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Wireless data heads indoors
The mood of operators and building-owners
with respect to in-building wireless coverage
has changed significantly during the early
part of 2005. The prospect of tapping into
the growing revenue stream presented by
wireless data is clearly behind this change in
mood. In-building wireless has come of age.
For much of the past decade, operators’ and
building owners’ interest in in-building
wireless has waxed and waned. While
the technical argument for in-building
coverage was strong, the business case
for ‘voice-only’ or ‘voice plus simple data
services’ was elusive. Without real applications
and quantifiable business benefits,
it was difficult to justify the expenditure.
A further stumbling block has been the issue
of just how CAPEX/OPEX might be shared
across numerous participating operators.
Radio Frequency Systems takes a broader
and more pragmatic view. Our opinion
is that each building, and the wireless
coverage required within each building, is
unique. The wireless distribution solution for
each should be as unique as the building
itself—the solution should be tailored to the
architecture of the building, and the current
and future needs of its occupants. In contrast
to its techno-centric competitors, RFS sets
out to develop ‘end-to-end’ in-building
solutions that best meet three essential
performance criteria: premium coverage,
capacity and quality of service (QoS);
minimal total life-cycle cost; and genuine
futureproof characteristics.
horizontal layers of a building. This
trategy dramatically cuts long-term system
maintenance costs.
Lastly, the solution must be genuinely
futureproof and truly broadband. Electing to
deploy cheap ‘ready-to-go’ in-building
solutions—particularly those founded on
narrowband distribution systems—will
prove costly in the longer-term. In the
fast-growing world of wireless data,
factoring in capacity and technology
‘growth space’ is essential.
No single technology or architecture can
meet these performance criteria across the
broad range of building configurations and
building occupants’ needs. Rather, the
optimal solution needs to be tailored, and
Dr Klaus-Dieter Mischerikow
Radio Frequency Systems President
EDITORIAL
3
The launch of powerful wireless data
technologies—most particularly 3G cellular
and wireless LAN (WLAN)—has changed
all this. The ‘natural home’ of such services
is clearly in-building, especially in the
commercial sector. Importantly, the ‘neutral
host’ business model—where in-building
wireless infrastructure is owned and
managed by a non-operator party, with
CAPEX and OPEX costs shared across all
participating operators—is fast gaining
industry acceptance. Shared in-building
infrastructure, centred on broadband
RF combining solutions that support a multiband/multi-carrier
environment, underpins
the ‘neutral host’ strategy.
The response from the in-building
technology sector to this recent upsurge
of interest in in-building wireless has proven
fascinating, to say the least. Many promote
a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to in-building
coverage: that a single wireless in-building
technology and architecture will meet the
needs of any building.
Network coverage, capacity and QoS will be
the crucial decider in the in-building wireless
data world. While the “stand a little closer
to the window” strategy was adequate in
‘voice-only’ or ‘voice plus simple 2G data
services’ environments, the world of
high-speed wireless data is far less forgiving.
A truly seamless broadband experience
across all operational areas of the building
will be essential to win over this demanding
market.
Similarly, minimization of the total life-cycle
costs of the distribution system will be a
vital deciding factor. While the reduced
CAPEX of many solutions on offer
might initially appear attractive, closer
examination of long-term OPEX reveals
their weaknesses. To this end, RFS
in-building distribution solutions are
founded on the principle of minimizing
the number of active components
throughout the system, particularly in the
developed from a mix of current and
emerging technologies. RFS offers just this
tailored in-building development service.
Our 50 years of in-building/in-tunnel design
and development experience is backed by
the market’s broadest mix of futureproof inbuilding
technologies—distributed antenna
systems, broadband feeder solutions, pointof-interface
solutions, and RF-on-fibre
extension systems.
Clearly, in-building wireless is set to grow
dramatically in the coming years, underpinned
by the emergence of high-speed
wireless data services. But in-building
wireless deployment—particularly in the
demanding commercial world—will present
major challenges. Success will come down
to total system performance, rather than
specific technologies. RFS has the total
systems perspective, experience and
solutions to meet this important challenge.
Klaus-Dieter Mischerikow