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Pappalardo, Denise

September 12, 2003

Originally Published:20030818.

Nextel is teaming with RadioFrame Networks to offer a fully managed, in-building wireless LAN service.

The planned offering, Integrated iDEN/WLAN, lets business users establish not only a Wi-Fi network throughout their building or campus, but also lets them improve their Nextel service coverage in the same area.

While Nextel's competitors, including Sprint PCS and T-Mobile have been touting public Wi-Fi offerings, Nextel's first foray into Wi-Fi is focused exclusively on private network support.

T-Mobile probably has been one of the most active Wi-Fi supporters, having built out 2,300 public hot spots since last year. Sprint PCS more recently jumped into the Wi-Fi arena. Last month the company announced that it's building 2,100 public wireless hot spots to offer wireless service customers access to the Internet and their corporate networks while at airports, convention centers and hotels across the country.

"The Wi-Fi service market is still in its early stages," says Sarah Kim, an analyst at The Yankee Group. Nextel is approaching the market from a private-service approach, which might be better suited for its existing customer base, she says. Nextel has a significant number of users in the healthcare and construction markets, which both seem like logical markets for users of a WLAN service that also increases voice service support, Kim adds.

Nextel's private Wi-Fi service includes network consultation and design with representatives from Nextel's Custom Network Solutions division. Once the network design is established, Nextel deploys RadioFrame Units that connect directly to existing Category-5 LAN cabling, which many customers already have installed. This lets a customer leverage existing infrastructure while upgrading to a more flexible Wi-Fi network, says Ernie Cormier, vice president of business solutions at Nextel.

Standard wire-line LAN support also lets customers link Wi-Fi users to existing network servers and Internet access connectivity points.

The RadioFrame Units can support up to seven RadioBlades, which are transceivers in the form of fat cards, 4 inches long by 3 inches wide and about a half-inch thick. While RadioFrame offers several types of RadioBlades, including those that support 3G wireless technologies such as GSM, Nextel is deploying 802.11b and iDEN wireless network transceiver RadioBlades.

The RadioFrame Units act as Wi-Fi access points to the user's private WLAN network and an access point to Nextel's public wireless network. Nextel's national mobile wireless network is based on Motorola's iDEN technology.

"These customer iDEN networks become an extension of Nextel's macro network," Cormier says. Any Nextel mobile user entering an Integrated iDEN/WLAN building or campus actually might be accessing the wireless carrier's public network through a RadioFrame Unit.

The idea is to let users increase their Nextel coverage throughout their campus to support more reliable service, Cormier says.

Nextel's Custom Network Solutions division sets up and manages these WLAN networks for customers. Cormier says Nextel decided to work with RadioFrame because the company's products let users easily upgrade to the latest 802.11 standards as they emerge. Upgrading to 802.11g, for example, is as easy as pulling out an 802.11b RadioBlade and replacing it with an 802.11g RadioBlade, he says. "This allows users to future-proof their networks," he says.

RadioFrame is the first 802.11 vendor with which Nextel has teamed. While it is focusing on private Wi-Fi network support initially, Cornier says the company has not ruled out public Wi-Fi service support in the future. The carrier would not elaborate on public Wi-Fi service plans.

Nextel says it has pilot customers testing the service today. The carrier expects the service will be available by the end of September, but it's looking at a "controlled introduction," Cormier says. "We aren't looking to sign up 100 customers as soon as we launch."

Because most of the networks are customized, Cormier says it's difficult for Nextel to offer pricing information. But service cost is based on several factors, including the public voice and data service packages a user purchases, the number of RadioFrame Units deployed and the types of data applications supported.

(C) 2003 Network World. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved

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