Integrated devices

WiMax needs “lifestyle” purpose to make it

At WiMAX World, panelists sparred with attendees over questions of when WiMAX would become more than another access technology, and this is what we believe the major question is for WiMAX.

If the technology is simply another way to get on the Internet from a phone or PC, it is threatened by competitive notions (3G/LTE, WiFi hotspots) that will attack segments of its potential market.

If the technology is aimed at a lifestyle built around portable devices big enough to entertain but small enough to carry to a café, or to put into a vehicle, it may be a different story.

Intel and others who have encouraged, if not blindly promoted, WiMAX will now have to step up and make this new model of behavior viable, or WiMAX will have little chance.

Nokia indicates shift to service market

Nokia’s launch of its touch-screen high-end smartphone was also a bully pulpit for the company to make it clear that their activities with Symbian and smartphones are not the main event, but a shift into the services market.

Nokia noted that Blackberries were not successful because of the handset or the handset OS but because of the service behind them. This is the first time a major mobile equipment player has articulated what we believe is the central truth of 2009 and beyond. The industry is moving to services as operators move to monetization, and those who can create service ecosystems will be successful.

IBM focuses on enterprise mobile applications

The boom in enterprise use of smartphones and the fact that carriers are anxious to promote business customers’ use of data services combines to make the space an attractive target for IBM, not as a provider of equipment but as a facilitator of mobile enterprise applications.

The latest offerings from IBM include tools to let mobile users get easy access to applications from the road, a Citrix-like capability. We believe that mobile enterprise application opportunity will be a major driver behind U.S. operators’ FMC plans as well.

Fixed mobile convergence makes global progress

T-Mobile is launching its broadband voice @Home service throughout the US, which prepares them for an agressive FMC position. French telecom carriers are also expected to push harder on FMC and wireline broadband expansion as the consolidation in the market finally draws to a close, but that we believe is mirroring a worldwide trend.

Consolidation hasn’t been holding other projects back, it’s simply been a safer early response to declining revenue per bit. We believe that operators worldwide are preparing for a “transformation test” around FMC, broadband services, partnerships with Internet companies and developers, and other new areas. They’ll fund what works and cease funding what does not, and this could result in some pockets of spending and reductions as everyone takes the measure of their market. We think the situation will be more predictable in 2009 than in 2010 through 2012, when only some successful revenue initiatives will drive spending growth in service provider infrastructure.

Intel’s non-voice mobile devices to jumpstart WiMAX?

In what may well be a key announcement for the industry, Intel revealed that it had 25 partners working with it on portable Internet devices, or “mobile Internet devices” (MIDs) in the new-speak. These boxes will be designed for use while away from home or work but not mobile as the driver of a vehicle, and are larger than a cellphone but smaller than even the smallest laptops. Intel and others believe that the future of wireless non-voice services will lie in these devices, whose screens are large enough to deliver a credible viewing experience. Intel hopes these will jumpstart the WiMAX market, a key market sector for Intel and also one that has seen recent rumors of partnerships involving Intel, Sprint, Clearwire and Comcast.

CES show to prompt wireless hub upgrades?

The CES show next week will likely introduce many to the new and almost-emerged 802.11n standard for wireless LANs. Capable of supporting data and video concurrently, this is the wireless standard that many hope will cause consumers to upgrade their wireless hubs. To date, wireless hubs are one of the least likely to be replaced home technologies, with many users having theirs in place unchanged for five years or more. Another such technology set are home switches and routers, which have installed lives as much as a quarter longer than the wireless devices. WirelessHD, which is faster but shorter in range, is also expected to be demonstrated at the show.

Cisco ISR features target branch locations

September 27 2007: Cisco is expanding the feature inventory of its popular ISR line to include things like acceleration, VoIP, and security. The move is targeting the branch offices of multi-site businesses, and is intended to reduce the success of one-off vendors in these spaces, including Juniper. As a market leader, Cisco can link secondary features to router products and have the combined product set fulfill its revenue requirements even though integrated devices have a lower user cost. We believe this to be a direction that is also aimed at creating a more generic branch access appliance to counter rumored moves by IBM in that direction, possibly in partnership with another network vendor.

Relevant Reading
InternetNews