GNG News Guy
12-28-2007, 11:16 AM
http://i.dslr.net/urls/26/65826.gif (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Qualcomms-UMB-DOA-90536)
At the moment, there's three front-runners for the fourth-generation wireless broadband crown: 3GPP LTE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP_Long_Term_Evolution) (Long Term Evolution), mobile WiMax (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX) and 3GPP2 UMB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_Mobile_Broadband) (Ultra Mobile Broadband). All three standards will offer low latency and theoretical max speeds that will eventually make current US EVDO and HSDPA speeds seem sluggish. With AT&T and Verizon putting their weight behind LTE and Sprint embracing WiMax, UMB's prospects are rather dim, according to a new report (http://www.abiresearch.com/abiprdisplay.jsp?pressid=1022) by ABI Research.No operator has yet announced plans to trial or deploy UMB. Several of the major CDMA operators in the two primary markets are migrating to other technologies. Vendors cannot move forward with development unless their customers commit to trial this technology. WiMAX and LTE have ecosystems in place that offer support. LTE, which is expected to be available around 2010, already has operator commitment from Vodafone and Verizon. WiMAX has implemented many trials, and has over fifty commercial deployments underway.
"While Qualcomm has made many significant contributions to mobile communications, in this case we just have to be realistic," says ABI analyst Nadine Manjaro. "Vendors need to step up and say that they aren t going to invest any more resources in developing this technology, since there is virtually no demand for it."
In other words, Qualcomm's UMB is DOA.
At the moment, there's three front-runners for the fourth-generation wireless broadband crown: 3GPP LTE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP_Long_Term_Evolution) (Long Term Evolution), mobile WiMax (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX) and 3GPP2 UMB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_Mobile_Broadband) (Ultra Mobile Broadband). All three standards will offer low latency and theoretical max speeds that will eventually make current US EVDO and HSDPA speeds seem sluggish. With AT&T and Verizon putting their weight behind LTE and Sprint embracing WiMax, UMB's prospects are rather dim, according to a new report (http://www.abiresearch.com/abiprdisplay.jsp?pressid=1022) by ABI Research.No operator has yet announced plans to trial or deploy UMB. Several of the major CDMA operators in the two primary markets are migrating to other technologies. Vendors cannot move forward with development unless their customers commit to trial this technology. WiMAX and LTE have ecosystems in place that offer support. LTE, which is expected to be available around 2010, already has operator commitment from Vodafone and Verizon. WiMAX has implemented many trials, and has over fifty commercial deployments underway.
"While Qualcomm has made many significant contributions to mobile communications, in this case we just have to be realistic," says ABI analyst Nadine Manjaro. "Vendors need to step up and say that they aren t going to invest any more resources in developing this technology, since there is virtually no demand for it."
In other words, Qualcomm's UMB is DOA.