Sprint insists its WiMax network is on track
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Sprint Nextel and its hardware partners sought to convince a small audience at the Consumer Electronics Show that their WiMax plans are on track, despite the recent departure of Sprint&#39;s CEO and the dissolution of its partnership with Clearwire.&quot;We are exactly where we said we&#39;d be,&quot; said Barry West, Sprint Nextel&#39;s CTO and president of the company&#39;s Xohm WiMax business unit. Sprint is in the process of soft-launching in Chicago and Baltimore, he said.Executives from Nokia and Samsung said they both expect to have user devices ready for the second-quarter launch. In addition, Motorola said it is working on a device that will operate over Sprint&#39;s EvDO (evolution, data optimized) cellular network, Wi-Fi, and WiMax.Since the&#160;ouster of Gary Forsee, the former CEO and chairman of Sprint Nextel, who was thought to be a champion of the company&#39;s WiMax plans, onlookers have speculated that the network might not roll out as planned. In addition,&#160;Sprint Nextel ended a partnership with Clearwire&#160;to jointly deploy WiMax, a further cause for uncertainty. Sprint has been hemorrhaging mobile subscribers and recording declining revenues since its purchase of Nextel.Beyond the unrest internally at Sprint, the company faces critics of WiMax who say that the technology won&#39;t work as well as cellular technologies in a mobile environment and that it won&#39;t support international roaming as easily as the cellular standards.But in describing the reasons why Sprint chose WiMax and why it intends to aggressively pursue the network, West further sought to soothe market qualms about the future.&quot;Being first to market is a huge advantage,&quot; he said. &quot;And WiMax technology is here, now, and mature.&quot;While an investment in a totally new technology requires a strong reason for change, this won&#39;t be the first time Sprint&#39;s doing it, he noted. WiMax doesn&#39;t follow on the upgrade path for CDMA, the basis for Sprint&#39;s cellular network, so it requires a totally new network.Sprint did that first when it moved from an analog cellular network to digital, West said. The same went for the move to third-generation technology, although in that case Sprint stuck with the CDMA path.Sprint also considered LTE (Long Term Evolution), a fourth-generation mobile technology, but one big disadvantage is that it&#39;s not yet available, he said.Moving to WiMax represents a shift to a new air interface technology: OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) instead of CDMA, which is the basis of the current 3G technologies. According to West, when CDMA is deployed in a wider section of spectrum, which helps boost throughput, the computational complexity required goes up exponentially. That requires higher-performance chips, which come with a steep price tag, he said.With WiMax, Sprint plans to use a wide section of spectrum that can dynamically switch from carrying data up or down, depending on user requirements, he said.Beyond the radically different network technology, Sprint envisions a very different business model than cellular, one that will support any kind of standard device.&quot;Look at the cellular model. It was very successful but also very frustrating,&quot; West said. He was referring to the business model in the United States where operators subsidize phones and then require long-term subscriptions from users.With Xohm, Sprint will allow any WiMax-compliant device to run on the network, he said. End-users will buy the devices themselves, probably at a variety of retail stores and hopefully for a low price because vendors expect the cost of WiMax chips to drop dramatically, like Wi-Fi. &quot;Since I&#39;ve got no money in you, I don&#39;t need a contract,&quot; West said. That opens the door to a wide array of new pricing scenarios. End-users could pay for the day, week, month, or on a regular subscription, he said.While West declined to cite specific prices, he said a monthly subscription to Xohm will be comparable to existing DSL rates.Initially, Sprint will sell PC cards and modems, but by the end of this year as many as&#160;10 different kinds of devices could be available, he said. Navigation and gaming devices are possibilities, he said.If the market has any doubts about Sprint&#39;s plans for the network, it should rest assured that, regardless, the future of WiMax is more certain, panelists said. &quot;WiMax is bigger than Sprint,&quot; said Sriram Viswanathan, vice president and general manager for Intel Capital and for Intel&#39;s WiMax business.Motorola alone has 17 contracts for networks and is involved in 60 trials, said Fred Wright, senior vice president and general manager at Motorola. &quot;This technology is real, it&#39;s not a fairy tale,&quot; he said.
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Sprint Nextel Corp , which recently  said it would spend up to $5 billion on a mobile high-speed  wireless standard by 2010, said it had awarded the New York  WiMax market to Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (005930.KS).
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While all the focus with Wimax is on Sprint and Motorola, Nortel Networks is planning a big focus on the technology and rollouts ofor all kinds of customers, including high-speed trains and rural networks.
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Nokia said Wednesday it has been selected by Sprint to begin building out its fourth-generation wireless network based on WiMAX. Four Texas markets will be first to receive service in early 2008.
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Clearwire's CEO said Wednesday that the company has been working with Sprint to ensure roaming between the two companies' nationwide WiMax networks.
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(InfoWorld) - WiMax World 2007 opens in Chicago Tuesday with major service providers and network equipment vendors expected to offer demonstrations and a few details on plans for mobile WiMax deployments that will hit their stride next year. Sprint Nextel CTO Barry West will provide an update of Sprint's Xohm wireless network in a keynote Wednesday. In August, he said the service will be launched in Chicago and the Washington/Baltimore area by year's end and will reach 100 million users by the end of 2008. Motorola, meanwhile, is planning to demonstrate its coming mobile WiMax technology from a boat in the waters of Lake Michigan. Many of the WiMax plans are focused on major hardware devices being sold to carriers for backhauling wireless signals from outdoor mesh networks that have Wi-Fi connectivity. Sprint's Xohm will be open access, giving WiMax-certified devices like laptops and handhelds the ability to operate at speeds up to 4Mbps, perhaps five times faster than what carriers call third-generation wireless speeds, West said in August. However, one vendor, MobileAccess Networks in Vienna, Va., announced new WiMax hardware today that will work in remote wiring closets of businesses to deliver WiMax capabilities alongside Wi-Fi, cellular, and public safety networks. The MobileAccess WiMax module, to be shown at the trade show, will undergo WiMax certification from Sprint, said MobileAccess CEO Cathy Zatloukal in an interview. "We expect several existing customers will be interested in it," she said. The module will fit inside an existing MobileAccess MA-2000 Universal Wireless Network box now deployed in many businesses to aggregate multiple wireless signals for Wi-Fi, cellular, and public safety, she explained. The value of having a WiMax module to add-in is that it will work alongside existing infrastructure and provides a single cabling infrastructure to support it. One MobileAccess customer, Tommy Russo of Akridge Real Estate Services in Washington, said he plans to add the WiMax module to his MobileAccess hardware when it is available. "WiMax will give us bigger play and more robust service," said Russo, CTO at Akridge, which provides Wi-Fi and cellular services in a downtown building for hundreds of employees and customers. "As more devices use WiMax, which will happen, it enables more things to connect, everything from telephones to laptops with WiMax." Russo said he expects building management and lighting controls could run over WiMax. Someday, WiMax could even be used to merge Wi-Fi and ZigBee, a wireless standard for embedded control devices, he said. Russo said he has seen the MobileAccess module, but he has not tested it and is eager to start testing as soon as possible. His building has been using voice-over-Wi-Fi for about 18 months. The price for the module has not been announced, Zatloukal said. MobileAccess' module is so far unique, although placing WiMax alongside other wireless modes inside a building will be important to other vendors, said Craig Mathias, an analyst at The Farpoint Group in Ashland, Mass., and a Computerworld columnist. MobileAccess competes with LGC Wireless in San Jose and Interwireless in Universal City, Calif., he said. At WiMax World, there will be plenty of demonstrations, including the module by MobileAccess, Mathias said. "The WiMax market is here now, and we'll see a rollout of commercial services this year, so the show is a chance to get your hands on it, to see what it does and what it costs. The reality is coming quickly, and we'll see how successful it will be." Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate
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Sprint will work with fellow WiMax provider Clearwire on building its national "4G" network, the two companies said on Thursday. The deal includes a roaming agreement between the two companies, and will lessen the strain on Sprint to quickly cover a large portion of the country.
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Sprint, the fourth-largest US cell phone operator, has started a $3 billion network upgrade, with $1 billion earmarked for a wireless broadband service to launch soon in selected cities, a Sprint executive said Tuesday.
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(InfoWorld) - Sprint Nextel and Clearwire have entered an agreement to jointly build the first nationwide WiMax network in the U.S., the two companies announced Thursday. The vendors will work together on the WiMax network and expect to offer service to a broad range of users, including the U.S. government, public safety agencies, businesses, and consumers, they said. The two companies plan to reach 100 million U.S customers by the end of 2008, said Gary Forsee, Sprint Nextel chairman and CEO, during a press conference. The WiMax network, which will be marketed under a common brand, will compete with and compliment existing broadband services, he said. The deal "will fundamentally change the communications landscape in this country," added Ben Wolff, Clearwire CEO. "By working together, a nationwide network becomes possible." Sprint Nextel will build out about 65 percent of the network, and Clearwire will build out the remaining 35 percent, the companies said. The agreement still needs to be finalized, and it will be subject to regulatory approval by the U.S. Department of Justice and spectrum transfers from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Sprint Nextel will focus on geographic areas covering approximately 185 million people, including 75 percent of the people located in the 50 largest U.S. markets, while Clearwire will concentrate on areas covering approximately 115 million people. A year ago, Sprint Nextel announced its plans for a nationwide WiMax network. The partnership with Clearwire allows Sprint Nextel to invest less money to create a nationwide network, Forsee said. The agreement will also allow the two companies to provide customers with "more breadth and depth of support," he added. The partners said the wireless network will provide broadband-speed Internet access to customers. The agreement will enable "seamless" roaming across the network, Forsee said. WiMax is designed to operate more than five times faster than current third-generation wireless networks. The arrangement will allow the exchange of spectrum between Sprint Nextel and Clearwire to enable each company to build out its portion of the network and to enhance service in its buildout territory, the companies said. Clearwire will be able to use some of Sprint Nextel's wireless infrastructure. The initial term of the arrangement is 20 years, with three 10-year renewal periods.
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Intel touts WiMax, but analysts say it likely won't go beyond niche applications.
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WiMax is winning over lots of followers while quickly gaining momentum on the standards front -- despite high-profile skeptics such as Texas Instruments, according to experts at this week's Broadband World Forum in Venice.
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WiMax products abounded at a large trade show this week, but Sprint's long-term WiMax plans remain hazy as the troubled carrier sorts out its priorities.
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By James Connell  Eric Pfanner contributed reporting from London.   *  WiMax, the long-range wireless Internet standard backed by technology giants like Alcatel-Lucent, Intel, Nokia and Samsung, is unlikely to be appear as a new feature on cellphones anytime soon.
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Sprint Nextel Corp  on Tuesday  said it will spend up to $3 billion over two years to build a  high-speed wireless data network using WiMax technology in a  bid to capture new growth from emerging mobile services.
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With just a few months to go before the launch of its next-generation wireless network, Sprint Nextel Corp. has a distinctly modest lineup of compatible devices.
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A Sprint official acknowledges, however, that the carrier's full-scale deployment still awaits budget approval by new management.
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(InfoWorld) - The process to standardize a rival to the broadband wireless WiMax technology is back on track although the delay and scandal around it could present a serious set back to the effort. On Tuesday, standards setting body the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) announced changes that would allow the 802.20 working group, suspended in June, to continue to develop the standard. The group will elect all new officers and resume working once a chair is approved, which IEEE hopes will happen by Nov. 12. Participants in the group will also be required to disclose all of their affiliations, including any company that pays, employs or sponsors the member. Some experts warn, however, that the changes could be coming too late. "Whatever the reality behind it, 802.20 is now so heavily associated with Qualcomm that it will not be perceived as an independent standard," said Caroline Gabriel, an analyst with Rethink Research. The IEEE put the new measures in place in hopes of correcting the problems that lead to the suspension of the group in June. At the time, the standards body had received several complaints, including some that accused the independent analyst who served as chairman of 802.20 of being paid by Qualcomm, an accusation he later confirmed. In addition, the IEEE said the group's activities had become unusually contentious. The 802.20 group began as an offshoot of 802.16, the standard that forms the basis of WiMax. The goal of the 802.16 effort initially was to build a fixed broadband wireless technology that would compete with DSL (digital subscriber line) and other wireline technologies. As work progressed, however, 802.16 members decided that in the future, the standard should be capable of supporting mobile or portable access as well. But some of the members didn't want to have to build the mobility feature on top of a standard that was originally created for a fixed application. Consequently, they split off to create 802.20, a mobile broadband wireless standard that could be created from scratch and would be designed to support broadband wireless access for users moving at very high speeds, such as on a train. While 802.16 emphasizes throughput speeds, 802.20 emphasizes supporting access at very fast user mobility. IntelÂ is a major backer of the 802.16 process and ArrayCommÂ and Flarion have been heavily involved in the 802.20 process. Intel competitorÂ Qualcomm acquired FlarionÂ last year. Qualcomm is best known for its development of CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and strict licensing policies. The process of completing the 802.20 standard was already far behind its 802.16 competitor when the suspension occurred. The specification for the fixed version of 802.16 is finished with products currently shipping and the mobile version of 802.16 was ratified late last year. The 802.20 standard will also have to compete with the developing cellular standards, such as HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access).