Wimax - Next Disruptive Technology

"The Next Disruptive Technology"

By Monica Rivituso
SmartMoney.com (c) 2005 All Rights Reserved

IN TECHNOLOGY, THERE'S ALWAYS something bigger and better around the
corner. And when it comes to wireless, that something is WiMax.

WiMax isn't a new music player or gaming gadget - it has the potential
to be much more transformative than any lone gizmo.

So, what is it? WiMax is the catchy name for a new wireless standard.
Similar to how 802.11 was marketed as WiFi [Ed: wireless networking],
WiMax is the consumer-friendly branding of 802.16, or high-speed
wireless broadband [Ed: broadband is commonly thought of as highspeed
internet], capable of spanning greater distances than WiFi. Whereas WiFi
typically provides wireless broadband service up to 150 feet in
so-called hot spots, WiMax is capable of covering a radius of three to
10 kilometers (about two to six miles).

Consider the possibilities here. While it's still not deployed on any
kind of mass scale, WiMax could serve as another last-mile broadband
technology - and a pretty significant one at that, according to
analysts. Some say it will be hugely important to developing nations,
where widespread broadband access isn't as prevalent as it is in the
U.S. Others say it could be deployed much more cheaply than traditional
wire-line technologies even in the U.S., since trenches wouldn't have to
be dug and pricey wires wouldn't have to be snaked around. WiMax doesn't
even require a direct sight line with a base station to work, making it
particularly attractive, for example, in rural areas with lots of trees.

Sure, there's a lot of speculation at this point and plenty of hype
regarding WiMax, but it's hard to dismiss something that could be so
affordable. Eric Mantion, senior analyst at Scottsdale, Ariz.-based
market research firm In-Stat, calls WiMax "the rebel broadband," because
you can deploy it to 85 million or so homes for about $2 billion.
Compare that to SBC Communications' (SBC) plans to spend $4 billion to
connect 18 million homes with high-capacity fiber cable for bundled
high-speed Internet, voice and television services.

The economics alone could make WiMax seriously disruptive to data and
voice services, potentially opening up the field to companies that
aren't the usual go-to guys when it comes to this kind of stuff (read:
cable or DSL providers). Let's say it was incorporated into set-top
boxes - providing high-speed wireless broadband, voice-over-IP [Ed:
voice-over-IP = VOIP = telephone service over the internet] and a
satellite television receiver. That's data, voice and video wrapped up
in one high-speed, cost-efficient package, posing not only a challenge
to cable outfits, but to phone companies as well. "That makes it
horribly attractive from an economic standpoint compared to any other
technology current or planned," says Mantion. And given the number of
Internet radio stations out there, WiMax could even pose a threat to
satellite radio upstarts XM Satellite Radio (XMSR) and Sirius Satellite
Radio (SIRI)..."