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Follow UsDr Mohammad Shakouri The author is the vice president, WiMax Forum
The 4G revolution started with a simple ideacheap broadband internet access, anytime and anywhere, for everyone. Over the next decade, the pursuit of this idea hastened the inevitable collision of the internet and telephony industries and pushed forward a new set of technologies that are changing the way the world connects. Now WiMax technology is used by consumers in 150 countries, and is gaining acceptance in vertical industries such as aviation and smart grid.
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In June 2001, a number of technology corporations and service providers formed the WiMax Forum to accelerate wide-scale adoption of Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) technology. The new organization was founded with 3 primary goals in mindestablish standards and build profiles for equipment that ensured interoperability, work with government agencies to release spectrum, establish and grow an ecosystem nurturing vendor innovation and carrier deployment to encourage mass adoption of WiMax technologies.
The WiMax Forum was built around the idea of open standards, free sharing of information, low patent usage fees and collaboration across the ecosystem.
WiMax enables innovative complimentary data business model based on open retail, low IPR and wide bandwidth spectrum allocation globally serving 4G, rural broadband, backhaul and smart grid deployments. This is a good thing for consumers and businesses across the world. Alvarion would like to thank the WiMax Forum for its support, and congratulate it on this milestone.
The Future of WiMax
For 10 years, the WiMax Forum worked to support its membership as the industry grew from its fledgling state to encompass nearly 600 WiMax deployments in 150 countries today. At the beginning of 2011, over 823 mn people were covered by WiMax networks and by the end of 2011, the WiMax Forum estimates that number to increase to more than 1 bn people. Likewise the WiMax subscriber base is also increasing rapidly with service providers such as Clearwire and UQ Communications experiencing exponential growth. In Q1 2011, Clearwire grew its subscriber base by 1.8 mn subscribers, while UQ Communications has grown in the last 6 months by almost 300%. Maravedis Research recently announced that at the end of Q1 2011, there were 17.25 mn WiMax subscribers globally. According to Infonetics Research, in 2010, the WiMax equipment market grew by 85% and according to the market intelligence firm Infiniti Research, the WiMax equipment market will reach
$6.9 bn in 2014.
According to Dr Cheng-Wen Wu, general director of ITRI/ICL & VP of ITRI, Taiwanese vendors will ship an estimated $500 mn worth of WiMax devices in 2011. We are promoting innovative applications in disaster recovery, high-speed rail, and smart grid. The Taiwanese ecosystem continues to stand behind WiMax and we are proud of our nations contribution to the industry. In addition to the traditional telecommunications industry, other exciting opportunities for WiMax vendors are emerging in industry verticals such as aviation, education, energy, government, healthcare and more. Examples include:
- Aviation: The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) have chosen WiMax as their technology of choice for airport terrestrial communications services. Over the next 5 years, WiMax technology will be deployed in 2,000 airports in the US alone
- Education: Universities around the globe are deploying WiMax to blanket their campuses and local communities. Northern Michigan University, located in Marquette, Mich., created a WiMax network that covers about 40 square miles over rugged terrain in the rural Upper Peninsula of Michigan. NMUs WiMax network not only enhances the educational capabilities of students and employees but also the educational opportunities for K-12 schools within the networks boundaries as well as the fire, police, utility and city workers for several cities and townships in Marquette County
- Energy: Utilities interested in owning and operating their own smart grid networks are using WiMax technology. In Australia, SP Ausnet deployed the worlds first WiMax based smart metering network. The network has more than 680,000 WiMax-connected smart meters capable of delivering 100% meter population read within 2 hour periods and 15,000 on-demand reads per day
- Government: Cities and counties are replacing expensive T1 lines with WiMax technologies to lower costs and improve services. The city of Houston is building a 640 square mile WiMax network as part of a $6.4 mn dollar project to allow remote management of its traffic system, automatic readings of water meters, and provide internet access to underserved communities
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Airspan believes that WiMax today offers the same unique wireless communication proposition as it did 10 years ago when we helped found the organization, says Paul Senior, chief technology officer, Airspan. Over the last decade we have seen WiMax develop into a mature, successful and fully interoperable technology that has influenced and changed the lives of millions of users and enterprises across the globe. The WiMax Forum has been instrumental in its support of a standardized technology for operators as well as specialized markets such as smart grids. Airspan has been a dedicated and contributing member to the WiMax Forum and is happy to take this opportunity to wish the Forum a happy 10th Anniversary, adds Senior.
The WiMax industry will continue to innovate and improve the technology to fill communication needs that we cant even begin to imagine today, says Resnick. Im proud of the part the WiMax Forum has played and will continue to play in the future as we evolve with the technology to meet the new industry demands.