These picks really hit home for service providers.
The Telecommunications ® Staff
OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, TECHNOLOGY FOR TECHNOLOGY'S SAKE BECAME A COOL THING.
The Big Six equipment vendors snapped up start-ups left and right, in some cases because they had a hype-generating product or concept that seemingly defied logic. Those days are long gone, and as many are finding out, service providers are buying for the here and now, not even blinking at some whiz-bang technologies that would have garnered so much attention just 12 short months ago.
Our 10 hottest technologies this year are rooted in the here and now. This is the second or third go-round for many of the technologies, but with a twist. Ethernet, for example, has a tremendous legacy, but Ethernet in the First Mile is a strong new application that has given it new life. We asked some of the industry's leading analysts to validate our choices, and in many cases their responses helped us fine tune them. Here, in no particular order, are Telecommunications' picks as the 10 hottest technologies for 2002:
- Distributed DCS
- Database Integration
- DOCSIS
- MPLS VPNs
- IP Storage
- Space/Time Wireless
- Ethernet in the First Mile
- Integrated Optical Transport/Switching
- Telecom Portals
- Enhanced Observed Time Difference
Distributed
DCS: Less Is More
Big carriers are intimately familiar with the bandwidth management benefits that DCSs (digital cross-connects) bring to a network. And while traditionally DCSs have been synonymous with the space and power that they demand of large COs, there is now a new twist to delivering DCS capabilities. A few start-ups such as Astral Point Communications and Ocular Networks have been in the forefront pushing the concept of the distributed DCS. Interestingly, this idea appears to have been embraced by Tellabs, the heavyweight of the wideband and broadband DCS businesses and which earlier this year snapped up Ocular Networks, and also by Alcatel, another presence in the DCS market and which recently acquired Astral Point.
Traditional DCS vendors such as Tellabs view the VT1.5/DS1 wideband and DS3/STS-1 broadband cross-connect capability supported by the Ocular platform as complementary to the Tellabs' family of 5500 DCSs that typically reside in large COs or POPs. On the other hand, because the Ocular product is intended to reside at the network edge, traffic no longer needs to be backhauled to a Tier 1 CO to be groomed and switched. It's worth keeping in mind that the Astral Point and Ocular products are primarily optical transport switches that combine multiple network elements in a single, space- and power-efficient platform. As a result, these products aren't really trying to compete in the traditional DCS arena. Instead, the cross-connect capabilities they offer are targeted for sites with smaller traffic volumes.
However, the notion that the DCS capability of a transport switch, such as the Ocular platform, is only intended to be complementary to traditional DCS equipment doesn't always hold true. For instance, start-up Polaris Networks, which like Ocular has exploited advances in customized silicon technology, has added a new wrinkle in the DCS space. Although Polaris' OMX is primarily an optical transport switch targeted at the metro core, it also packs a large DCS capability. Polaris claims that with a switching capacity that can scale to as much as 2 Tbps, the OMX platform can replace a traditional DCS in the CO. The OMX not only incorporates wideband and broadband DCS capabilities, but is also what the company calls a super broadband (STS-n) DCS. Consequently, it wouldn't be surprising to see other next-gen transport products add DCS features, because even though the CLEC market has fallen on hard times, traditional carriers will want the benefits of both centralized and distributed DCS capability. -Sam Masud
Database
Integration: OSS Gets Its Act Together
The worst part of using so-called "best of breed" OSS software is making it all work together. Systems integration can account for half or more of total back-office costs, and the results don't always satisfy.
From order management to workflow to network inventory to billing, and all the steps in between carriers must take to provide service, individual software programs store customer data in what the industry often calls "silos." If these islands of information were better bridged, not just provisioning but marketing and other aspects of providing service would improve.
For instance, multiple billing systems accumulated by individual carriers over the years can lead to an imperfect understanding of customers. The different divisions of each carrier become a bit like blind men feeling different parts of an elephant and drawing different conclusions. Projects to merge existing billing systems or better combine their data allow carriers to offer more flexible billing options and attractive sales incentives.
When it comes to provisioning, service providers want to put an end to swivel chair OSS management, in which data received by customer service reps must be reentered in the back-office software that handles service activation, and in software for fault performance, and for billing and so on.
"Overall, providers are looking to enhance flow-through provisioning. Every one of the major providers is in the process of revamping some of their existing processes so they can reduce costs," says Frank Lauria, vice president of business development for ADC's software systems division. "They want to get closer to the customer, but the main emphasis is really on reducing costs."
EAI (enterprise applications integration) software, also known as middleware, has long been available from companies such as WebMethods, Vitrea and IBM and does a good job of helping service providers piece together the OSS puzzle. But a new breed of companies such as Fuego and Valaran have emerged that aim to tie together OSS software more tightly, so that the act of provisioning becomes more of a seamless business process.
The data stored within the varying components of the back office do not get merged within some single, master database; rather, an additional layer of software, whether based on XML, Jini or some other programming language, runs on top of the existing software and helps providers coordinate their provisioning, so that customer service management, workflow, service fulfillment, network inventory, fault monitoring and billing are all in synch.
As the services providers offer increase in number and complexity, the importance of database integration increases, according to Chris Whitely, project manager at market research firm Insight Research. "The challenges will only mount as there is more information available about the network and more information being entered into the network," Whitely says. "As a lot of these new services are being introduced over IP networks, there will be much more information required not only to be stored in databases but to be used in real time." -Ted McKenna
DOCSIS:
A Steady Migration
For cable MSOs, 2002 could be the defining year when they become the ILECs' strongest competitors. And as DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) moves into 1.1 and 2.0, best-effort data service is just one element that will be layered on top of other dynamic services. DOCSIS 1.1 and the oncoming DOCSIS 2.0 standard will enable MSOs to reach even greater heights.
DOCSIS 1.1 provides hooks for dynamic QoS, key to the delivery of packet voice, by establishing digital tiers. When combined with CableLabs' PacketCable, MSOs can provide packet telephony and multimedia services as defined through PacketCable's NCS protocol. Currently, Arris and Cisco have gained 1.1 certification from CableLabs, followed by cable modem vendors Ambit, Arris, Ericsson, Scientific Atlanta and Tellabs. All this innovation with next-gen engineering in the CMTS space has inspired next-gen voice vendors such as Syndeo, CedarPoint, ComMATCH and Gallery IP Telephony to target the cable space, and also existing telecom vendors like Juniper, which acquired Pacific Broadband in December.
MSOs are beginning their DOCSIS 1.1 migrations. Cox Communications finalized its vendor selections in ADC's Cuda 12000 and Motorola's BSR platforms and began its high-speed metro backbone buildout using Cisco and RiverStone routers. Comcast and Charter have been evaluating various CMTS and softswitch platforms. Time Warner has been trialing with ADC VoIP/DOCSIS in Maine. AT&T's impending merger with Comcast will create the largest cable MSO player with significant strength in voice telephony and video on demand.
But regional MSOs such as WideOpenWest, Altrio and Grande Communications are eyeing DOCSIS 1.1 and PacketCable as well. Altrio, which offers primary line voice and video on demand, plans to begin its 1.1 migration within the year via Arris. Prior to its merger with Arris, Cadant's C4 CMTS Layer 3 switch/router had been selected for DOCSIS 1.1 deployments in Lawrence, Kan.-based Sunflower Broadband and Alaska-based GCI, which will utilize the platform for enhanced feature sets including IP telephony.
In August, with an eye on the future, CableLabs set the advanced PHY layers for DOCSIS 2.0, a combination of S-CDMA and A-TDMA. Designed to be backward compatible with DOCSIS 1.0 and 1.1 network equipment, DOCSIS 2.0 will enable MSOs to run higher-order modulation schemes reliably in the upstream 16 QAM over a 6-MHz channel. Until now, CMTS vendors were limited to QPSK. And since many may not be ready for both elements, MSOs can use either in their existing plant.
Leading the charge in developing DOCSIS 2.0-based products are Juniper and Terayon, both of which developed DOCSIS 2.0-compliant CMTSs. Prior to being acquired by Juniper, Pacific Broadband was developing ASICs and its CMTS Kodiak. As a means to promote DOCSIS 2.0 PHY layer implementations, Terayon launched a separate semiconductor arm called iMedia Semiconductor and announced its BW3000, a CMTS solution that utilizes both DOCSIS 2.0 advanced PHY layers: A-TDMA and S-CDMA. Still, other vendors includ-ing ADC, Arris, Cisco, Com21 and Motorola have incorporated software upgradeable paths directly into their CMTS for DOCSIS 2.0. -Sean Buckley
MPLS
VPNs: Transport Agnostic
If the nirvana of all services over IP comes to pass, then certainly MPLS technology will be a key enabler. Initially viewed as a mechanism for bringing some level of traffic engineering to IP networks, the buzz today is about how MPLS can be used by carriers to provide Layer 2 and Layer 3 VPNs-and it's an even bet that both will be equally successful in the years ahead.
Much of the impetus for Layer 2 VPNs is aimed at addressing the growing demand for frame relay services. But whereas frame relay PVCs (permanent virtual circuits) may be suitable for a customer with a relatively static traffic pattern, MPLS is able to extend a VPN more easily to include other members that need to be part of the group. But a broader value of MPLS lies in its ability to transport just about any kind of Layer 2 protocol (e.g., frame relay, ATM, POS, Ethernet) across an MPLS backbone. While there is no standard yet for supporting Layer 2 services over MPLS, what is referred to as the Martini Draft (named for Luca Martini of Level 3 Communications) appears to have the most momentum with equipment vendors and within the IETF. Still, it's probably too early to expect any kind of multivendor interoperability for Layer 2 VPNs. Strictly speaking, while MPLS-supported Layer 2 VPNs restrict the end points to using the same Layer 2 protocol, equipment vendors from Cisco to a start-up router vendor such as Laurel Networks provide, or plan to provide, for the interworking of different Layer 2 technologies across an MPLS network.
Since much of the traffic on frame relay and ATM networks is IP, Layer 3 VPNs might rightly deserve the label of being an IP bigot's dream for making ATM a distant memory. After all, who needs anything else if IP services can be delivered securely over an MPLS-based IP network with QoS? Layer 3 VPNs, or more correctly BGP MPLS VPNs, are spelled out in the IETF's RFC 2547. Again, as with frame relay-based VPNs, IPsec is the rival technology to MPLS Layer 3 VPNs for enterprise customers. But as with frame relay, IPsec constrains a user's flexibility about where IPsec tunnels are terminated. Here too, vendors such as Cisco are rising to the challenge by enabling IPsec to be integrated with an MPLS backbone. There's little doubt that expectations for MPLS Layer 2 and 3 VPNs are high with router vendors, because they see it as a solution for carriers to support both IP and Layer 2 services securely via a common MPLS-based backbone. -Sam Masud
IP
Storage: Coming Attraction
IP networking is so widespread that network operators are eager to use it for storage, too. The technology is familiar to many engineers, so labor costs associated with it are lower than the more specialized Fibre Channel storage networking used by most businesses today. Plus, businesses could simplify a bit by running just one type of network, instead of one for general networking and one for storage.
"People can leverage this mature infrastructure that IP's got out there," says Paul Ross, EMC's director of network storage marketing. "Ethernet's been around a long time, therefore it's a commodity, so it's cost effective. Users wouldn't need all these specialized types of equipment, so they'd get cheaper management costs and equipment costs."
In addition, a single Fibre Channel link supports transmission over no more than 10 km, while IP networks travel much farther. Because of its ubiquity, though, expect Fibre Channel to coexist with IP storage for some years to come.
At the moment, IP storage proponents are at work on three different protocols. The most popular seems to be iSCSI, which also has the catchiest name (pronounced "eye-scuzzy"). Whereas Fibre Channel storage technology runs data encapsulated in the SCSI (small computer system interface) standard over Fibre Channel lines, iSCSI runs SCSI inside TCP/IP, typically over an Ethernet network. Vendors including McData, Adaptec, Agilent and IBM recently tested iSCSI products at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Laboratory.
But because so many businesses use Fibre Channel and will likely continue to do so for some time to come-if only because the technology gets the job done and is already paid for-storage vendors aim to provide IP storage products that let customers continue to use their Fibre Channel technology. So, the IP storage protocols FCIP (Fibre Channel over IP) and iFCP (Internet Fibre Channel Protocol) support the use of both IP storage and Fibre Channel storage in tandem.
FCIP simply runs Fibre Channel over IP so that, among other things, businesses can connect remote storage area networks over an optical IP MAN or WAN. "FCIP enables real-world solutions for companies seeking to expand their storage network infrastructures over longer distances, while protecting their investments in Fibre Channel SANs and IP-based WANs," says Marc Oswald, chairman of the Storage Networking Industry Association's IP Storage Forum FCIP Group.
Meanwhile, iFCP aims to use IP not just to connect SANs, but to interconnect the various Fibre Channel devices that make up SANs, from host bus adapters to hubs to switches and more.
Because businesses are demanding flexible storage solutions that not only help them move onto IP storage but also capitalize on their investment in Fibre Channel, many of today's storage players are covering their bets by working on multiple products, particularly those based on either the iSCSI or FCIP protocols.
EMC's Ross says the race between IP storage networking and Fibre Channel is a bit like the old videocassette player wars between VHS and Betamax. Ultimately, the better, cheaper, faster product wins. But because both technologies continue to develop, the eventual winner might end up being both. -Ted McKenna
Space/Time
Wireless: Diversifying the Link
Like many of our 10 Hottest, space/time wireless and its two dominant techniques (i.e., MIMO and adaptive beamforming) are certainly not new, but their applications are. Emerging from the Cold War battleground, where they were used for jamming signals, they continue to gain ground in the mobile and fixed broadband wireless space.
Adaptive beamforming uses multiple antennas at the base station to concentrate energy into narrowly focused beams that propogate more efficiently for a more robust link and tighter frequency reuse. Beamforming is used by a number of new and established vendors, including BeamReach, Navini, ArrayComm, Metawave, Wireless Online, Nortel Networks and e-Tenna.
Nortel recently conducted trials for its CDMA-based AABS (Adaptive Antenna Beam Selection) solution with Sprint PCS. Metawave's SpotLight products use sector adaptive beamforming for load balancing and a solution for frequency combining. Wireless Online provides multibeam arrays and adaptive processing. E-tenna claims that its FlexScan Phased array antenna solution is a self-aligning antenna for broadband wireless. It plans to marry its Flexscan product with its base station to provide electronic beam control for PCS and cellular base stations.
ArrayComm achieves beamforming from the base station with TDD, which enables the uplink and downlink to reside on one frequency. Similarly, BeamReach and Navini Networks use beamforming with TDD. Navini's broadband system, utilizing S-CDMA and TDD, has been in trials with T-Speed Broadband, a Texas-based provider. BeamReach, which enters field trials this year with Verizon, complements its use of adaptive beamforming with null steering, OFDM and frequency diversity.
While the application may be new, MIMO has a long history. First proposed by Marconi in 1908 to avoid fading, MIMO employs multiple transmit and receive antennas. In broadband wireless, MIMO players include Raze Technologies and Iospan Wireless. Iospan's MIMO-OFDM-based AirBurst system, the subject of recent field tests in San Jose, is an FDD-based system to be deployed in networks and licensed to major OEMs. Iospan's CTO is Agrosaymi Paulraj, who spearheaded research on MIMO solutions and non- line-of-sight channel models at Stanford University in 1993. Raze Technologies' SkyFire has a MIMO interface with a beamforming controller upgrade option.
Significant movement is occurring in the IEEE's 802.16 sub-11-GHz working group, which completed a letter ballot in January and is shooting for ratification in either Q2 or Q3. One of the caveats about MIMO is that beamforming and OFDM are seen as potential lead-ins to 4G wireless. So far, Lucent BLAST (Bell-Labs Layered Space Time) technology has led the charge for MIMO in mobile with an integrated evolution of its Flexent/Intelligent antenna solution.
In the end, a successful wireless system will integrate what the IEEE calls six degrees of freedom: adaptive modulation, frequency, time/ARQ, adaptive error correction, space/antenna diversity and advanced beamforming antennas, and polarization. "Neither MIMO nor beamforming are panaceas," said Paul Struhsaker, CTO and senior VP of engineering for Raze Technologies. "Advanced antenna technologies are one of those degrees of freedom I am using on top of the others, but it's only one part of an arsenal of things. You have to use all the degrees of freedom to optimize the paths." -Sean Buckley
Ethernet
in the First Mile: Broadband at LAN Speed
From its formative days at Xerox PARC, Ethernet has gone through a number of migrations. Emerging as an enterprise LAN giant, the technology has migrated in recent years into the metro. In its latest incarnation, Ethernet is being considered as a broadband access mechanism.
In December 2000, the IEEE 802.3 formed the Ethernet in the First Mile Task Force to develop support for three access network topologies and PHY layers: Ethernet over copper (EoVDSL) to deliver 10 Mbps over 750 meters; point-to-point fiber over one fiber at 1000 Mbps up to 10 km; and point to multipoint fiber (EPON) for 1000 Mbps up to 10 km. In addition, the task force will define OAM&P (operations, administration, maintenance and provisioning) with remote failure indication, remote loopback and link monitoring. Subsequently, the Ethernet in the First Mile group will contribute technical resources, promote industry awareness and establish and demonstrate vendor interoperability.
On the existing copper side, Charles Industries, Paradyne, Extreme Networks and silicon developer Ikanos are creating products that utilize existing copper pairs to deliver service to high-rises and other infrastructures. Charles Industries' High Speed Voice and Data link provides the ability to offer channelized VoDSL and EFM all in one box with a 10BaseT connection at the subscriber and a 100BaseT connection at the CO. Since Ethernet never had to deal with copper loops, the EoVDSL group is looking at how the MAC interface will control data rates and is considering a symmetrical bandwidth VDSL-based PHY layer implementation.
Influenced by the pioneering work of the BPON/FSAN ATM-based PONs, EPON (Ethernet PON) is led by new kids such as Salira, Alloptic, WorldWidePackets and established players like Nokia Broadband. Nokia's D500 DSLAM has a migratory ATM-to-EPON path. Quantum Bridge recently announced support for EPON. Salira launched its EPON architecture, consisting of Access Operating System, a software-based element bridging the TDM and packet worlds with dynamic QoS and traffic classification.
Optical Ethernet is being led by Atrica, Cisco, Nortel and newcomer Internet Photonics. Internet Photonics, a spinoff of Bell Labs, claims to deliver transport layer Ethernet service with SONET-like quality. Already in lab trials with AFN Communications, the company's plan is to target traditional providers and cable MSOs. But even others, such as Occam Networks, have developed Ethernet Protection Switch-ing for 50-msec protection on voice and data services.
For the most part, EFM-related deployments have been greenfield. Grant Public Utility is employing Cisco's Catalyst 4000 and WorldWidePackets solutions over existing fiber used between substations. Central Texas Technologies has deployed Alloptic's GEAR (Gigabit Ethernet Access Routers) to provide FTTH and FTTB to CTT's 4000-acre development. Similarly, cable overbuilder WideOpenWest is deploying an Ethernet solution from SwitchPoint, and Grande Communications, which has a combined copper and HFC-based network, has deployed Marconi's deep fiber-to-the-curb PON.
However, EFM is not just a greenfield operator's game: Incumbents such as NTT, BellSouth, SBC and Telstra Saturn are becoming savvy. SBC has deployed ATM-based PONs by Paceon and plans to keep the door open to future EFM possibilities. NTT, which has a large metro Ethernet network in Japan with Extreme Networks, is also eyeing EFM.
"Incumbents see Ethernet as a way to incorporate innovation into their networks to lead with other services to get out of the commodity pricing game," said Craig Easley, director of service provider marketing for Extreme Networks. "When we show up, operators get the economic and operational simplicity of using Ethernet, but what they are really interested in is building high availability and scale." -Sean Buckley
Integrated
Optical Transport/Switching: 1+1=1
That start-up Cinta Networks closed shop was due probably more to a soft market than a bad product idea. However, Movaz Networks, another newcomer, seems to have gotten off the ground, given its claim that it has won multimillion dollar contracts in both the United States and the Asia-Pacific markets and that it has completed testing with Genuity. And although Cinta and Movaz might be the pioneers, there are about a half-dozen other vendors at various stages of the product cycle giving validity to the concept of combining optical transport and switching.
The move toward offering a single system that integrates these two functions makes sense because from an operations viewpoint it makes it easier to provision end-to-end wavelength services: The carrier has to manage only one box rather than, for example, an optical transport system from one vendor and optical switches from another. At the same time, vendors of these integrated optical transport switches claim there's a huge capex pay-off, because such platforms remove a layer of transponders, since that function no longer is required on both the transport system and switch. And because transponders provide an optical-to-electrical conversion on a per-channel basis, reducing these conversions represents a substantial savings.
There's little doubt that integrated transport and switching has already proven itself in real networks. The Corvis OS platform has allowed Broadwing to build an all-photonic network. Now, aside from Corvis and Movaz, other vendors are poised to bring integrated platforms to market, with each trying to differentiate itself. For instance, Ceyba, which like the Corvis OS uses an electrical switch fabric, is gearing to offer an all-optical transport-switching system. Similarly PhotonEx, although it has provided few details, is another vendor in the transport-switching space.
But while Ceyba and PhotonEx have targeted the long- or ultralong-haul market, there appears to be at least as many start-ups aiming at the metro/regional market, including Meriton Networks and Movaz. Possibly these companies see a larger market as optical networking noses its way into the metro and also because the nature of connectivity in the metro tends to be dynamic. In this regard it is interesting to note that Sycamore Networks recently announced that it is integrating some of the functionality of its SN 3000 metro transport product with its SN 16000 switch, with similar integration of its SN 10000 long- and ultralong-haul transport system to follow. Not surprisingly, almost all the vendors promising an integrated platform are start-ups, and it remains to be seen whether established vendors will follow this direction or choose to fill out their product portfolios by entering into OEM agreements with these new players. -Sam Masud
Telecom
Portals: Customers Help Themselves
If fast food restaurants do it, so can telecom providers. By allowing customers to serve themselves-in the case of service providers, through Web sites-carriers are able to automate yet one more aspect of the provisioning process.
For some time, residential service providers have allowed customers to view and even pay bills online. Now business customers can change aspects of their service-order up an extra T1, for instance, or an application like Microsoft Exchange, or managed service like security or storage. Whether carriers opt to develop the capability themselves or use third-party software vendors, telecom portals help focus the back-office operations of carriers on their whole reason for being: the customer.
"By and large, OSS systems are internally focused. They have to ensure that the routers, hardware, network elements are lined up for service," says Steven Domenikos, CEO of Telegea. "They have very little or no knowledge of the actual requirements of the user of the service. To provide true subscriber self-service, providers need an application layer that hooks into that OSS layer."
But telecom portals may be used for much more than customer service. Providers increasingly are streamlining their provisioning processes so that, for example, an employee processing orders over the phone does not need to enter the same data multiple times for service activation, workflow, billing and more. As windows into the provider's operations, portals afford customer service reps, salespeople and other employees a common view.
This streamlining of provisioning can mean the service provider must entirely rethink its business process-no small task. "The data required for all of this lives in these different silos. How then does a communications service provider start to break down some of the organizational issues that silo this data?" asks Cygent CTO and vice president of strategic development David Hom. "These are the challenges service providers face in trying to deploy telecom portals."
Telecom portals can also be used in intercarrier dealings-those between incumbent and competitive service providers, for example. Eliminating many of the phone calls and faxes required to hook CLECs up to the ILEC network elements means service to the customer that much faster. Also, Web-based portals can be used to allow customers to monitor the QoS they receive from their providers, thanks to software from vendors such as ViewGate and Visual Networks.
Whether used for tracking SLAs or signing up for services, telecom portals do not yet offer all the capabilities within their potential, but to service providers they are key to achieving the goal of all back-office processes: automation. -Ted McKenna
EOTD:
Location, location, location
Among the several technologies that emerged to meet the FCC mandate for wireless carriers to make handsets locatable for emergency services-the so-called E911 initiative-EOTD (enhanced observed time difference) has surfaced as the technology of choice for GSM networks. The de facto standard in most European and Asian networks, GSM has become a focal point for many U.S. carriers as well. This, combined with continued pressure from the FCC for carriers to supply emergency location data, has produced a flurry of interest in EOTD.
Here's how it works: A software module in each handset connects with three base stations-each equipped with a location-measurement processor-that can serve data to an emergency service dispatch application. The software compares the relative times of arrival of signals transmitted by mobile network transceivers to the handset and to a nearby fixed receiver. With its low handset cost in comparison to A-GPS (assisted-GPS) solutions (currently the favored technology in CDMA networks), EOTD has been tagged for use by Cingular Wireless, VoiceStream and AT&T Wireless as they continue GSM network buildouts.
Cambridge, U.K.-based Cambridge Positioning Systems invented EOTD and is working with Ericsson, Siemens and Nortel to incorporate the technology into wireless equipment. CPS is also helping SingTel build a location-aware network trial from the ground up in Singapore. Nokia and True Position have also developed network location solutions based on EOTD.
In the early 1990s, Peter Duffett-Smith, CPS's co-founder and CTO, measured time-to-distance vectors from FM radio stations and invented a method for making more accurate astronomical measurements with portable telescopes, but it wasn't until 1997 that the mobile phone opportunity became clear.
While some FCC deadlines have lapsed and there is some wrangling about which carriers will be compliant (and when), the FCC has put on enough pressure that the United States is now leading the world in location-aware technology initiatives.
According to CPS CEO Chris Wade, the United States is on the verge of having the infrastructure in place for commercial applications, and in 2002 carriers have begun talking about revenue-making opportunities.
This year some carriers will put compliance higher on their priority lists than others. October 2001 was to be a key deadline in the FCC's E911 plan for U.S. wireless carriers to meet Phase II compliance. In this second phase, the FCC expects all handsets to be locatable within 500 yards and for caller data to be available on-screen for emergency personnel.
Some carriers, such as Sprint and Verizon, have successfully introduced location-aware networks in limited instances, but others have asked for continued reprieves, and it isn't likely the industry will unilaterally meet the extended target of October 2002.
While some analysts have underscored the lack of hard statistical data showing extremely high-accuracy positioning with EOTD, it is capable of locating handsets within 50 meters, well below the FCC's Phase II radius. According to CPS' Wade, tests on a 3G network have provided location within 15 meters. -Jared Bazzy
The Telecommunications® staff can be reached via editorial@telecommagazine.com.