And, I found this which is pretty cool.
From the Austin American-Statesman
http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/technology/03/1wimax.html
Wow, nice view...from roof of Dobie Center!
Ralph Barrera
AMERICAN-STATESMAN
AirBand Communications of Dallas plans to use transmitters such as these atop the 27-story Dobie Center near the University of Texas campus to deliver high-speed Internet access to businesses in and around downtown.
Ralph Barrera
AMERICAN-STATESMAN
AirBand's transmitter on top of Dobie Center already is up and running, and another one planned for Northwest Austin is expected to be in operation sometime next month.
WiMax raining from Austin's sky
Dallas company AirBand will offer broadband wirelessly to Austin businesses.
By Kirk Ladendorf
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Over the next few months, some Austin businesses will get an early glimpse of a much-touted, next-generation wireless-networking technology called WiMax.
It's a sort of stronger and faster cousin to today's Wi-Fi "hot spots" that offer fast Internet access to patrons at some coffee shops, hotels, fast-food restaurants and airports.
AirBand Communications Inc. of Dallas is launching what it calls "pre-WiMax" service to business customers in town that want high-speed data communications links and other services, including Internet telephony. There's no industrywide standard for WiMax yet.
But it has gained widespread industry attention because it is fast and cheap and because numerous companies, including chip giant Intel Corp., strongly support it.
WiMax can send out far more information than other wireless technologies — well over 45 megabits per second — on its radio waves. In contrast, cable modem customers for Time Warner Cable's Road Runner service receive up to 5 megabits per second.
And it can send it much farther than other technologies. Wi-Fi signals fade after about 300 feet, but a WiMax antenna can send a broadband signal to a customer up to 5 miles away.
AirBand Communications says it will spend about $100,000 on the basic networking infrastructure that can tie together several hundred business customers in Austin.
As its customer base grows, the company will be able to expand its network for a relatively modest expense, management says.
Two Austin locations
In Austin, the first target markets are businesses in or near downtown and in the northwest part of the city near the intersection of U.S. 183 and MoPac Boulevard.
AirBand serves other cities, but Austin is its first new market to use the more advanced "pre-WiMax" technology. It is one of a handful of companies racing to build broadband communications networks in promising markets. Tech-savvy Austin seemed like a natural place to begin the new service, the company says.
"We have great technology, and we will have an unmatched product feature set," says Lisa Kolczun, the company's vice president of marketing. "It will come down to executing."
The company aims to target midsize business customers with between 25 and 500 workers, but it can deliver a 2-megabit-per-second broadband data connection for $450 a month for a three-year service contract and add Internet-based digital phone service for five employees for $100 more a month.
AirBand says it is offering a faster service for about the same rate that phone companies charge for T-1 service, which runs at 1.5 megabits per second over a traditional wireline network. The company also offers other services, such as virtual private networks, a highly secure way of communicating over public networks.
Its plan in Austin is to put up two transmitting stations, one on top of the 27-story Dobie Center tower near the University of Texas campus and one on a building in Northwest Austin. Each will be able to reach customers within 5 miles who are in a line of sight of the transmitter. The company says it also can reach customers who are outside its transmitters' line of sight by using signal repeater equipment. The company has to negotiate "roof rights" to set up receiving antennas on the buildings where its customers' offices are located.
Dobie antenna ready
The Dobie Center transmitter already is up and running, and the Northwest Austin antenna is expected to be in operation sometime in March. The company has begun talking to potential customers, but it hasn't signed any yet.
"The technology is there, it works and there is no reason it can't be deployed," says analyst Keith Nissen with market research firm In-Stat. "There is a lot of growth potential, and it doesn't take a lot of investment to set up a business service."
Going after midsize business customers makes sense, analysts say, because providers such as AirBand can offer discount prices for communications services and still make money because of the low investment required.
"Carriers like AirBand are targeting the higher-margin business markets. They are using the technology where it has an advantage," Nissen said.
In-Stat projects that about 3 percent of broadband subscribers, or about 8.5 million customers worldwide, will be connected via WiMax technology by 2009.
WiMax won't transform telecommunications by itself, the analyst said, but it will give business customers another lower-cost service alternative.
Mark Spagnolo, the CEO of AirBand, says his company recently raised $8 million from venture capital investors.
"We think the competitive situation is right now for someone like us," said Spagnolo, former CEO of Broadwing Communications in Austin, which operates a nationwide fiber-optic communications network. "We intend to use the funding to significantly broaden our offerings, expand our footprint and deliver truly integrated services over our wireless network."
Some experts expect WiMax eventually to become a mobile communications technology, transmitting data and other high-bandwidth content to users of cell phones or laptop computers. But Nissen and others say that is at least a few more years away.
Prev
Linear Mode
