Communications Crossroads - Summer 2008 - (Page 25)

Another adjustment for carriers that move into TV is that telephones have been plug-and-play for quite a while now; a side effect of the FCC’s 1968 Carterfone decision was that telephone installation was demystiﬁed. And, while televisions themselves have long since become simple appliances that we worry no more about learning to use than a toaster, content delivery to the television has gotten increasingly complex. The TV may just plug into the wall, but to get the content a modern consumer expects, there’s another whole level of deployment—installation of cable or a dish, attachment of a set-top box, and various software applications to make it all work together. “We have a very large services practice,” says Wonders. “Customers are looking for someone to provide end-to-end integration for anything, whether wireless or broadband. There’s nobody out there who provides all of the hardware, software, and applications to make a system like AT&T U-Verse work.” This isn’t a new service for Alcatel Lucent, but it is increasingly important to their customers. “Quite frankly, the consumer electronics industry has a vested interest in this. It’s good for everybody if everything is plug-and-play.” Robert Mustarde Vice President World Wide Sales Ruckus Wireless Robert Mustarde says Ruckus Wireless’ products can make WiFi video delivery plug-and-play. This is “a huge advantage for carriers who want to offer television and video content in addition to Internet. How do you get the DSL signal from the access point to the TV set?” asks Mustarde. For a wired system, the carrier must send out an installer to drill walls and install cables. He estimates this takes six to eight hours for some systems—very slow and expensive process for both the carrier and the customer. By contrast, Wi-Fi installation is much easier, and takes about ﬁve minutes. But it hasn’t taken off because it hasn’t been reliable. Mustarde says Ruckus’ “BeamFlex” technology provides the enhanced reliability Wi-Fi needs to be truly successful. “In general,” Mustarde explains, “people like Wi-Fi, but don’t trust its reliability. Wi-Fi uses ‘unlicensed spectrum.’ In other words, there’s no speciﬁc charge to use that part of the spectrum— so many people use it, which means there is a lot of interference. Microwave ovens and Bluetooth use the same part of the spectrum. All of these uses are competing for the same small slice of unlicensed spectrum.” That’s where Ruckus comes in. They bring BeamFlex, which can identify the user’s physical location in relation to an access point. Because Wi-Fi has a very small amount of power, and only transmits to one device at a time, each client device gets a few milliseconds of the Wi-Fi unit’s power, and then the next client gets the service. A typical 6-inch antenna on an access point (such as a router) broadcasts in all directions at once. Mustarde says this is analogous to attempting to view an object in a very dark room by pointing a weak ﬂashlight at the ceiling; the room in general is slightly brighter than it would be without the ﬂashlight, and the object is somewhat illuminated, but not really easy to see clearly. A focused light directed toward the item you want to see is much more useful. BeamFlex allows the antenna to focus toward the individual device that needs it, giving strong National Services for: OUTSIDE PLANT CONSTRUCTION INSIDE PLANT CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING SERVICES Corporate Headquarters: 985 Jolly Road Blue Bell, PA 19422-0900 1-888-HENKELS Fax: 215-283-7939 PERFORMANCE has built our business…® www.henkels.com Summer 2008 COMMUNICATIONS CROSSROADS 25 http://www.henkels.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Communications Crossroads - Summer 2008

Communications Crossroads - Summer 2008 Up Front Contents TeleBites Delivering the Broadband Future Deriving Revenue from Today's Broadband World The Right Way to Operate Data Centers Buyers' Guide Industry Calendar Advertisers DotCom Index to Advertisers Straight Talk

Communications Crossroads - Summer 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.