Wireless Technology

Mundurnya CISCO dari Bisnis WiMAX merupakan pukulan berat bagi industri WiMAX masa depan. Namun WiMAX 802.16e akan terus berkembang sedikit demi sedikit, menuju ke standar 802.11m yang akan kompatibel dengan LTE. LTE akan tetap mendominasi pangsa pasar Broadband Wireless Access dimasa depan.

Berikut ini adalah berita lengkapnya.

The exit of Cisco from the WiMax radio sector does nothing to alter the perception that Long Term Evolution (LTE) will be the winner in, well, the long term.

As reported in a number of places, including Computerworld, Cisco is backing off from its strong advocacy for WIMax that saw it acquire Navini Networks in 2007. Navini, the story says, brought its WiMax radio access network (RAN) gear to Cisco. In the interim, as the story points out, LTE has made steady and methodical progress. The technology will be deployed by AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Indeed, the move away from WIMax may be interpreted as a sign that the Cisco has no desire to bite two hands that feed it.

This isn’t, of course, good news for WiMax and the companies such as Intel that have labored long and hard to see it develop. But there is no suggestion that WiMax is going away. Clearwire, the largest WiMax player in the world, is a viable company that seems to be making good on its expansive expansion plans.

Intel says the next version of the technology – 802.16m – will replace 802.16e and be ready for deployment in 2012, according to Network World. That seems like a long time in the future. In a sense, it should cheer WiMax supporters that the big thinkers – and big investors – are still thinking ahead. It is said that the new version will offer 170 megabits per second (Mbps) downloads and 90 Mbps upstream. Current WiMax speeds are 16 Mbps and 4 Mbps downstream and up, respectively. The story quotes an Intel executive as saying that there will be between 6 million and 10 million WiMax users worldwide.

The resiliency of the WiMax sector – regardless of its success vis a vis LTE – also is evident in announcements that it is creating niche relationships and these numbers from Infonetics Research. The firm said that the device and equipment market is up for the third consecutive quarter and that subscriber counts rose 75 percent last year. The release, which mentions Russian provider Yota and Japanese firm UQ in addition to Clearwire, offers seven bullet points which paint a positive picture. In a more anecdotal assessment of its health, VMAX Telecom has outfitted 1,000 taxis in Taipei with WiMax consoles.

Technology is not an either/or game. The Cisco move clearly is not good news for WiMax, both in terms of image and because the vendor brings a lot to any table at which it choose to sit. It’s also clear that WiMax will not be as big as LTE. All that said, however, it will is apparent that WiMax remains a significant wireless networking force.

Microsoft saw its share of the U.S. mobile OS market dip slightly between September and December 2009, to 18 percent, even as it launched Windows Mobile 6.5 in an attempt to stop its mobile market erosion. Microsoft has already begun incremental updates to Mobile 6.5, but the next big date to watch for is Feb. 15, when the company makes an announcement at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that could be the rollout of Windows Mobile 7. One of Microsoft’s main smartphone OS rivals, Research In Motion, also experienced a slight dip during that three-month period ending 2009.

Microsoft saw its share of the U.S. mobile operating-system market fall slightly between September and December 2009, the period during which the company launched its Windows Mobile 6.5 update in an attempt to slow or halt its market share declines.

According to ComScore’s Feb. 8 report, Microsoft’s share of the U.S. mobile operating-system market declined exactly 1 point, from 19 percent to 18 percent, between September and December 2009. Research In Motion also experienced a 1-point drop, albeit from 42.6 to 41.6 percent, and Palm suffered a 2.2-point drop from 8.3 percent to 6.1 percent.

By contrast, Apple gained 1.2 points during that period, claiming an estimated 25.3 percent market share, while Google climbed 2.7 points to reach 5.2 percent of the market.

Microsoft attempted to position Windows Mobile 6.5 as a chance to begin anew in the smartphone OS space, where it had seen its longer-term market share decline in the face of stiff competition from the likes of Apple, RIM and other competitors. "It’s the right time to take a look at the brand, the new capability that we built in and the new business experience," Greg Sullivan, senior product manager for Windows Mobile, said in an interview with eWEEK on the eve of the operating system version’s release.

Microsoft’s overall strategy centered on releasing Mobile 6.5 on a variety of smartphones, including ones by HTC, Sony Ericsson and LG Electronics. Microsoft also pushed to create a mobile application ecosystem for Windows Marketplace, designed as a competitor to Apple’s App Store. While Microsoft executives had dangled the hope that third-party developers could build enough programs for its storefront to launch with 600 apps in place, Marketplace ended up launching in October with some 246 applications from more than 753 ISVs (independent software vendors).

When contacted by eWEEK on Feb. 4 and asked how many applications are currently in the Marketplace, a Microsoft spokesperson responded: "In November we announced over 800 applications in Windows Marketplace for Mobile, more than three times the number we offered when Marketplace launched just a month before."

In addition, the spokesperson added, "We’ve estimated that there are around 20,000 applications available for the Windows Mobile 6x platform, although it’s important to note that Windows Marketplace for Mobile is not meant to aggregate all available mobile applications."

That spokesperson declined to offer the number of applications in the Marketplace as of February, saying, “We don’t release the exact numbers for applications because it changes all the time.” Counted by hand on Feb. 9, the Windows Marketplace for Mobile Website listed 718 mobile applications, in 14 categories, for U.S.-based Mobile 6.x smartphones. A pulldown menu on that Website gives access to mobile-application pages for other countries and their native languages, including Italy and Korea; a number of those countries, however, have only a small handful of programs listed, suggesting that the worldwide total of Mobile 6.x applications is not exponentially higher than that of the United States.

By contrast, Apple’s App Store expanded to more than 100,000 apps in 2009, with research firm IDC predicting in a Dec. 3 research note that the storefront will expand to around 300,000 apps by the end of 2010. That note also predicted that Google Android’s apps could expand "by a factor of five or more" over the next 12 months.

Microsoft is planning a major smartphone-related rollout at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress on Feb. 15; general online consensus seems to be that Microsoft will either introduce a totally new Mobile 7 or a largely revamped version of Mobile 6.5.

Minor updates to Mobile 6.5 are already circulating in the wild, with the Feb. 2 debut of the Sony Ericsson Aspen running Windows Mobile 6.5.3, a version with tweaks including capacitive touch-screen support, a horizontal scroll bar in place of tabs, touch support for legacy applications and a platform for enabling multitouch.

If Microsoft does choose to announce Mobile 7 on Feb. 15, for a rollout either later in 2010 or early 2011, then questions may arise over the company’s road map for supporting multiple operating systems running on a variety of devices. (source: eWEEK)

Regulator Telekomunikasi Inggris, Ofcom merencanakan untuk memperluas jangkauan jaringan 3G dengan menaikkan daya pancar BTS-nya 4x lipat atau menjadi 68 dBm dari sebelumnya yang sebesar 62 dBm.

Dampak dari kenaikan daya pancar ini adalah akan menimbulkan gangguan penerimaan pada perangkat-perangkat yang menggunakan frekwensi yang sama atau sangat berdekatan, seperti perangkan Wireles Camera, atau penerima satelit, dan juga kemungkinan kerusakan beberapa sel otak.

Namun Ofcom akan menetapkan kebijakan baru ini, walaupun akan memberikan dampak gangguan perangkat lainnya, karena penggunaan Wireless Camera ini masih terbatas di Inggris.

Alasan lain dari Regulator Inggris ini adalah contoh regulasi di Finland, Swedia, Jerman dan Prancis yang tidak menetapkan batas atas daya pancar BTS, namun ternyata tidak ada masalah yang penting.

Bagaimanakah bila daya pancar BTS di Indonesia juga dinaikkan. Tentu akan banyak masyarakat dan operator yang mendapat keuntungan, yaitu muta layanan 3G yang lebih baik di mata pelanggan, dan keuntungan yang meningkan yang akan dinikmati oleg para Operator.

Berikut rincian beritanya:

Ofcom is considering allowing UK's mobile operators to quadruple the power of their 3G transmissions, to improve coverage and maybe roast a few more brain cells.

The request came from Vodafone, but when Ofcom consulted the other operators they all wanted in, so now the regulator has published a consultation (pdf) with plans to increase the permitted broadcast power almost four times (from 62 to 68 on the logarithmic dBm scale).

That's more than Vodafone, or anyone else, has asked for - existing kit can only kick out around 65dBm. But Ofcom doesn't want to be back here in a year when new kit comes out, so proposes setting the level higher. The regulator also notes that in some countries; notably Finland, Sweden, Germany and France, there are no limits at all, yet everyone seems to survive OK.

The main problem with upping the power is interfering with the neighbours, as some signal bleeding is inevitable. For 3G this means wireless cameras used by the Program Making & Special Events (PMSE) crowd on one side, and the Complementary Ground Component needed for satellite broadcast of mobile TV services on the other.

Given that there aren't any mobile satellite TV services yet, Ofcom deals with that by agreeing that, should anyone decide to build a mobile satellite broadcasting network, they too will be allowed to broadcast at 68dBm.

The PMSE crowd are used to getting a kicking from Ofcom, and this time the regulator reckons wireless cameras already suffer so much interference from 3G that this won't make much of a difference - noting that professionals already have to avoid specific bands when near a base station, so they'll just have to do the same from a little further away once the increased power is permitted.

Ofcom points out that technology has improved since the 3G licences were flogged off, enabling higher-power transmission without greater interference leaking into neighbouring bands. Indeed, the regulator makes the point that limits on out-of-band signals aren't being changed, and increasing the power will certainly enhance in-building penetration.

The decision hasn't yet been made though, and Ofcom is inviting responses, from "stakeholders", until the 19th of March. (sumber: The Register, UK)

Setelah membaca referensi2 terlampir tentang telah diluncurkannya jaringan LTE di Swedia lebih awal dari jadwal sebelumnya tahun 2013-2014, maka kita makin yakin bahwa mengembangkan teknologi WiMAX Standar 802.16d adalah sebuah kekeliruan pilihan, sebab teknologi ini tidak FORWARD compatible dengan teknologi lanjutannya, yaitu Standar 802.16e dan 802.16m, karena memakai teknologi yang sudah ketinggalan kereta.

Sedangkan teknologi WiMAX Standar 802.16e memang sudah dirancang untuk bisa FORWARD compatible dengan Standar 802.16m, sebab didukung pengembangannya oleh banyak negara dan vendor WiMAX yang tergabung dalam organisasi WiMAX Forum yang baru saja pada Desember 2009 y.l. menyelenggarakan pertemuan di Jakarta.

Suatu hal penting lagi yang perlu kita ingat adalah arti singkatan WiMAX = Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. Ini berarti bahwa kalau kita bertahan pada teknologi WiMAX Standar 802.16d, maka kita akan ter-isolasi, tidak dapat menikmati "Economics of Scale" Global. Kesimpulannya, WiMAX 16d sudah tidak patut menyandang nama WiMAX. Silahkan lihat contohnya, bagaimana akhirnya Standar WiBro dari Korea (Wireless Broadband) mengikuti Standar WiMAX IEEE 802.16e, dan bukan 16d, agar bisa interoperable secara Global.

Permasalahan utama yang dibahas dalam makalah yang dipakai sebagai referensi, yang untuk mudahnya telah kami sajikan kembali di URL:

http://wirelesstekno.blogspot.com

adalah masalah penyediaan perangkat Terminal untuk jaringan dengan kecepatan transmisi yang mencapai 100 Mbps, apakah sudah tersedia handset dan modemnya, dan untuk aplikasi apa saja yang memerlukan kecepatan transmisi secepat itu? Apakah sudah ada budaya atau kebiasaan para pelanggan yang memerlukan kecepatan setinggi itu, dalam kondisi mobile atau kecpatan kendaraan sampai 100 km/jam?

Sebenarnya perangkat iPhone 3GS dan nantinya handphone Google Android versi 2.0 (NexusOne) akan memerlukan kecepatan transmisi yang disediakan oleh LTE ataupun WiMAX 16e dan 16m, untuk dipakai saat kita berada dalam kendaraan yang sedang meluncur cepat. Jadi pertanyaanya, sudahkan pada perangkat2 tersebut disediakan modem untuk kecepatan transmisi sampai 100 Mbps? Esensinya, jaringan sudah tersedia, tetapi apakah perangkat dan aplikasinya sudah ada? Dan apakah para pengguna memang sudah membutuhkannya? Kalau hanya untuk email, chatting, messaging, FB, Twitter, dll, maka pelanggan belum memerlukan kecepatan transmisi setinggi itu.

Kalau dilihat dari jumlah pelanggan GSM global yang sudah mencapai 4 milyar pelanggan, dibandingkan dengan WiMAx yang jumlahnya baru beberapa puluh juta, maka LTE sebagai kelanjutan teknologi GSM dan CDMA lebih memiliki keunggulan kompetitif dibandingkan dengan WiMAX. Namun ini tidak berarti kita harus menghentikan pengembangan WiMAX 16e dan 16m, sebab memang ada pebedaan niche markets antara LTE dan WiMAX. Lagipula, bila jumlah pelanggan WiMAX sudah mencapai massa kritis (critical mass), dengan harga terminal dan jaringan yg jauh lebih murah dari GSM/LTE, bisa2 ia akan menyalip LTE.

Kesimpulannya, Indonesia harus segera menetapkan Standar WiMAX Standar 802.16e untuk BWA di Indonesia, sebab sudah ada 8 Vendor lokal yang memberikan komitmen untuk mengembangkannya (versus 3 untuk Standar 16d).

Silahkan kawan2 memberikan tanggapan atau saran2 positif demi kemajuan bangsa dan negara.

The first long-term evolution networks have officially gone live overseas, and the first large-scale LTE deployments are set to launch this year in the U.S. and Japan. When LTE was still a technology targeted for 2013 or 2014, its named seemed apt, but today LTE is right around the corner.

Or is it? One thing we've learned (or should have learned) from the various generational deployments is the year a wireless technology officially emerges isn't necessarily the year we see that technology's benefits. We were promised high-speed data networks in 2000, only to see UMTS and CDMA 1X used primarily as voice networks for years until the advent of high-speed packet access and EV-DO networks. Handsets substantially lagged new networks and network upgrades in the early years of 3G, and it took several years for operators to figure out their data business models. (You can argue they're still figuring them out.)

Has the industry learned its lessons from 3G? Is the ecosystem more developed for LTE, and are we much better prepared for 4G than we were for 3G? This is the central question we'll be exploring in the February issue of Connected Planet: The networks are ready, but are the other pieces falling into place?

I'm still doing the interviews for the piece, but some themes are starting to emerge. Unlike in 3G, carriers have some pretty clear ideas what kind of applications and devices they want to see on the 4G network — largely they resemble the smartphones and broadband modems already taxing 3G networks. The gobs of traffic emerging from devices like the iPhone have an ideal home on the LTE network, but when it comes to new services the question is a bit muddier. LTE has the bandwidth to support high-bandwidth video, making video-on-demand, videoconferencing and live streaming the “new data” of 4G. The question is whether the industry has a clear plan to offer and monetize these new types of applications from the get-go. Or will the industry spend the next few years using the 4G network for 3G services, while we figure out what to do with all of that bandwidth. (sumber: Kevin Fitchard)