Public Wireless LANs: Challenges, Opportunities & Strategies

Public wireless LANs (PWLANs) are the superior solution for serving the most demanding mobile users in the most demanding locations. This report explains why (with the aid of a cost model), and why independent PWLAN operators are at risk. Written by a highly-respected wireless LAN consultant, the report provides both the mobile phone and wireless LAN industries with a roadmap to success.

Additional conclusions found in Public Wireless LANs: Challenges, Opportunities & Strategies:

1. Wireless LANs (WLANs) are taking off. Public WLANs complement private deployments in businesses, government, schools, and homes.
2. Public WLAN operators must join forces with 3G mobile phone carriers to achieve necessary coverage and service bundling. Likewise, third generation mobile phone operators need public WLANs to offload heavy indoor traffic from their lower speed, wide area networks.
3. Unlike private WLANs, public WLANs require subscription control, roaming agreements, and centralized network management. Roaming is crucial to maximizing coverage. However, the largest public WLAN operators fear roaming agreements will benefit smaller competitors most.
4. There are significant e-commerce opportunities for public WLAN operators, particularly those offering location-dependent, targeted promotions. While the mobile phone industry struggles to implement location technology, the location of a public WLAN user is readily available.
5. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth offer complementary access services, but Wi-Fi is significantly more mature. Bluetooth can provide access in secondary locations, integrated with pay phones, point of sale terminals, and ATMs. IEEE 802.11a offers a migration path to speeds of 54 Mb/s and higher.
6. Public wireless LANs could play a major role in the distribution of multimedia content. Users at airports and on airplanes represent captive audiences for advanced business and entertainment services.

• INTRODUCTION


• EXECUTIVE SUMMARY




• OPPORTUNITIES & THREATS


• BUSINESS MODELS


• STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS


• KEY CONCLUSIONS




• OVERVIEW


• REACHING CRITICAL MASS


• ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES


• MARKET SEGMENTATION




• DEGREE OF MOBILITY


• USER TYPES


• TYPES OF INSTALLATIONS




• TECHNOLOGY APPROACHES




• WIRELESS LAN ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES




• IEEE 802.11b


• IEEE 802.11g


• IEEE 802.11a


• HiperLAN


• HomeRF


• Bluetooth


• Infrared




• BACKHAUL CONNECTION


• INTERNET GATEWAY


• NETWORK OPERATIONS


• ROAMING SUPPORT




• OBSTACLES




• MAJOR OBSTACLES




• Deployment


• Security


• Roaming


• RF Interference Management




• MINOR OBSTACLES




• Remote Access and VPN Considerations


• Platform Compatibility


• Voice Support


• Roaming Among Heterogeneous Networks


• Access Complexity






• DEPLOYMENT CONSIDERATIONS




• PRIMARY DEPLOYMENT AREAS




• Airports


• Hotels


• Restaurants


• Educational Environments




• SECONDARY DEPLOYMENT AREAS




• Conference Centers


• Airplanes


• Shopping Areas


• Government Buildings


• Sports Facilities


• Hospitals


• Residential and SOHO Fixed Access


• Entertainment Locations


• Public Transportation




• DEPLOYMENT COSTS




• PRICING AND MARKETING STRATEGIES


• SERVICE PROVIDER OPPORTUNITIES




• DEDICATED PWLAN OPERATORS


• CELLULAR OPERATORS


• INTERNET ROAMING PROVIDERS


• INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS


• COMPUTER VENDORS


• CABLE PROVIDERS (MULTIPLE SERVICE OPERATORS)


• ILECS AND CLECS


• NOT-FOR-PROFIT NETWORKS


• MAJOR REGIONS OF THE WORLD




• North America


• Europe


• Japan






• PWLAN OPERATORS




• AERZONE


• AIRWAVE


• CERULIC


• GET2NET CORP.


• HEREUARE


• MOBILESTAR


• NEPTUNE NETWORKS


• NOMAD NETWORKS


• SONERA


• SURF AND SIP


• TELENOR MOBILE


• TELIA


• SCANDINAVIAN AIRLINES SYSTEM (SAS)


• SKYLINK INTERNET PLUS


• TENZING COMMUNICATIONS


• WAYPORT


• WIRELESSBOLAGET


• WNS OY


• NON PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS




• KEY INFRASTRUCTURE VENDORS




• 3COM


• AGERE SYSTEMS / ORINOCO


• CISCO SYSTEMS


• CLASSWAVE


• COMMIL


• GRIC COMMUNICATIONS


• IBM


• IPASS


• NOKIA


• PICO COMMUNICATIONS


• PROXIM


• RADIOFRAME NETWORKS


• RED-M


• SYMBOL TECHNOLOGIES


• TADLYS


• WIDCOMM




• TABLE OF FIGURES




• TABLE 1: PROS AND CONS OF PWLAN OPERATORS REMAINING INDEPENDENT


• TABLE 2: PROS AND CONS OF PWLAN OPERATORS TEAMING UP WITH


• CELLULAR/PCS OPERATORS


• TABLE 3: FEATURES OF PWLAN VERSUS CELLULAR DATA


• TABLE 4: KEY DRIVERS AND INHIBITORS FOR PWLANS.


• FIGURE 1: ELEMENTS OF A PWLAN


• TABLE 5: SUMMARY OF COVERAGE AREAS AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES


• TABLE 6: COST TO DELIVER 1 MEGABYTE OF DATA OVER PUBLIC WIRELESS LANS (FOR 802.11B, BLUETOOTH, AND 802.11A AIR INTERFACES) (AT 1%, 2%, 4%, AND 8% UTILIZATION)


• FIGURE 2: SUCCESS FACTORS FOR PWLAN OPERATORS