[IP] Research forum leader takes on wireless challenge
Delivered-To: dfarber+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 22:46:31 -0800
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Posted on Mon, Dec. 15, 2003
Research forum leader takes on wireless challenge
HE SEEKS AGREEMENT ON THE FUTURE OF 4G
By Jon Fortt
Mercury News
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/7495085.htm>
Mikko Uusitalo resembles a Finnish Clark Kent with his thin-rimmed oval
glasses, buttoned-up white shirt and boyishly cleanshaven face. It may be a
good thing, too; if Uusitalo is to succeed at his mission, he could use
some super-human luck.
As chairman of the Wireless World Research Forum, Uusitalo's task is
getting dozens of self-interested manufacturers, service providers and
governments across the globe to agree on a vision for the nuts and bolts of
tomorrow's cell phone networks. This technology, often called
fourth-generation or 4G wireless, probably won't arrive for 10 more years.
When 4G does arrive, it could operate at 100 megabits a second -- nearly 10
times faster than most of the wireless hot spots that laptop users are
gushing about today.
Uusitalo's mission offers a glimpse at the ways the global wireless
business can imitate politics. The U.S. approach has been to let companies
and technologies joust for survival, expecting that the best will prevail.
The European approach, which Uusitalo is following, has been to gather
everyone around the table and try to find a single solution. Once there is
a standard, battle begins.
Bringing the WWRF's European approach to the world stage will be a
challenge -- and it's part of the reason why Uusitalo visited Silicon
Valley this month to gather support for his eclectic group. Its 150 members
include the Department of Trade and Industry in the United Kingdom, the
Institute for Infocomm Research in Singapore, Samsung in South Korea and
Intel in the United States.
``It would be a win-win situation for all if the competition for the right
approach was made at an earlier stage -- that would be a major change,''
said Uusitalo, whose day job is manager of research cooperation for cell
phone giant Nokia's research center. ``This has some aspects of what you
might call gentleman's war.''
The goal, in part, is to avoid a repeat of the situation in the United
States where there are three major incompatible cell phone networks, CDMA,
GSM and iDEN, fighting for survival. In Europe there is one: GSM.
Still, the global climate right now can be harsh toward diplomats.
``It's very hard to reach consensus on much of anything right now because
we seem to have a clash of ideas and ideals,'' said Nancy Snow, a
communications professor at California State University-Fullerton. ``It
affects the business sector; it affects politics.''
Not everyone thinks the European early-consensus approach is better than
gloves-off competition from the start.
There are advantages to both approaches: The largest U.S. carrier, Verizon,
maintains a CDMA network different from the dominant global standard, and
the company is pushing ahead with an upgrade called 1x EVDO that will offer
data speeds faster than what Europe has to offer. On the other hand,
consumers in Europe have a choice of more advanced cell phone technologies,
and can switch more easily between wireless providers.
Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, is among
those who question the necessity of the united approach. During a visit to
the Mercury News, he pointed out that while European countries all operate
on the same type of GSM/GPRS network, the monolithic approach hasn't helped
them bring the faster 3G EDGE wireless networks into being.
``They destroyed 3G for themselves, for the most part,'' Powell said. Plus,
he suggested, future cell phone chips will enable phones that operate on
any global network. ``If your phone has a chip in it that can pick any
spectrum, why do you care what they pick? You've swung the intelligence to
the handset, and the handset makes those decisions for you.''
Uusitalo wants to have basic 4G blueprints hashed out by 2007, when his
group is scheduled to present a plan to the International
Telecommunications Union, a United Nations agency that designates certain
bands of frequencies for use in regions across the globe. His task, for
now, is to grow his coalition and keep most people feeling like harmonious
shepherds, not rebellious cowboys.
That could require a man of steel, but Uusitalo does like a challenge.
Rather than use the bridge and drive to work every day in his native
Finland -- he lives across a lake from his Nokia office -- during the warm
season he pulls out a kayak and paddles himself to work for 20 minutes.
``Certainly there will be some cowboys,'' Uusitalo allows. ``This is a free
world. If you want to be a cowboy, that's good for you. Be a cowboy.''
Contact Jon Fortt at jfortt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or (408) 278-3489.
Archives at: <http://Wireless.Com/Dewayne-Net>
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>
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