WiMAX – the next disruptive technology
I’ve been following the development of WiMAX (IEEE 802.16) for quite sometime now with a great deal of interest. I firmly believe it will be one of the next major disruptive technologies. As a quick refresher, WiMAX is:
“…standards-based wireless technology that provides high-throughput broadband connections over long distances. WiMAX can be used for a number of applications, including “last mile” broadband connections, hotspots and cellular backhaul, and high-speed enterprise connectivity for business.” (source: Intel)
In human speak, WiMAX is a widescale high-speed wireless internet access. How far? 31 mile radius! How fast? We’re talking 20 to 30 times faster than your current household broadband connection. Yikes!
Why do i think WiMAX is so important and will have such a big impact?
1. Momentum – WiMAX already has a huge amount of momentum and is gaining more and more as WiMAX trials are actually proving that the technology is viable in terms of cost and throughput. Major players like Intel have already bought in, and with a giant like Intel building WiMAX radio support into their chipsets, we’re more than halfway to WiMAX heaven.
2. Low cost — large capital cost to setup infrastructure, but end-user cost is low. $15-$30 monthly fee, with $25 hardware cost. Nearly the same pricing as current broadband offerings, and actually cheaper than my Comcast cable broadband (even after i factor in my Microsoft employee discount!).
3. Realistic multi-content transmission– Due to the high speeds, we can actually start about talking about realistic scenarios where it can carry more than internet traffic. We can piggyback voice and video (think IPTV!). This instantly gives me wet dreams about suddenly divorcing myself from the nazi regime known as Comcast with their insane pricing structures (why is there no a la carte pricing?!). With WiMAX carrying internet, voice and video, it opens up endless consumer scenarios — think of something as simple as being able to put your TV anywhere you want in your house instead of worrying about where the Coax connection is. WIth voice carried over WiMAX it actually makes the Vonage Wifi Phone make a lot more sense 
3. Market readiness — both consumers and businesses are ready for this type of technology and the scenarios it enables. Consumers as a whole are more savvy than they were 5 years ago, mainly due to the proliferation of wifi in both homes and mass media coverage. With the right price point, WiMAX will make a killing.
You may be saying to yourself “didn’t major telcos like AT&T and MCI try this in the past and fail?”. You are correct, they did try something like this in the past and they did fail — miserably. However, the biggest reason for their failures was due to the hardware and service costs (fixed cost was $500 per customer!). To top it off, consumers weren’t ready and didn’t see the need for this in the late 90’s.
Another question you may be asking is how is this really different from existing Wifi like 802.11? The major difference between WiMAX and existing wifi solutions is that with Wifi, you still need a fixed broadband connection (cable or DSL). With WiMAX we alleviate the need for this completely.
The next 12 months will be very exciting for WiMAX. More and more trials will take place, and many of those trials are happening here in Seattle. Maybe they’ll try something in Redmond
