Metrozones Report

Publication Date	March 2006
Publisher	ARCchart
Product Type	Report
Pages	90
ISBN Number	not applicable
Product Code	ARC00026

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£205.00
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Summary

Challenges to the hotspot business model have helped drive the move towards wider area hotzones, aided by the emergence of new Wi-Fi technologies, such as extended range access points and, more importantly, Wi-Fi mesh. Hotzones, particularly in urban areas of dense population - where they are referred to as metrozones - are becoming increasingly attractive to non-cellular commercial operators. However, the agenda is also increasingly being driven by public sector metrozones run by local authorities or other bodies, sometimes as non-profit concerns, and usually with subsidized rates. Therefore, the main bodies with interests in metrozones have different and sometimes conflicting objectives. These bodies can be summarised as follows:

Major telcos, cellcos or ISPs looking to complement their wireline businesses and keep control of the Wi-Fi market away from their start-up challengers
Commercial WISPs seeking to build a profitable business purely on wireless
Municipal and other authorities, whose chief aims are to improve efficiency and public safety, and to make their towns more attractive to business, as well as to bridge the digital divide with low-cost residential access
Community or academic organizations offering free or low-cost access for social reasons

This research paper looks at the key trends driving metrozones, particularly in the US, which is leading the world in real world roll-outs. It examines the legislative issues, the different and sometimes conflicting business models, the major WISPs and the technology options, particularly the introduction of WiMAX to the picture. In particular, overviews are provided for the following metrozone developments:

Paris metro deployment by CapGemini and Cisco
Telebria in the UK
WebNet's deployment in Abbotsford, Canada
Municipal metrozone in Portland, Oregon
Municipal metrozone in Dayton, Ohio
Developments in Kentwood, Grand Rapids and Muskegon in Michigan
Municipal partnerships in Atlanta, Madison and Jackson
Earthlink in Philadelphia
Champaign-Urbana's community wireless network
Google's moves in the metrozone market

Content

CHAPTER A. Introduction
- From hotspots
- To metrozones
CHAPTER B. Deployment Models
- B.1 Is Wi-Fi viable for metrozones?
  - The unlicensed business model
  - Interference
  - Cost
  - Security
  - Problems at 5GHz
  - Mesh and big stick antennas
  - Case Study: Paris
  - The WiMAX solution
- B.2 Costs
- B.3 Hotzone building methods
  - Wi-Fi deployment techniques
  - Distributed access points
  - Extended range APs
  - Mesh
  - WiMAX and Wi-Fi: which to choose?
  - Combining with Wi-Fi for broader customer reach
CHAPTER C. Optimal Business Cycle
- C.1 Phase 1: Wi-Fi mesh
- C.2 Phase 2: Hybrid
- C.3 Phase 3: WiMAX mesh
  - Tropos metrozone business case study
- C.4 Hybrid case studies
  - Telabria, UK
  - WebNet, Canada
  - Portland, Oregon
  - WiMAX
  - NextPhase
CHAPTER D. Critical success factors
- D.1 Legislation
  - Legal challenges to municipal metrozones
  - Municipal legislative support
- D.2 Spectrum
  - Could municipalities hold licenses?
  - License alternatives
  - The licensed spectrum options
  - 700MHz spectrum
  - Moves to open up 700MHz
  - 60GHz spectrum
- D.3 Influence of major vendors
  - Intel
CHAPTER E. Operator models
- E.1 The incumbent operators and ISPs
  - Broadband ISPs
  - Cellular operators
  - Fixed-line carriers
  - Example: MCI
  - Technology
  - Outlook
- E.2 Commercial WISPs
- E.3 Municipal and local authorities
  - Example: Dayton, Ohio
  - Deployment
  - Example: Michigan
  - Kentwood and Grand Rapids
  - Muskegon
  - Deployment
  - Example: Houston
  - Example: Others
  - Chicago
  - Boston
  - St Louis
- E.4 ISP and municipal partnerships
  - Georgia: Atlanta
  - Wisconsin: Madison and Jackson
  - Case Study: Allconet
  - Deployment
  - Case study: EarthLink
  - Philadelphia
- E.5 Community and academic offerings
  - Case study: Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network
- E.6 Google
CHAPTER F. Applications and Services
- F.1 VoIP
  - Azulstar Networks
  - Deployment
  - Outlook
  - MobilePro
  - Speakeasy
  - Deployment
  - Outlook
- F.2 Public safety
  - The 4.9GHz band
  - Equipment
  - New York City
  - Other examples
  - Mobile metrozones
- F.3 Early WiMAX metrozones
  - UK
  - London
  - Brighton
  - Others
CHAPTER G. Equipment vendors
- G.1 5G Wireless
- G.2 BelAir
- G.3 Cisco and Airespace
- G.4 Firetide
- G.5 MeshLinx Wireless
- G.6 Motorola
- G.7 PacketHop
- G.8 Proxim
- G.9 Strix Systems
- G.10 SkyPilot
- G.11 Tropos
- G.12 Vivato
CHAPTER H. Outlook
APPENDIX I: Mesh
- Outlook
- Mesh 'Li-Fi'
- Towards UWB and 60GHz
- Challenges for mesh
- Who pays for mesh?
- Mesh standards
- Wi-Mesh
- SeeMesh
- Outlook
- The Microsoft approach