* Will WiMAX be the silver bullet for interoperability?
“WiMAX” is a nickname for “Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access,” a description that is rarely used anymore. What’s relevant about the name, though, is the “worldwide interoperability” part—a characteristic that has long eluded global mobile networks, particularly since the U.S. split off into two distinct 3G technology camps in the early 1990s.
While there is much debate over whether WiMAX continues to be overhyped relative to its potential, many of the enterprise IT managers I talk to tell me their hope is that mobile WiMAX will become a single worldwide protocol that works across different carriers’ networks and devices. They are tired, they say, of the fragmentation their users experience as they roam from country to country.
This desire is potentially reflected in a recent worldwide survey of more than 250 subscribers to Webtorials, a network-education Web site. Respondents ranked VoIP as the No. 1 application driving their interest in WiMAX.
This seems odd, given that there are so many ways to make a phone call in existence today. On the other hand, while global voice harmony is easier to achieve with tri- and quad-band GSM phones, perhaps these folks are seeking one broadband mobile connection that handles all their voice, data, and video needs — and works consistently around the world.
As I’ve frequently mentioned in this newsletter, U.S. carriers today require you to use cellular voice networks to make phone calls and cellular data networks (a separate subscription) for data requirements. VoIP is technically data, but most of the nation’s carriers currently block it on their data networks, because it competes with cellular voice minutes and revenue.
Whether mobile WiMAX will be the magic bullet that delivers global mobile interoperability remains to be seen. Sprint Nextel has said it intends to cover 100 million people in the U.S. with mobile WiMAX services by late 2008. The technology is in trials in the U.K., Italy and Japan, and services have been available for nearly a year in Korea under the “WiBro” service name.
It’s unlikely that the traditional cellular carriers will simply discard their substantial investments in 3G licenses and infrastructure and start all over with WiMAX. Even Sprint continues to invest in its CDMA-based EV-DO network infrastructure. For the short term, anyway, mobile WiMAX will likely be a complement to cellular services and will be accessed by client devices with 3G, Wi-Fi, and mobile WiMAX radio connections bundled in.
To listen to a discussion of the Webtorials WiMAX survey and to view survey results figures, click here (registration required).
