Better late than never for 4G and LTE wireless deployments
Today we release part one of our predictions for 2011, centered on expected progress with mobility, video, unified communications and collaboration (UCC), hosted/cloud services, net neutrality, VoIP evolution, and consolidation trends.
We’ll start with what we had hoped would happen in 2010 with 4G and LTE wireless deployments. We had hoped to (but didn’t) see VoIP over 4G in 2010 as Verizon deployed LTE and Clearwire deployed a WiMax-based 4G network. Both companies covered over a 100 million potential subscribers each at the end of 2010, offering mobile broadband download speeds of 5 Mbps or greater — with connection speeds beginning to approximate wireline services.
We still hold out hope that 4G/LTE wireless will make an impact in 2011 not just by offering faster broadband, but by providing an infrastructure for a broader portfolio of mobile applications. We hope to see VoIP offered over 4G / LTE, along with a start on integrating unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) applications on 4G mobile devices, and mobile video conferencing more widely available by capitalizing on 4G speeds. We also expect that combining the power of tablet computers with 4G / LTE will also hasten “next generation” enterprise mobility. We think that the device evolution will be driven by both consumer and business demand for advanced applications and services.
With prices moving down for telepresence systems in 2010, more system choices, better video compression techniques (lowering the demands on the broadband connection) and some modest 2010 declines in broadband service prices, we expect 2011 to be a banner year for HD video conferencing in the SME market. What remains to be seen is how well telepresence systems will integrate into a greater UCC portfolio in the coming year. While most mid-range and high-end telepresence solutions include their own collaboration applications, these applications seem to be isolated from other communications systems and network management applications like those that come built into the IP-PBX.
As for UCC in general, 2010 brought many advances in portfolios provided by individual suppliers, creating what is an opportunity for advances in multi-vendor interoperability in the coming year. We think we’ll begin to see more demonstrations of UCC suppliers working together to offer further compatibility in 2011, and the opportunity for a “gateway” solution as an intermediate step for interoperability.
We’ll finish our predictions with part two when we return in January following a short holiday break — starting with our thoughts on how the FCC ruling this week on net neutrality will affect convergence.
