WiMax Operator's Manual

CHAPTER 7 ■ SERVICE DEPLOYMENTS OVER PUBLIC WIRELESS MANS 175
Channel network elements. Finally, iSCSI is intended for connection of IP storage network elements
within an IP network.
To set up storage services, a multitude of specialized switches, bridges, and gateways are
required; in other words, it is not a trivial undertaking. Except in the case of a few multiservice
godboxes, one cannot do storage area networking with an edge router or a metro Ethernet
switch. Depending upon the particular storage application, QoS in the form of a guaranteed bit
rate or latency figure may be required, and this is particularly true of operations where databases
of customer profiles must continually be accessed and updated.
Storage services can also involve maintaining and operating data storage centers where
storage capacity is leased to subscribers. This type of business has not done well in the past
because in large part of the reluctance on the part of most businesses to entrust vital records
to a third party. Also, data storage is sometimes combined with disaster recovery where the
vendor mirrors vital internal networking resources at a remote facility to permit an enterprise
to continue to function in the event of the physical destruction of its own headquarters. Pro-
visioning such services is a fundamentally different business than providing local access,
though, and is very capital intensive. It is not an area that a startup seeking to build a public
communications infrastructure is likely to be able to enter.
Getting a Services Perspective
Setting up profitable services is not simply a matter of having the right hardware and protocol
suites. What is needed above all is a correct orientation in respect to one’s customer base and
a correct appreciation of the competitive environment.
Value-added services are, on the one hand, a way to distinguish the network from com-
petitors and, on the other hand, to meet the changing needs of the subscribers. A wireless
broadband network operator (and any other access provider, for that matter) is as much in the
business of supporting the activities of business customers and serving as a broker for communications
services for residential subscribers as providing a high-speed connection. It follows
that the business of the network operator is likely to evolve rapidly as new data and multimedia
applications reach maturity. I emphasize that the notion that access is some basic utility such
as water or power is largely outmoded and entirely insufficient to ensure the survival of the
network in the years to come.