What can WiMAX bring to smart grid program?

GE exec Mark Hura looks at ambitions for smart grid program.
 GE last week announced that it has launched a pilot program to implement smart grid technology that uses Clearwire's WiMAX network to deliver data to both customers and utility companies.
What makes a carrier green?
 GE says that it will work with utility company Consumers Energy to deliver WiMAX-based grid sensors and energy meters to more than 6 million customers in Michigan. Smart grid technology is typically defined as any information technology that helps power companies more efficiently monitor power demand and allocate capacity. GE says that this particular smart grid pilot project is intended "to demonstrate how real-time wireless communications between meters in the home and the utility's network management and control systems can improve efficiency and reliability for all."
 In Network World's interview with Mark Hura, GE Energy's smart grid commercial leader, we discuss GE's broader ambitions for its smart grid program, its timeline for deployment and its reasons for choosing WiMAX over LTE.

 What do you hope to achieve with this pilot program?


Our WiMAX smart grid deployment is an opportunity to showcase the advantages of leveraging 4G communications for smart grids for both utility companies and consumers. It allows utilities to have a standard communications technology that includes the proper security protocols. WiMAX technology is based off of standards that are already being used in the industry.
 This is a communications standard that has the appropriate amount of bandwidth and latency, and that allows utilities to use their networks for more than automated metering and communicating with metered devices. It also allows for enabling renewable energy sources on the grid. It has more capabilities than the infrastructures that exist today and they allow for new applications on the networks such as alternative energy sources and storage technologies on a community level.

 Can you give a timeline of what we can expect to see implemented and when?
Our timeline is going to be based on utility decisions of how quickly they are going to implement their own road maps for deploying this technology on the grid. The important thing to remember when we look at WiMAX technology is that it will be widely deployed by end of 2010, covering all major markets across the U.S. So based on that I think you'll start to see deployments picking up in late 2010 and then accelerate over the next two to three years.
Why should consumers and businesses care about WiMAX-enabled smart grid technology?
Consumers and businesses will have the opportunity to understand how they use their energy and to understand how to manage their energy consumption more effectively. Having a communications platform based on 4G technology can provide real-time information back to consumers. It can tell you what your usage is at a particular moment and that can help project what your usage may be into the same day or the next day. So for instance it can tell you how you can use different energy sources for different times of the day. It can tell you how to best program devices that perform energy-intensive tasks to work only at off-peak hours to save money.

Why did you decide to go with WiMAX instead of waiting for LTE?

We took a look at the two real 4G paths that carriers are deploying, WiMAX and LTE. LTE has not been released commercially yet, whereas WiMAX is based on an IEEE standard and is commercially deployable right now. It also has a huge ecosystem all around the world. Eventually we see a future ability for appliances to leverage both WiMAX and LTE but for right now we think this is a good opportunity to leverage an existing network technology to benefit both consumers and businesses today.

Networkworld.com

Cisco Quits WiMax Radio Business

The decision to cease making WiMax base stations gives a boost to Cisco's Long-Term Evolution portfolio.

 WiMax is taking another hit as another major supplier -- Cisco -- confirmed that it is quitting the WiMax radio access network business and will cease making WiMax base stations. However, the networking company said it will continue supplying IP core and WiMax edge products like Wi-Fi and femtocells to WiMax customers.


The decision gives a boost to Cisco's Long-Term Evolution portfolio, which was strengthened in recent months by Cisco's acquisition of Starent Networks. Clearwire, which is majority owned by Sprint Nextel, has been the major deployer of WiMax in the United States.
Cisco got into the WiMax business through its acquisition of Navini Networks for $330 million in October 2007, but most carriers have since snubbed WiMax for the more efficient LTE. WiMax has been more popular in non-U.S. markets and its users, including Clearwire, have noted that it is relatively easy to shift network infrastructure -- and subscribers -- from WiMax to LTE.

Navini had a head start in WiMax and had supplied equipment to several startups scattered around the world. Its largest U.S. customer, Xanadoo, in Texas, said it had signed up more than 14,000 subscribers two years ago. Navini's use of MIMO antennas and Smart Beamforming technologies received high marks from many carriers. Navini's networks also were selling in countries with emerging business technologies.
When Cisco acquired Starent for $2.9 billion a few months ago, the acquisition also appeared to seal the doom of WiMax as a Cisco base station supplier. Starent was already gaining major contracts from LTE carriers like Verizon Wireless, which is scheduled to roll out the first U.S. LTE network later this year.

InformationWeek

Wireless options heating up in Philadelphia

By Bob Fernandez

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Wireless competition is heating up in Philadelphia.

Clearwire Corp., which is partially owned by Sprint Nextel Corp. and cable giant Comcast Corp., flipped the switch two weeks ago on its 4G WiMAX service in Center City.

This next-generation service offers speeds similar to those of a cable modem for streaming Internet or video to cell phones and laptops on trains, buses, and cars, and in coffee shops.

Clearwire, in a "soft-launch mode," will likely blitz the region with advertising, marketing, and store openings in about a month, sources say. Other cities with the Clearwire WiMAX service include Baltimore, Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Portland, Ore. Besides Philadelphia, Clearwire expects to add Dallas, Chicago, and Seattle this year.

The Kirkland, Wash., company sells the service as Clear. A person in Philadelphia can order it now through Clearwire's Web site, company spokeswoman Susan Johnston said last week. Clearwire sells the service by the month or day. The day rate is $10 and monthly rates are $25 and $35, the company says.

Sprint will sell the same service as Sprint 4G, and Comcast has branded it as High-Speed 2go. Comcast did not say when it would begin selling 2go in the Philadelphia area, but previously the company said it would happen before the end of 2009. Comcast has invested $1 billion into Clearwire and considers the 2go product a core part of its evolving wireless strategy.

Verizon Wireless, one of the nation's largest wireless carriers, with 88 million subscribers, offers 3G and could have 4G service available in parts of the Philadelphia region in 2010, the company's executives say.

Verizon Wireless says it does not believe it is at a competitive disadvantage trailing the WiMAX product. "I know they have a cluster in Center City for WiMAX and the speeds are high, but it is a limited footprint" for the service, said Harry Martin, director of advanced technologies for Verizon Wireless in the Philadelphia area.

Verizon Wireless has announced that it will test its version of 4G in Boston and Seattle and then will begin offering the service in 25 to 30 markets in 2010. Verizon Wireless has not disclosed what those markets are. Executives note that Philadelphia ranks among Verizon Wireless' top wireless markets.

Verizon Wireless uses a competing 4G technology, called LTE, and the faster speeds would be overlaid on its current wireless network. Verizon Wireless says it has invested about $1.5 billion into the Philadelphia wireless network over many years.

Mario Turco, the local regional president for Verizon Wireless, said: "Our track record and our reputation with customers speak volumes."

This year, Verizon Wireless in Philadelphia is celebrating its 25th year. The division is based in Trevose, Bucks County, and employs 2,000. The division launched with basic phone service and in recent years has seen explosive growth in texting. Verizon Wireless says that Philadelphia-area residents send about 23 million text messages a day over its network. The messages are sent in Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties in Pennsylvania, and Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Salem Counties in South Jersey.

Verizon Wireless is focusing on the customer experience and is not interested in exclusive deals, like the one that AT&T Inc. has with Apple Inc. for the iPhone. "We don't want to be labeled as a one-trick pony," Turco said. "The cell phone has become the consumer's third screen after the personal computer and the home television."