Disclosure - I am a consultant to the company mentioned in the article.
That said, the reason I got inolved with them is because I believe their
technology will have profound affects on the spread of broadband to areas
where wireline companies have declined to build.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8464276/
Wireless tool 'whispers' below the radar
xMax uses busy radio channels to enable broadband Internet services
Reuters
Updated: 5:20 p.m. ET July 4, 2005
AMSTERDAM - A new communications tool that "whispers" on busy radio channels
could enable broadband Internet services for on-the-go wireless devices or
hook-up homes that cannot yet get fast Web access, its inventor said.
xMax, the latest innovation in broadband communications, is a very quiet
radio system that uses radio channels already filled up with noisy pager or
TV signals, said inventor Joe Bobier.
[snip]
The technology could interest a telecoms or Internet operator with no radio
spectrum because it can begin a wireless broadband service with very few
base stations and add more stations and increase density as demand rises.
It is also appealing for rural areas which operators find too costly to
cover with the current third generation mobile phone networks which need
base stations every few miles.
"We're talking about a 400 to 500 percent improvement in range," Bobier
said, adding that this was still much better than Flash-OFDM, also touted as
a rural area broadband system.
XG Technology, the Florida-based company which owns xMax, is in discussions
with several chip makers and equipment makers to build the hardware.
Radio chips for devices should be in the $5-$6 range when built in volume
while base stations will be around $350,000. Those prices are competitive
considering the range covered.
Stuart Schwartz, an electrical engineering professor at Princeton
University, said xMax is not an efficient system to transport data through
the airwaves, "but it is doing it in a benign way. You won't even know it's
there. It's very clever."
[snip]
Other new broadband Internet technologies, such as WiMAX and Flash-OFDM,
need dedicated radio frequency bands. If they are situated in frequency
ranges above 1 Gigahertz, the signal has trouble penetrating buildings and
other obstacles, or travelling over distances longer than a few miles.
"We offer long range as well as high speed," Bobier said.
[snip]
-------------------------------
Cheers,
Charlie Meisch
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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