-Minn.) have proposed a new law called the Hang Up Act, (Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace Act) hoping to keep noisy talkers quiet on airplanes.

I'll let you decide for yourself whether you like the idea or not. While it's certainly true that some unfortunate people like to shout into their cell phones (it's going wireless so the sound must be weak, right?) I think the great majority of us can handle the responsibility of talking in hushed tones.
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April 29, 2008
The certification game
By Jack Shandle

A couple of weeks ago, editors and bloggers alike found our inboxes populated overnight with a dozen or so news releases heralding certain products as gaining Mobile

An important step, to be sure. We've been waiting awhile for this.

But it is Wave 1 certification—not the more desirable Wave 2, which among other things includes all-important MIMO—and it is conformance testing. Not interoperability testing or performance testing either.

Beceem, one of WiMAX's leading chip companies, has pointed this out. It is apparently waiting for Wave 2 conformance tests to be ready because Wave 1 is, as the old song goes, "over before it's begun."

On the other hand, PR advantage aside, Wave 1 could be viewed as being on the road to Wave 2. That's apparently how Sequans, another WiMAX chip company, sees it. Sequans is one of the companies with certified products.

"This 2.3 GHz certification milestone marks the beginning of the era of Mobile WiMAX, which is here to stay, and which will meet the growing world demand for internet access the way it was meant to be—fast and mobile," said Sequans CEO Georges Karam. "Wave 2 certification is just around the corner, and we will also be there with certified reference designs."

We've been hearing quite a bit about WiMAX recently. The PR volume has been turned up since January. It may be that at long last we are going to see something more than news releases in the not-too-distant future.
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April 21, 2008
Cautionary 802.11n tales on the web
By Jack Shandle

We've seen a few cautionary articles crop up on the web recently advising network administrators to take the plunge with their eyes wide open.

Here, for example, is what Tim Higgins of SmallNetBuilder had to say about mixing 11n with 11g—at least with the first crop of 11n products.

"I'm no longer recommending that you go for dual-band dual-radio products if you want to move now to draft 11n. The main reason is that the potential upside isn't enough to justify the high cost, especially if you have a large installed base of 802.11b/g devices.."

The entire SmallNetBuilder article is available at www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30396/100/1/2/.

While there is no doubt that 11n is going to create a lot of new applications once the standard is finally approved, people are taking a wait-and-see attitude on the pre-standard products.
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