Wireless Standards Group Changes Rules for Parity
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The IEEE 802.20 mobile broadband wireless group seeks to prevent domination by a single company.
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Vendors in the WiMax forum are developing a variation that broadens the spectrum of the wireless technology.
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The IEEE standards body reinstated the 802.20 working group, replacing the leaders and requiring members to reveal their affiliations.
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The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has ruled that incumbent local exchange carriers must connect to VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) services, overruling two state public service commission opinions.
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update British regulatory agency Ofcom has begun to map out the future for commercial Net phone services. And while some issues are as yet unresolved, the organization issued a key ruling Monday that was popular among carriers.
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The ZigBee Alliance, an industry standards group dedicated to promoting low-power wireless networks, ratified the first ZigBee specification this week.
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(InfoWorld) - The working group for the emerging IEEE 802.20 mobile broadband standard, which was suspended last year after a fight over members' real company affiliations, has changed its voting rules. In the IEEE 802.20 working group, each entity -- including vendors, university research groups, and other bodies -- will have one vote. Typically in IEEE networking standards groups, members vote as individuals regardless of whom they work for. The working group was suspended in June 2006 after allegations that Qualcomm was improperly trying to dominate the process and that its then-chairman, Jerry Upton, had identified himself as an independent consultant but was paid by Qualcomm. Upton has since disclosed his work as a consultant for Qualcomm. The latest move, made Tuesday during a meeting of several IEEE standards bodies in San Francisco, came amid continuing concerns about domination of the group, 802.20 Committee Chairman Paul Nikolich said in a written statement. The change will help deliver a standard in a timely way, he said. Worries about Qualcomm's influence over the standards process seem to have continued. At a meeting in Montreal in May, some members of the group expressed concern that the company had two votes on the working group's Editorial Group because both the chair and one member represented Qualcomm, according to the draft minutes of the meeting. The chair clarified that the chair was only to vote when needed to break a tie. IEEE 802.20 is intended as a multi-megabit mobile data and voice system. Some of the technology that has played a role in it was developed by Flarion Technologies, which Qualcomm acquired in 2005. With 3GÂ cellular networks now going after the 1MbpsÂ barrier, there is no shortage of potential rivals to IEEE 802.20. Another mobile broadband standard, IEEE 802.16e, is being adopted by many system vendors and service providers under the WiMax name. One advantage of 802.20, proponents have said, is that it can be used in faster moving vehicles than can WiMax. Sprint Nextel, having previously tested Flarion's system, last year chose WiMax for its nationwide 4G network for commercial launch that will be launched next year. The company said Thursday it plans to join with ClearWireÂ for broader coverage. Sprint Nextel chose WiMax because it already existed as a technology and a standard and was being embraced by a large number of equipment vendors, including Nokia, said Atish Gude, senior vice president of mobile broadband operations at Sprint.
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As part of its goal to promote access to broadband services for all Americans and to encourage new facilities based broadband platforms, the Federal Communications Commission today adopted changes to Part 15 of its rules to encourage the development of
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The 802.11n draft wireless standard moved further into mainstream acceptance on Tuesday with Cisco&#39;s announcement of integrated enterprise products.
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A new battle of technologies may be in the offing in the 802.11n arena as 12 key companies have developed a key proposal to counter another one announced last week that is backed by a group of top wireless players.
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(InfoWorld) - U.S. consumers should be allowed to take phones along with them when they switch wireless carriers, and spectrum to be auctioned through the U.S. Federal Communications Commission should include rules requiring the winning bidders to sell access to competitors at wholesale rates, some U.S. lawmakers said Wednesday. Some members of the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet also questioned what they called huge early termination fees on wireless telephone contracts. But other lawmakers and executives with wireless carriers questioned the need for new wireless regulations, saying an already competitive market protects customers. The U.S. wireless industry is "vigorously competitive," with four national and several regional carriers, said Representative Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican. New net neutrality and open access rules that would require carriers to open up their networks to new devices and applications could slow wireless innovations, he said. "We should take care to not adopt policies that would set back the highly competitive wireless market," he added. "No matter how you slice it, forced network neutrality smothers investment in a competitive market and in the end will leave consumers worse off with probably fewer choices." But other members of the subcommittee, mostly Democrats, questioned why phones can't switch between wireless networks. U.S. customers should also be able to run any applications they want on wireless networks instead of having limited choices approved by the carrier, said Representative Mike Doyle, a Pennsylvania Democrat. "It's time for consumers to become the deciders of what they want their phones to do," Doyle said. Apple's recent launch of its iPhone demonstrates the "promise and problems" of the U.S. wireless industry, added Representative Ed Markey, the subcommittee chairman and a Massachusetts Democrat. While the iPhone has innovative new technologies, U.S. customers can use it with only one wireless carrier, AT&T, he said. Other lawmakers called on the FCC to go farther than requiring device portability and application choices when it sets the rules for the use of spectrum to be auctioned in the 700MHz band. Part of the 60MHz of spectrum to be auctioned by early next year should include requirements for the winner to offer the spectrum at wholesale rates to other wireless and broadband providers, said Representative Chip Pickering, a Mississippi Republican. A wholesale rule would allow new wireless broadband providers to spring up all over the country, Pickering said. The 700MHz spectrum, now used by U.S. television stations for over-the-air broadcasts, would allow for long-range wireless broadband services, many experts say. The wholesale rule wouldn't put new regulations on existing wireless services, Pickering said. "What's wrong with that?" he asked. There's nothing wrong with a carrier voluntarily deciding to wholesale its spectrum, said Steven Zipperstein, general counsel for Verizon Wireless. "We don't think a business model should be hardwired into the auction by regulatory fiat," he said. Ed Evans, CEO of startup carrier Stelera Wireless, questioned whether a wholesale business model would succeed in the new spectrum. "You're going to give up a scarce resource ... that you're not going to be able to recoup the value on," he said. "You're going to prohibit other people from deploying proven technologies in that same area." But Jason Devitt, cofounder and former CEO of Vindigo, a company that distributes local guides on mobile phones, said the U.S. needs a more open wireless system where application providers don't have to work out deals with wireless carriers. "We have a regulatory system that doesn't work," said Devitt, now CEO of Skydeck, a wireless startup. "I'm mad as hell that I require permission to innovate in the wireless market." While wireless customers usually have to switch devices when they switch carriers, U.S. television subscribers don't have to buy a new TV set when they switch from cable TV service to satellite, added Timothy Wu, a professor at the Columbia Law School and supporter of open access rules. "There's something strange about this industry," he said. "Even the rules of personal property ... seem to be suppressed."
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Regulators set aside additional bandwidth for third-generation cell phones and other advanced wireless services.
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The fickle finger of an IEEE committee may be goading along a death rattle for the organization's goal of reaching a 100 Gb/s Ethernet standard.â¦
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A standards group has begun work on a 1-Gigabit-per-second version of WiMax that could replace both cellular and WiMax.
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The European Union has ordered member states to change laws and regulations before August to allow use of wireless ultra-wideband technology.
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The Federal Communications Commission has made changes to its regulations that will allow power companies to provide broadband services over electric lines.
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Standards can't keep up with market Analysis It is increasingly obvious that standards processes are falling hopelessly behind the real time to market needs of vendors. In WiMAX and, particularly, Wi-Fi, markets suppliers are pre-empting ratified standards by ever longer margins. Initially, as with the 54Mbps 802.11g Wi-Fi system and with 802.16d, 'pre-standard' products were built to the finalized IEEE specification, but had not yet achieved any independent certification of this.â¦