Service Delivery and Broadband Wireless

I have also mentioned briefly service offerings. The physical layer of any network is essentially
a pipe and should be able to support any type of service or application provided that the raw
bandwidth to do so is available. Wireless happens to be unique in that the airlink is intermittent
in its capacity, its signal-to-interference ratio, and its susceptibility to fades and interruptions.
Such intermittency makes it difficult to deliver certain services, particularly rich
multimedia and high-speed, real-time interactive applications.
So what services can wireless 802.16 networks deliver?
Along with basic high-speed Internet access, 802.16 can support the following: VPNs, IP
and circuit second-line telephony, telemetry, conferencing, bandwidth on demand and selfprovisioning,
and storage service networks.
VPNs
VPNs are protected communications going back to a corporate Web site and are demanded by
most businesses of any size for employees engaged in telecommuting or remote accessing of
corporate data. Several means of enabling VPNs exist. IP/MPLS and Ethernet VPNs form the
latest generation of VPN service offerings and can both be managed by the service provider.
IP and Circuit Second-Line Telephony
All 802.16 equipment can support IP telephony, and some can support circuit telephony.
Because of the excessive bandwidth demands of circuit telephony and the extremely high cost
of traditional class 5 circuit switches, I do not recommend wireless broadband operators
offering such legacy services. IP telephony is a different matter because of the much lower cost
of the equipment and the high degree of bandwidth efficiency associated with the technology,
but you should remember that an airlink cannot ensure the same availability as the copper
plant and that radios cannot operate without AC power whereas telephones can. On the other
hand, an airlink cannot be cut. Broadband wireless networks are not well suited to offering
primary telephone services in markets where such services are already provided over copper,
though they may have an application in settings where phone service is otherwise unavailable.
If, however, a company chooses to offer such “wireless local loop” services, little network
capacity will remain for anything else.
Telemetry
Telemetry is essentially machine-to-machine communication and generally takes the form
of remote monitoring. Examples include measuring inventory in vending machines and
signaling when restocking is needed, as well as monitoring pipelines for leaks. Wireless is
uniquely well suited to telemetry, and it is service that many operators neglect to promote.
Conferencing
Conferencing, particularly videoconferencing, is an application finding increasing acceptance
in the enterprise. All 802.16 equipment can support IP-based video and audio conferencing.
Bandwidth on Demand and Self-Provisioning
Bandwidth on demand is a temporary change in the amount of bandwidth or throughput
allocated to a subscriber in order to meet an immediate need such as large file transfers or
videoconferencing. Self-provisioning allows subscribers to change the terms of their service
from a secure Web site without the intervention of a sales agent. Both are more a function of
network management than the physical link, and both are possible with 802.16 standards–
based equipment. Where bandwidth on demand and self-provisioning have been offered in
wireline networks—and they have not been offered by many service providers—they have
always proved extremely popular, and I think they are highly desirable service offerings for
wireless operators.
Storage Service Networks
Storage is a network application where vital information is off-loaded to remote storage facilities
and invoked thereafter, as it is needed.