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Mobile & Wireless
Cable Readies Wireless Play
Scientific-Atlanta, Tropos Team for Wi-Fi Mesh Nets
by Jim Barthold
Scientific-Atlanta, which, along with Motorola is regarded as the cable industry’s vendor duopoly, is partnering with Tropos Networks to develop cable-specific equipment for Wi-Fi metro mesh networks.
The two companies will meld Tropos’ MetroMesh Wi-Fi products with S-A’s hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) portfolio and create strand-mounted, coaxial-powered converters or wireless radios built specifically for cable networks. The mesh network will deliver wireless to end users and backhaul the data to fiber points of presence that then connect to the Internet, the companies said. The combined companies hope to bring metropolitan wireless connectivity, including limited wireless mobility, to cable’s broadband networks in competition with 3G broadband cellular networks.
Cable, said Ian McPherson, president of the Wireless Data Research Group, is “taking offensive action. At the heart of it is a partnership that will unify infrastructure. Step two is the MSOs are going to have to make an investment in extending their capabilities from a network management OSS perspective as well as making an investment in deployment and footprint.”
If that happens, and McPherson said it’s likely, cable would have a viable wireless piece – the so-called fourplay -- to add to its voice, video and data broadband offerings.
“Just the prospect of having your home connectivity service available throughout your metropolitan area has a high degree of value,” said McPherson, predicting “better performance sooner from the Tropos-type of Wi-Fi network than EV-DO promises from Verizon … just because of the capital expense, the cost of deployment.”
The partnership validates Tropos’ Wi-Fi mesh approach in metro areas. Wi-Fi is generally limited in range and restricted to smaller hotspots and in-building networks. “Metro-scale Wi-Fi offers a very viable alternative to cellular for the mobile portion of (cable’s) quadruple play,” said Bert Williams, Tropos’ marketing vice president. “I’ll argue that we can actually do mobile.”
Mobile might be the end game but the opening salve will be to wirelessly extend the cable broadband network to subscribers already accustomed to connecting portable devices to Wi-Fi networks in hotspots like coffee shops and hotels. Wi-Fi delivers higher bandwidth than 3G broadband and subscribers don’t need to invest in new equipment or learn new ways of connecting to the networks, said Williams.
“When you connect to one of our metro scale Wi-Fi networks it doesn’t look any different to the user and any different to the client device than hooking onto an access device in your home or office or Starbucks,” he said. “That entire installed base of something like 160 million Wi-Fi clients today and all those users who understand how to use those connections can all hook into this network.”
McPherson, who more closely watches the wireless business than the cable industry, suggested that cable could walk away with an undisputed wireless victory by bundling this new capability into a user’s existing broadband service plan.
“If it’s bundled then you have things pretty well locked in if I can move around versus (paying) $80 to $100 a month extra just to have mobility when I'm not at home with my laptop,” he said.
That’s unlikely. More likely cable will charge an additional fee for the Wi-Fi hook-up that pushes the cost envelope as far as possible and potentially slowing fast deployment and a knockout punch over 3G competitors. That’s a what-if scenario; the point is that a key cable vendor has taken steps to help the industry fill a gaping hole in its product portfolio with a true wireless broadband connection.
Broadband speed, while important, is only a cog in the plan, concluded McPherson.
“With everything else, you have horses, cars and boats and they all get people from one place to another. It’s just where you’re traveling and how you like to get there. We’re going to have multiple vehicles and this will be one of them,” he said.
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