for the short

INCISOR
TM

range connectivity
environment

Video enabled Issue 132 March 2009

MWC TIME AGAIN

THIS ISSUE CSR SHOWS WORKING CONNECTIVITY CENTRE
FEMTOCELLS: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
INCISOR WPANEL REVIEW: HIGH SPEED DATA

sponsored by
www.incisor.tv
11
INCISOR
W-PANel
Incisor expert panel of the
most influential spokespeople
in the short-range wireless
industry speaks on High
Speed technology in the
WPAN space
Introduced by Vince Holton
Welcome to this second feature in which the Incisor W-PANel speaks on a topic of
interest to short-range wireless industry observers.
For those of you who didn’t see last
month’s introduction to the panel, I will re-
cap. This is the last time I will do this, so if
you’ve read this before, sorry – you won’t
have to do so again.
For many years, I have been working
closely with the organisations that
conceive wireless technologies, develop
standards, oversee bringing those
technologies to market and regulate the
way companies developing products
operate. Although there are many, many
special interest groups and alliances out
there, the ones that I judge to be the most
significant are the Bluetooth Special
Interest Group, the DECT Forum, the
EnOcean Alliance, the Wi-Fi Alliance, the
WiMedia Alliance and the ZigBee Alliance.
Over the ten years that we have published
Incisor magazine, and IncisorTV’s video
productions, we have communicated with
these organisations regularly, but always
on topics specific to their own technology.
Inevitably, this has distilled the content of
our talks, with the focus being either
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, UWB, or whatever.
Wouldn’t it, then, be a good idea to
consolidate views across this whole group,
in order to be able to hear broader and
more objective viewpoints on topical
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matters? Wouldn’t it be good to hear what,
for example, an expert in one technology
thinks about the latest and greatest
announcement from another?
I certainly thought so, and decided to invite
the executives from each of the organisations
listed above to participate in a group that I
have decided to call the W-PANel.
The invitees were Mike Foley, exec director
of the Bluetooth SIG, Erich Kamperschroer,
chairman of the DECT Forum, Graham
Martin, chairman of the EnOcean Alliance,
Edgar Figueroa, executive director of the
Wi-Fi Alliance, Stephen Wood, president of
the WiMedia Alliance, and Bob Heile,
chairman of the ZigBee Alliance. Each of
these is an expert in short-range wireless
technology.
I am enormously pleased to say that all of
these people agreed to participate in the
Incisor W-PANel. It is hard to imagine a
more qualified group to comment on short-
range wireless industry matters, and the
world in which they operate.
Our first invitation to the W-PANel group
was to give us their view on developments
at CES, and on the general state of the
industry in January 2009. Their views
appeared in last month’s issue. ➔
12
This month, I invited the W-PANel to look
at high speed wireless. There is a
tremendous amount of focus on this
element of the short-range wireless
business at the moment, and a wide range
of technologies competing for a share of
the pie. But how much speed do we really
need? Which technology is most suitable?
Is there really a need? What are the
rewards likely to be, and how far away are
they? Once again, the Incisor W-PANel will
provide the most authoritative views you
are likely to be able to garner.
If you have views, or suggestions as to
how we can develop the W-PANel
concept, email me at vholton@incisor.tv.
Vince Holton
Publisher, Incisor & IncisorTV.
The Incisor W-PANel
responds
Mike Foley
Executive director,
Bluetooth Special
Interest Group
“Faster, faster, faster!” That’s a refrain I
hear often while playing with my children –
they want to ride the bike faster, be
pushed on the swing faster, do anything
and everything – including growing up,
much to my chagrin – faster. It’s a
mentality we’re all born with and one we
don’t soon grow out of – and a
requirement, as creators of technology, we
must address for the vast consumer
audience craving speed.
The Bluetooth SIG recognized this
requirement a while ago and we’re working
hard to provide not just one solution, but
two. In the near term, we’re close to the
adoption of a new specification that will
feature Bluetooth profiles running over an
802.11 AMP. In the longer term, we’re
contemplating the creation of a second
“faster” specification – Bluetooth profiles
running over UWB.
You ask if there is a need for speed – the
answer is a resounding yes, for those
applications that make sense. I don’t want
to spend hours transferring my entire
music library from my PC to my new mp3
player – today, that’s what it would take. I
want to use the technology I’m familiar
with, in the way that I’ve grown
accustomed, and still have it do all the
things I want it to do, and as fast as,
perhaps even faster than, I would expect
them to be done. Of course, I also expect
the new high speed products to work with
my existing collection of products. I’m not
going to throw away everything I have just
to upgrade. I’ll add new products that
extend my WPAN and enhance what I
already do.
As we move forward, Bluetooth technology
will continue to be the one wireless
technology the consumer uses in the WPAN.
Erich Kamperschroer,
Chairman,
the DECT Forum
WPAN technology isn’t the
primary focus of the DECT Forum. With
CAT-iq it is now possible for the first time
to connect telephones to the internet and
to use this connectivity to provide content
on telephones.
Ease of use for the customer is one of the
main objectives of CAT-iq. Within the
framework of IMT-Advanced (a concept
from the ITU for mobile communication
systems), the DECT Forum intents to
implement the requested volume of data
transfer into the CAT-iq standard.
(for more information on CAT-iq, see the
latest Incisor.TV movie. Click here to view)
Graham Martin,
Chairman,
EnOcean Alliance
High speed connectivity is
primarily related to wireless transfer of
large volume data between mobile internet
devices such as notebooks, laptop PCs
and mobile phones. As a self-powered
wireless company EnOcean utilises high
speed connectivity for the high availability,
optimised performance and flexibility of
the channel rather than the transfer of
large amounts of data.
Low power wireless radio technology is
used to transmit small amounts of data
within extremely short radio packets. A
typical EnOcean radio telegram is
executed in around a thousandth of a
second and is transmitted at a rate of 125
kilobits per second.
Edgar Figueroa,
Wi-Fi Alliance
Executive Director
It’s no secret that for nearly a
decade, Wi-Fi has transformed the way
people connect – at work and at play. Wi-
Fi provides a great way to connect at
home, in the office and on the go. In a
recent poll, 51 percent of US consumers
said they would never seriously consider
purchasing a CE device without Wi-Fi, and
88 percent agree that “pretty soon, every
high-tech device will have the
technology*.” People love Wi-Fi – and
they have come to expect it in virtually
every device they use.
Though Wi-Fi is a well-loved and mature
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technology, we have seen substantial
boosts in its performance over the years,
with the latest version of the technology,
802.11n, bringing up to five times the
throughput and twice the range of legacy
Wi-Fi protocols. This performance boost,
in combination with the availability of our
product certification program, has made
802.11n products reach ubiquity very
quickly. In 2008, more than 40% of Wi-Fi
shipments supported the next-generation
standard – and by 2012, 802.11n will
positively dominate the market.**
In the enterprise and home alike, 802.11n
is a breakthrough technology that
enables Wi-Fi networks to do more,
faster, over a larger area. Beyond just
connecting additional users on a single
network, advanced Wi-Fi handles
multimedia streaming with ease. Without
a doubt, Wi-Fi is no longer only a data
networking technology – it lies at the very
core of the connected home and
entertainment experience. The incredible
throughput and range gains with 802.11n
mean that Wi-Fi handles the demands of
connected entertainment with ease.
For the enterprise, 802.11n means that
Wi-Fi can move from the edge of the
network to the core – acting as a very
strong substitute for more costly and
complex wired Ethernet. 802.11n
extends coverage, reliability, and support
for multiple users on the network and
enables advanced enterprise applications
like voice and videoconferencing.
Looking ahead, there is a lot to be
excited about. Innovation in the industry
is bringing device-to-device connectivity
– without the need of a Wi-Fi
infrastructure network – into the limelight.
This new use of Wi-Fi, a technology used
by millions of people on more than a
billion devices worldwide, is the next
important use of the technology in
support of the exploding consumer
electronics and handsets segments, and
a powerful example of the ongoing
innovation in the space.
* Wi-Fi Alliance and Wakefield
Research, Dec 2008
** ABI Research, Dec 2008
Stephen Wood
President,
WiMedia Alliance
These types of forward looking
questions are some of the most difficult
that marketing professionals address. In
the late 1990s, I recall talking to
marketing personnel who could see no
reason for people to use wireless LAN
technology People have a similar
challenge envisioning the uses for short
range wireless technologies. ➔
13
Short range wireless applications are
needed and will occur in two waves. First,
it will be used to address aesthetic issues in
the PC and possibly the CE cluster. The
object here is to remove the rat’s nest of
wire behind them. This market will begin in
volume at the point that UWB reaches a
market activation price. This price is
approximately $5. Right now, UWB chips
are $1 to $2 higher than that and falling.
The second wave of applications for short
range wireless will involve the connection of
the TV, PC, and car to mobile platforms
such as the phone. This is part of a general
movement by quad-play service providers
(television, Internet, telephone, wireless
telephony) to enable the flow of content
between these platforms.
There are several reasons that a new radio
is required to enable these applications:
wait time, interference and spectrum
saturation. If one wishes to transfer video,
high resolution photographs and large files
to mobile platforms, the transfer rate is
directly correlated to the amount of time
that the customer is forced to wait to load
and unload the files. The second reason is
interference. More devices transferring data,
particularly streaming data, will interfere
unless separated. Separation by using low
power is one of the more effective tools to
accomplish this task. And finally, there is
spectrum saturation. While it is tempting to
try to use a single radio for all applications,
spectrum is finite. 2.4 GHz is already known
to be “crowded” and 5 GHz is moving that
way. To avoid unusable levels of mutual
interference, it is necessary to spread
applications across multiple bands.
The Incisor WPAN-el is not the only body looking at this topic. IMS Research is
looking at High Speed too – check out its latest study – Peer to peer wireless –
Which high speed technology? - 2009 edition at www.imsresearch.com.
Snippets
Linux grows in mobile handsets
With deteriorating global economic conditions
making their impact felt in the wireless
industry, handset OEMs and mobile network
operators are looking to Linux-based operating
systems to cut costs and diversify their
handset portfolios, according to IMS Research.
While Linux-based operating systems have
had a presence in the mobile handset market
for years, growth has been slow and steady
Nokia continues shrinkage
As part of its previously announced plans to
increase cost-efficiency and adapt to the
market situation, Nokia has announced plans
to close its mobile devices R&D site in
Jyväskylä, concentrating mobile devices R&D
Bob Heile
Chairman,
ZigBee Aliance
When it comes to broadband
wireless, the past seems to show that
the available speed will never be enough,
nor equal to a wired connection.
So for applications to take best
advantage of the portability of wireless,
the closer its performance matches a
wired network, the better.
History also shows that the winner isn’t
always the best technology.
Rather, it is typically selected because it
is exists and it works good enough. The
advantage goes to anyone who is
already in the market with a broadly
adopted solution that can be patched or
evolved, even if those enhancements are
not directly compatible. The only
exception is when a technology is
perceived as reaching a dead end, or if
there is a compelling driver for being
untethered and no incumbent technology
is up to the task.
Incumbents are strongly motivated to
continue to push the boundary for
obvious economic reasons. Wi-Fi is well
positioned on most of these fronts in the
short-range LAN oriented market. For
very high speed short range, both IEEE
802.15.3c and WirelessHD have
potential, but only if they gain a foothold
in the next 24 months, otherwise IEEE
802.11 VHT60 will do to these solutions
what IEEE 802.11n did to UWB.
until recently. However, recent
announcements from Motorola, Vodafone,
HTC, and Huawei, among others, all stating
that Linux-based operating systems will figure
in to their upcoming handset releases,
demonstrate that OEMs and operators are
ready to embrace Linux on a larger scale. In
the smartphone market alone, IMS Research
expects Linux-based operating systems to
penetrate over 30% of the market by 2013.
in Finland at its sites in Tampere, Oulu, Salo
and the Helsinki metropolitan area. Nokia also
plans to scale down Salo production with
staggered temporary lay-offs, ‘aligning
production with market demand’.
www.incisor.tv
INCISOR TV
Video presentations
When it comes to assessing what is really
going on in the market, there is no substitute
for seeing products in action and hearing
100% accurate information from the people at
the sharp end. Incisor TV provides that insight.
Click on the links below to watch recent
Incisor TV presentations
DECT Forum and CAT-iq in 2009
Bluetooth SIG – Best of CES 2009
WiMedia Alliance – UWB in 2009
Incisor showreel
WiMedia special - UWB - a high
performance solution / part 1
WiMedia special - UWB - a high
performance solution / part 2
WiMedia special - WiMedia and Bluetooth
WiMedia special - Updating the
WiMedia roadmap
WiMedia - The future for UWB
Bluetooth low energy wireless technology
IncisorTV commercial for CSR –
BlueCore7
IncisorTV commercial for CSR RoadTunes
IncisorTV commercial for CSR
BlueCore Player
A guide to Bluetooth Version 2.1 + EDR
10 years of Bluetooth / Best Bluetooth
of CES 2008
CES 2008 – Profile of Parrot
Introducing Incisor
2007 Wireless Symposium
Bluetooth / Wibree launch event
(full version)
Incisor TV overview:
the Bluetooth SIG / Wibree Forum merge
Best Bluetooth of CES 2007
Incisor profile:
Icron Technologies and Extreme USB
Wireless USB special -
Introducing Wireless USB
Wireless USB special - Wireless USB
in use
Wireless USB Special - Regulatory,
approvals and interoperability
Wireless USB special - The future for
Wireless USB and UWB
Wireless USB special - Wireless USB
at CES 2007
Vince Holton introduces the High Speed
Bluetooth Special Issue
Anders Edlund of the Bluetooth SIG -
Bluetooth and UWB combined
Robin Heydon, CSR - Bluetooth & UWB -
The semiconductor company perspective
Motorola's Steve Deutscher examines
High Speed Bluetooth mobile concepts
Motorola video - Jordan's morning