If you’re wondering how new next-gen wireless broadband technologies stack up, consider WiMAX.
One of the frontrunners in high-bandwidth mobile protocols, it is increasingly moving to the forefront of carrier rollout plans (see Sprint, Clearwire tie the knot again) and apparently, the education market.
According to a new ABI Research study, 802.11n WiFi will grow from 2.3% deployment at North American universities today to 99% availability by 2013. Primary and secondary schools will see slightly less, but still robust growth, over the same period.
In terms of equipment sales to the global university space, Wi-Fi access point and controller equipment revenue will ramp up from $137 million in 2007 to $837 million in 2013; the K-12 global market is expected to jump from $47 million to $644 during that time. WiFi and voice over WiFi (VoWiFi) deployment has been greatest in North American schools, but Europe is starting to close the gap, despite ongoing parental and governmental concerns over potential health issues.
Just what’s driving this trend towards WiMAX everywhere — at least on the campus?
The main applications are video surveillance and networking together as many students as possible across an extended campus LAN. In addition, universities in particular are looking at WiFi to support video so teachers can incorporate video into their curriculum, as well as post video of lectures online for access remotely at any time. “Another major factor is that universities are beginning to have students access information online in lecture halls as part of lectures — the bandwidth demands exceed 802.11g,” said Stan Schatt, vice president, research director of ABI Research and author of the report. “The close concentration of 300 to 500 or more students with wireless devices makes conventional 802.11g impractical.”
Though not as prominent as video, voice over WiFi will clearly speed WiFi adoption, especially at the college level. “Clearly VoWiFi penetration rates are not as dramatic as 802.11n, but they are impressive, particularly in North America. Some vendors are asking universities to place voice calls on 802.11n at 5 GHz to avoid latency issues and interference issues, but unfortunately that’s not practical right now because of power consumption demands of 802.11n.”
At least for now, expect users to deploy a mix-and-match approach to wireless technologies on campus. “In-building wireless could have some impact, but at this point it’s a zero sum game. 802.11n has such range and so much bandwidth potential down the line (600 Mbps in a few years) that it will become a risk/reward decision for commercial builders and tenants,” said Schatt.