EDITORIAL EDGE
Evolving HSPA
By Brad Smith, Wireless Week Technology Editor

There's going to be a lot of technology on display at next week's CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas. One of the technologies that grabbed my eye even before I'm in the land of glitter and glow is the announcement by Ericsson that it will demonstrate its latest version of HSPA Evolution technology.

HSPA Evolution, also known as HSPA+, is coming soon to a network near you. The GSM Association says 28 HSPA networks have launched and twice that many will be up soon. The natural progression for these networks is to move to HSPA+, which enables higher data rates through the use of 2x2 multiple-in, multiple out (MIMO) technology and higher modulation schemes. Qualcomm already has announced it plans several operator trials for HSPA+ this year. Ericsson and most other HSPA vendors have similar plans.

What's interesting about Ericsson's demo at CTIA next week is that it will use a newer version of HSPA+ which will deliver data rates up to 42 Mbps. Real-world rates will be considerably less than that, but it's still impressive. Qualcomm's announcement on HSPA+ says it is getting 28 Mbps data rates, although I'm sure the San Diego company will match Ericsson's speed at some point if it hasn't already.

Ericsson's equipment also will support, in the same base station, the next radio access technology in the GSM world, Long Term Evolution (LTE). So carriers can upgrade to HSPA+ and not have to do a forklift to install LTE.

I hate to belabor all of the talk about speed, but at one level I agree with the adage that "speed thrills," as long as it delivers services people want.

So, we've got HSPA networks up and running (AT&T is on that path and so is T-Mobile USA) and in the next year or two will have HSPA+. In the back of my mind is the rollout of WiMAX networks by Sprint (Xohm) and Clearwire later this year. What does that matter?

Well, mobile WiMAX theoretically delivers data rates as high as 75 Mbps on a 20 MHz channel. But Sprint says it expects to deliver real-world data rates of 2Mbps to 4 Mbps when it launches its network.

No one knows for sure what HSPA+ or WiMAX will deliver until the networks launch commercially, but it seems to me that HSPA+ could have an edge in both data rates and in coverage. Assuming AT&T and T-Mobile USA go that route, HSPA+ will cover virtually every metropolitan area in the United States. Sprint has three markets it plans to launch initially while Clearwire is in 46 markets now with pre-WiMAX equipment.

It all comes down to the debate floating around about the competition between WiMAX and 3G networks. WiMAX obviously is finding a lot of interest among operators around the world, especially in undeveloped and underdeveloped regions. But it has to out-battle 3G networks in the United States and Europe, especially when those 3G networks are upgrading to something like HSPA+.

What do you think? Let me know at brad.smith@advantagemedia.com.

2.5G

Doubling EDGE
By Brad Smith

Even though operators around the globe are installing 3G networks and their evolutionary path, there is going to be a lot of 2G used for many years. Nokia Siemens Networks is taking steps to enhance those 2G technologies with a new version of its EDGE product.

NSN's new "Dual Carrier EDGE" software is part of the vendor's EDGE Evolution product it says will deliver data rates up to 592 kbps on existing EDGE networks. That kind of capability means an operator could have UMTS/HSPA in metro areas and EDGE in rural parts of its footprint. NSN says 592 kbps will support mobile video.

The product is going to be available in Q3 as a software upgrade. NSN also plans another boost for EDGE Evolution that will provide data rates up to 1.2 Mbps down and 473 kbps up, which effectively quadruples the rates for today's EDGE networks.

"By 2015, we expect to live in a broadband IP world with 5 billion people 'always on' and therefore Nokia Siemens Networks is committed to protecting customer investments and continue to implement leading EDGE technology," says Ari Lehtoranta, head of the company's Radio Access Business Unit."

CTIA

Emerging Tech Awards
By Brad Smith

Next Wednesday during the CTIA show, a baker's dozen companies will be honored for their technology. Its part of the CTIA's annual Emerging Technologies Awards, which this year drew nearly 300 entries.

CTIA has announced three finalists in each of the 13 categories, which cover a broad expanse of technologies used in wireless telecommunications. Some are well-known wireless veterans, like Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia and Samsung. There are some from the Internet world, notably Yahoo! And some are not as well-known.

The categories include 4G service creation, development and service management; consumer applications; enterprise solutions; consumer electronics accessories and products; smartphones; mobile widgets, and network infrastructure.

The list is too long to publish here, but if you want to see the list of finalists, here's the CTIA's site: http://www.ctiawireless.com/info/etech.cfm

Web 2.0

IBM's Eclipse Answer 
By Wireless Week Staff

IBM says it has figured out how to bring Web 2.0 applications, as well as desktop computing, to mobile phones.

New software called the IBM Lotus Expeditor 6.1.2 makes it possible to run several desktop-style applications simultaneously on various phones, IBM says. Its pitching the software for both consumers and businesses.

The new version of Lotus Expeditor uses an open-source Eclipse client which allows applications to be created that will span both the desktop and mobile devices, IBM says. The announcement talked about enabling social networking on phones for Facebook or MySpace, as well as blogs and communities using a business service like IBM's Lotus Connections.

A beta version of the software is being used by Sprint so that developers can move business applications during Eclipse from the desktop to most Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 smartphones. The beta version, which Sprint calls Titan, is available through the carrier's developer website, http://developer.sprint.com.

IBM has been demonstrating the software in a mobile solution for insurance adjusters, allowing them to use instant messaging and image sharing directly with auto repair shops while working with their customers.

IMS

Ironing Standards
By Wireless Week Staff

IP Multimedia Subsystem technology has drawn a lot of interest but the advance of the technology seems to have slowed because of competing efforts on standardization. That's the essence of a new report by Pyramid Research, which says it doesn't expect IMS standards to be ironed out until 2010.

Pyramid's report says the multiple standardization efforts likely be reach a point next year where work can begin on the specifications. "By 2010, market growth will see an inflection point, and the contribution of IMS gear revenues to the overall equipment market will ramp up vigorously as barriers to adoption fall by the wayside," the report says.

The report cites different IMS standardization efforts by the 3GPP, 3GPP2, the International Telecommunications Union, European Telecommunications Standards Institute and the Open Mobile Alliance.

Emerging Tech News Briefs - March 28, 2008
Companies in briefs: Acme Packet, Camiant, UIQ Technology, Opera, WiQuest Communications, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, E-Plus, NTT DoCoMo, O2, Nuance Communications, Samsung Electronics, ABI Research, ABI Research, Motorola.

• The session border control company Acme Packet and Camiant, which handles policy control and application assurance, have gotten together on a VoIP solution. The companies say their joint technology addresses the quality of experience and delivery control for VoIP and other IP interactive communications for wireless and mobile service providers.

• Sweden's UIQ Technology has released UIQ 3.3, which is based on Symbian OS v 9.3. The company says UIQ 3.3 includes incremental enhancements in line with market requirements, including enhanced support for operator services and extensive customization for addressing different market segments. It includes the Opera Mobile 9 browser with full page rendering and pan-and-zoom functionality, the UIQ Dashboard for mobile widgets, a set of Opera widgets, and an integrated unified messaging platform.

• WiQuest Communications has announced its eighth reference design kit that integrates both wireless USB and Bluetooth in a single combination module. WiQuest says the card design gives manufacturers the ability to quickly deploy the two radio technologies with simultaneous connectivity to existing Bluetooth 2.1 (enhanced data rate) devices.

• A new study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology calls for government assistance to get mobile phones into the hands of America's poor. The study, authored by Nicholas Sullivan, says the cell phone is an important work- and income-generating tool for low-income people and can help the underprivileged in emergencies. It encourages federal and state programs to provide subsidized mobile phones to the poor.

• The German mobile operator E-Plus is shutting down its i-mode service, an NTT DoCoMo technology it adopted in 2002. E-Plus is the latest in a series of European carriers to shutter i-mode, including operators in Spain, Italy, France, Greece and the Benelux countries. O2 closed its i-mode service last year. The carriers mostly have said they were disappointed in user uptake of i-mode.

• Nuance Communications says Samsung Electronics has signed a multi-year agreement renewing and expanding its use of Nuance's speech solutions for its phones. The global license includes Nuance's VSuite, Vocalizer and VoiceMode speech-based services and interfaces, which already have been used on 160 Samsung phone models.

• ABI Research is forecasting worldwide deployment revenues from in-building wireless systems will grow from $3.8 billion in 2007 to more than $15 billion in 2013. The research study says the growth will be driven by consumers' growing dependence on wireless voice and messaging communications, as well as an increasingly competitive mobile operator environment and the increased use of higher frequencies.

• Airvana says it has signed a global OEM agreement to provide Motorola with a CDMA femtocell solution.