Wireless Networks and Pervasive Computing

Wireless Networks and Pervasive Computing

The potential for Metropolitan-based Wi-Fi and WiMAX to transform entire communities and the companies who operate within them is very significant. With the IEEE 802.16 standard being backward-compatible to the very successfully and commercially popular 802.11 standard, the potential exists for entire communities to become more efficient in how they collaborate, communicate, create and operate businesses to complete globally (O'Shea, 2006). While there have been many debates as to the economic viability of having metropolitan Wi-Fi and WiMAX networks, the hard reality is that any communications platform that can streamline commerce and lead to innovations in business models needs to be seriously considered.

WiMax is a technology platform that often relies on a consortium of services providers to create a broad enough coverage area for signal aggregation and transmission (Zhang, Schiffman, Gibbs, Kunjithapatham, Jeong, 2009). How a WiMAX consortium is structured and the economics of how the capital investment is managed has a direct impact on the long-term value of the system to everyone who has the potential to benefit from it. From the public to small businesses to larger enterprises, a WiMAX system can become a catalyst of increased economic activity by removing the barrier of Internet access and increasing the speed of communication throughout an entire community. WiMAX systems have also shown to be highly effective in creating more efficiency in transactions, sales cycles and a much greater level of logistics and supply chain management coordination for small businesses (O'Shea, 2006). To get a sense of how effective these metropolitan WiMAX networks are, it's useful to look at a WiMAX Scenario Analysis, which is shown in Figure 1. This schematic diagram shows how the various clients for a system would interact with base stations as subscribers, followed in transmission, aggregation and multi-service core aggregation of messaging. Figure 1 illustrates best practices in creating a WiMAX network across a broad metropolitan area.