Motorola’s Coombes: WiMAX a Key to Wireless Data, Personal Broadband, Seamless Mobility

In his Industry Keynote address, Motorola’s Daniel J. Coombes will offer a perspective on how WiMAX will cement seamless mobility for diverse networks and devices.

Coombes is a 31-year veteran of Motorola and serves as senior vice president of Wireless Broadband Networks and CTO for the company’s Networks business. He is responsible for the business and development teams associated with Canopy and 802.16 systems and seamless mobility networks.

As CTO, he is responsible for the architecture and technology direction of the Networks business.

One of the primary benefits of WiMAX, he says, is it finally will enable wireless data. “Everybody’s been talking about wireless data and it’s never really happened at least on cellular systems,” he says, blaming high cost for the lack of adoption. “If you think about what really exploded wireline broadband data, it was the ability to have unlimited data for a fixed amount per month that was reasonable to the end user and yet the operator could still make money.”

WiMAX, he says, enables a similar environment for wireless broadband. “Once we go to 802.16e, we will have the ability to deliver wireless broadband data to the home just like we do today with unlicensed products, but also to people who are mobile. They will not only be able to get broadband data, but it will be cost-effective,” he says.

As a result of the ability to send more information and visuals, Coombes says a host of new services will emerge. Coombes also recognizes WiMAX does not exist in a vacuum and it will need work beside and interoperate with other wireless technologies. “[With dual-mode devices from company’s like Motorola,] you will be able to roam from one network to the next,” he says.

He adds, the next evolution of mobility will be at the device level. “People go from their home to their auto to their work environment and they go out and about town. They don’t necessarily want the same device throughout the day,” he says, adding that while GSM’s SIM card offers some such capabilities, vendors are on notice to make it even easier. “What they are finding is that people are wanting services to the person, not to the device at a particular location.”

Coombes says Motorola, along with other vendors and operators, will be working to develop standards to effect this individualized communications environment, which Motorola calls “personal broadband.”

On the network side, Coombes says we are likely to see standalone 4G networks based on WiMAX as well as integrated cellular and WiMAX networks. Or, he says, an operator could choose to put data on its WiMAX network and reserve its traditional network for voice. Among wireline operators, he says, there is interest in WiMAX, particularly 802.16e, to serve those subscribers that are impractical to reach with DSL and also to offer mobility.

“The wireline operators, their revenue continues to decline and they are looking [for] a way ... to deploy a system that starts out providing broadband to the home but also becomes a cellular-like system, so that they can provide seamless services to their end customers whether they are in the home or auto [and] as they are moving around.”

For this reality to emerge, he notes, the industry must ratify the standard, which at press time had not yet happened.

“The next thing is we have to quickly agree on the profiles that we will want to implement in a subscriber unit so that you can get roaming,” he says referencing the frequency and features sets that will be supported.

“The third thing is we need to finish the smart antenna agreement of the standards,” he says. “It provides better link margin and the ability to communicate over longer distances to a subscriber unit as it is moving around so you get better throughput and better capacity.”

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines