Software Licensing & Master Service Agreements : Chicago Software Licensing Lawyer & Attorney : Sam Conforti Law Firm : Master Service Agreements, Negotiations, Outsourcing : Cook County, Illinois

The Consumer Electronics Show (“CES”) was held last week in Las Vegas. So the tech industry showed up with all its gadgets, smartphones and tablets and whatnot, and all the promises of 4G and mobile computing. So we’ve got this new, relatively speaking, and burgeoning wireless industry. Isn’t this what economists and critics and politicians and enthusiasts predicted and clamored for, American inventiveness and exceptional-ism to come to the rescue and reverse the global economic downslide. Not so fast my friends. As Kenneth Corbin reports in his article for Datamation entitled FCC Boss Takes Spectrum Shortfall Warning to CES, The FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski, announced plans at the CES for his agency to intervene into the wireless industry and forcibly reallocate bandwidth among the major players.   Corbin explains the situation succinctly in his article:

“Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski was talking about spectrum, the invisible airwaves that power the wireless networks that are coming under increasing strain from the surge in mobile computing.”

It comes as no surprise to the industry that the possibilities and wonders of the new wave in mobile computing are dependent upon sufficient supply and access to the air waves. However, as Corbin reports, The FCC has plans to conduct auctions of the air waves licenses currently owned by the TV broadcasters to the wireless vendors. Maybe not a bad idea, but along with incentives to do so, the FCC would impose fees, fines, and penalties in order to ensure the government’s idea of the proper allocation of the Spectrum to be implemented.  So is this truly voluntary.

Once again, the age old question must be addressed …. Who is better equipped and suited to put into practice and maintain a sound business strategy, the Free Market or the Government. You decide.

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First I would like to define what we mean by Unified Communications (“UC”).  Unified Communications encompasses email, instant messaging, texting, phones, and other networking and mobility applications.  In short Unified Communications “ … lets users access people and resources, no matter the location or communication channel, spurring productivity and boosting business processes at an economical cost.”  For an in-depth discussion on this topic see UC Will Prove Challenging to Buyers And Sellers by Judy Mottl.

Initially SMB’s have found it a daunting task to try and pull all these various applications together into one cohesive platform.  The lack of funds and the lack of familiarity with these tools have hindered their move to UC.  The familiarity issue is evaporating as more people are using these communication tools in their non-work life and begin to demand these tools in the workplace.  For further discussion on the capabilities and uses of the newest wireless devices and the coming of the Mobile Web see the following posts in this blog:

• Blackberry Bold RIMs Next 3G High Speed Wireless Handset

• 4G and The Mobile Web: WiMAX v LTE

SaaS may be the way that SMB’s can overcome the budgetary constraints as well as the integration problems that have acted as a barrier for these enterprises.  SaaS provides a faster deployment and the right provider can pull all the telephony tools and applications together into one unified and interconnected unit.  Judy Mottl has written an excellent article that details in the ins and outs for those SMB’s considering this next step into UC.  In her article SaaS Best Path for SMB Unified Communications: Service strategy lets small companies enjoy technology benefits without the headaches she interviews Simon Edwards, UC project director, British Telecom (“BT”), who cautions not to get locked into one particular platform:

"SMBs have to make sure they stick to an agnostic platform," said Edwards, adding that the best approach is an open standards platform that allows emerging technologies from different tool makers

Mottl concludes her article with a quote from Mat Taylor, a senior software architect with BT:

"The ability to get things done faster, get workers more engaged in business scenario, provide better customer service, are all big productivity wins that benefit the bottom line"

For more on the coming of age of handheld devices for the UC revolution see the following posts in this blog:

• Future of Wireless Devices

• SAP Sapphire 2008

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The next phase in the rapid move to the mobile web is 4G.  I discussed this progression in my post to this blog Future of Wireless Devices on December 26, 2007.  What this means for us no one can say with any certainty. Right now it is safe to say that we will be getting faster downloads and much more functionality to include mobile-video sharing.  The two wireless networking standards are WiMAX and Long Term Evolution.

Wikipedia defines WiMAX as follows:

WiMAX, the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology that provides wireless data in a variety of ways, from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular type access. It is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard, which is also called WirelessMAN. The name "WiMAX" was created by the WiMAX Forum, which was formed in June 2001 to promote conformance and interoperability of the standard. The forum describes WiMAX as "a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL" (and also to High Speed Packet Access). Currently, Pakistan has the largest fully functional Wimax network in the world.

Wikipedia defines Long Term Evolution (“LTE”) as follows:

3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the name given to a project within the Third Generation Partnership Project to improve the UMTS mobile phone standard to cope with future technology evolutions. Goals include improving spectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use of new spectrum and refarmed spectrum opportunities, and better integration with other open standards. The LTE project is not a standard, but it will result in the new evolved Release 8 of the 3GPP specifications, including mostly or wholly extensions and modifications of the UMTS system. The architecture that will result from this work is called EPS (Evolved Packet System) and comprises E-UTRAN (Evolved UTRAN) on the access side and EPC (Evolved Packet Core) on the core side.

Judy Mottl has an excellent analysis in her InternetNews.com article entitled Who’s ahead in the 4G race?   At present it would seem as though the winner in the race could be WiMAX.  They have deployments up and running, however there is a surge in the acceptance of the LTE networking standards by the likes of AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Nortel.  Sprint-Nextel is backing WiMAX.  Mottl has done her homework and I highly recommend her article.  She concludes with a look to the acceptance of 4G by enterprises and quotes Carmi Levy, senior VP, strategic consulting for AR Communication:

"Enterprises need to be watching and be aware of what's coming though it's not really in the line of vision at this point," Levy said, adding that vendors will be focused on providing what's most important to business -- solid voice and data networking performance at lower price points.

"In three to four years we'll know what will be. At this point it's about watching the landscape develop and adapting, if necessary, to leverage what's coming," Levy said.

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Faster and more efficient high-speed networks will be yielding more functionality and greater flexibility for handheld devices. As connectivity speeds increase, manufacturers will be developing multimedia devices that look and function like your cell phone. We are on the verge of the fourth generation (“4G”) of this technology. The data that is anticipated to be transmitted necessitates the development of these more powerful networks.

Wailin Wong, Chicago Tribune staff writer, describes in an article our sojourn from 2G which was our ability to make and receive calls as well as share photos and download ringtones, to 3G our present system which allows surfing of the net and accessing data-intensive media, and now the future which is 4G and will allow us to upload personal videos.

Two of the players in the market, Verizon and Sprint, are developing their technology now. Verizon’s technology is called Long Term Evolution and Sprints is WiMax. Ken Dulaney, of the Gartner Group, points out that the handset is key to this market:

“In the cellular world, it’s all about the handsets. If you have a new network and no handsets, who cares?”

Motorola, a late comer to the handset market for 3G technology, is trying to redeem itself against such competitors like Samsung. Motorola makes the WiMax technology for operators as well as consumers and is betting on this new technology to be embedded in numerous consumer devices in the coming year. They will enter the market with WiMax and continue to prepare for development work in Long Term Evolution in the coming years.

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