Forget 3G, meet 'BiPortable'

As the collective attention of the world's communications industry is distracted by NTT DoCoMo's launch of the first commercial 3G service, the operator's fixed line parent, NTT, is a quietly taking the wraps off a local area access technology, which promises to take the shine off anything that 3G can do - and without the fuss and FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) factor.

The technology, dubbed 'BiPortable' (Broadband IP Platform with Optical and Radio Technical Ability), is a new, personal broadband wireless access service, which uses a hybrid optical fibre and high speed wireless technology and is akin to a wireless LAN in the 5GHz band. In general terms, the BiPortable technology combines many of the aspects of CT2, DECT and PHS (personal handy phone system), but unlike these technologies, it is not constrained by any TDMA roots.

BiPortable combines the optical IP network of NTT with a new wireless access system called 'AWA' (Advanced Wireless Access), a high-speed wireless access technology developed in NTT's own Access Network Service Systems Laboratory and claimed as a world first.

AWA has been developed along lines set down by Japan's own national standards body and is part of the MMAC-PC - Multimedia Mobile Access Communication Systems Promotion Council. Moreover, the technology has received official approval from other telco standards associations, including: ARIB (Association of Radio Industries and Businesses) and ETSI's (European Telecommunications Standards Institute)-BRAN (Broadband Radio Access Networks) standard.

top

BiPortable, originally intended as an indoor only system, attains a high-speed wireless environment maximum speed of a staggering 36Mbps - dramatically outclassing any speeds currently associated with 3G. The AWA system does away with the need for interior wiring and also allows the same terminals to be used seamlessly across the service area - something that GSM and 3G are currently unable to do.

AWA is three times faster than existing 11Mbps wireless LAN systems and, with 36Mbps of broadband bandwidth to play with, its capacity can be dynamically allocated to and from the user's terminal. For example, if video or other bandwidth-intensive data is being sent in one direction, more bandwidth can be allocated to that channel; however, for a video conference or other two-way media requirement, the bandwidth can be set equally in both directions.

Each wireless access point - or base station - covers a radius of 100 metres and can serve as many as 122 concurrent users. While not great, observers do not believe that this will hinder the technology's development. Base stations are likely to be significantly cheaper than their 3G counterparts and, they say, could easily - and inconspicuously - be deployed in important metropolitan areas.

top

Extended roll out

Although the system was first announced in January 2001, it received little acclaim, primarily, because it was only intended to be used by a small domestic market in one area of eastern Japan. However, NTT East says the company is now able to offer the BiPortable service on a more widespread basis because the trial service was "a resounding success".

As a result, BiPortable will now be set up in new service areas covering office space, homes and also in popular urban spots around Tokyo's central Shibuya station, the heart of the city's commerce and tourist district. Furthermore, NTT has set aside an area around the station where people can visit and experiment with BiPortable, in order to accumulate data for the company's commercialisation plans.

"The goal is to enable stress-free access to rich data-intensive content," says an NTT spokesperson. The company is currently installing content servers, authentication servers and network management functions to achieve what NTT says will be "an end-to-end broadband communications infrastructure right up to the user terminals".

NTT is thought to be rolling out the technology now in preparation for next year's World Cup Football Finals, which are being jointly hosted by Japan and Korea. Certainly, there could be few better showcases to demonstrate the functionality than this and success there would virtually guarantee its future.

Even if, by the end of next summer, Japan has failed to lift the Football World Cup, there can be little doubt that in the current field of broadband wireless communications, the country appears head and shoulders above the competition.

top