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WiMAX: The Educational Broadband Services Solution

Mind Commerce Publishing
January 1, 2009
84 Pages - SKU: CCJQ2088219

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Countries covered: United States

The Obama administration will spend billions of dollars installing new or upgrading existing wireless broadband services for public schools. These provisions are in stark contrast to Federal Communications Commission regulations, which will seize school WiMAX (2.5 GHz Educational Broadband Services) licenses where school districts do not comply with build out requirements for their licenses.

This paper will make the case for WiMAX as the most effective wireless broadband technology for educational services enabling school districts to keep their 2.5 GHz licenses. In a time of economic downturn in the private sector, industry players would be well advised to "follow the money" into major public sector initiatives related to broadband internet services in education.

Major Points in Publication:

Educational Broadband Services licenses (2.5 GHz) will be forfeited by school districts and other license holders that do not build out networks by May 01, 2011
School districts holding those licenses are not protected by subletting to large commercial operators (Sprint, Clear, etc)
Understanding the education technology market (its not the same as enterprise or mobile)
Why WiMAX is the best technology for this application
Why WiMAX is the best complement to a one-to-one computing program
The "3 A's: Access, Applications and Affordability" of WiMAX in Education
Breakthroughs in video over WiMAX: HDTV on 1 Mbps WiMAX
"The 5% Solution": one-to-one computing and WiMAX for 5% of a school district's annual per-student allocation

Target Audience

WiMAX vendors: this will prove to be a very lucrative niche market for those willing to focus on it and adjust their sales and marketing strategy accordingly

Laptop vendors: They will sell many more laptops more quickly if the laptops can be networked to the school intranet or Internet via a low-cost WiMAX network.

Computer chip vendors: 45 million public school students using WiMAX-enabled laptops will sell a lot of chips.

Network devices vendors: WiMAX deployments to schools will sell a lot of routers, servers and other devices.

Carriers: new technologies such as WiMAX may disrupt their traditional business and how to "turn the retreat into a parade"

Educators: How can the instructional yield from one-to-one computing be multiplied using WiMAX?

School administrators: What is WiMAX and why is it so important to instruction?

State/Federal/School finance professionals: provides strategies in paying for multi-million dollar WiMAX deployments

WiMAX: The Educational Broadband Services Solution: Introduction: Technology to the Kid via WiMAX; Technology to the kid AND the classroom; One-to-One Computing and Federally-mandated Technology Literacy; The School Intranet: The Value Statement for Networked One-to-One Computing; Converging One-to-One Computing and School Networks; Extending the School Network via Wireless; Technology to the Kid: At school or at home; Market Drivers for the WiMAX-enabled One-to-One Laptop; Government mandates; Private vs. public networks; The 3 A's of WiMAX-enabled One-to-One Computing; Access; Why WiMAX?; Objections to WiMAX; WiMAX is not Wi-Fi; WiMAX Components; Relationship of WiMAX Range and Throughput for School Applications; Base Station and Student Density; Fixed vs. Mobile WiMAX; Why backhaul is important; Wireless Backhaul Considerations; Comparisons with Fiber; Spectrum Considerations; Access Conclusion; Affordability; WiMAX is inexpensive relative to other technologies; What does a one-to-one WiMAX-enabled laptop program cost?; Case Study: School District of Palm Beach County, Florida; Savings on Existing Expenditures; Telecom and Textbooks (or is that "flexbooks"?; Other Instruction-Related Expenses; School assets; Government mandates-can a school district afford to NOT comply?; Conclusion; Applications; Literacy; Numeracy; Writing; Who benefits?; Parents; Teachers; Hall Monitors and Deans of Students; Administrators; Technical Applications; Video; Distance Learning via Video Conferencing; HD at 1 Mbps?: HD recording and streaming live anywhere, any time; Architecture; Bandwidth; Standards; Figure 21 Field-testing for WiMAX and HD camera with laptop-sized encoder; Cameras; Audio Factors; Echo Cancellation; The Audio Secret Sauce: Compression Algorithms and "wideband"; Textbooks; Voice; Selling to school districts; Gauging the market; Revenue Potential; Extrapolating by student head count; Estimates based on Cahners Report; Who should do this?; Schools "roll your own"; Carriers; Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs); WiMAX Service Providers; How to sell to schools; Long sales cycles; Facilitate across departments; Need to compete in RFI/RFQ/RFP processes; Need to partner with other vendors; Establish marketing intelligence database; Aggregate, aggregate, aggregate; Find the money: grants, etc; Get a success story, even if you have to give it away!; Conclusion and Recommendations; Recommendations; Schools and Instructional Institutions; Network Operators and Service Providers; Equipment Suppliers and Systems Integrators
List of Figures: Figure 1 Are networked student laptops inevitable?; Figure 2 Most US schools have computer labs with desktop computers networked to the school's intranet content and applications; Figure 3 Access to a school computer lab is limited geographically; Figure 4 School connectivity for a majority of schools. For many kids, technology ends at the school house; Figure 5 Campus-wide wireless network access with one-to-one laptop programs extends network access campus-wide; Figure 6 WiMAX extends the school intranet content and applications to the student home; Figure 7 A school district-wide WiMAX network connects the student to the school's intranet content and applications; Figure 8 The 3 elements that comprise a telecommunications network: Access, switching and transport (backhaul); Figure 9 Wi-Fi serves a coffee shop or home. WiMAX serves a city; Figure 10 WiMAX nomenclature: base station and subscriber station; Figure 11 WiMAX base station and antenna combinations; Figure 12 WiMAX access or subscriber devices; Figure 13 Line of sight offers better range and throughput than non line of sight; Figure 14 Link budget illustrated; Figure 15 On campus WiMAX delivers a throughput of multiple megabits per second..; Figure 16 A WiMAX-enabled laptop can enjoy a range of one mile with throughput equal to DSL. WiMAX extends student access to the school's intranet content and applications to the student's home; Figure 17 Note populated areas of Palm Beach County, Florida (where the students live) are concentrated on the coast. Compare with figure below for school locations and WiMAX coverage; Figure 18 Placing a WiMAX base station ate each of Palm Beach County Schools 172 schools covers a majority of the populated area of Palm Beach County; Figure 19 Backhaul supports WiMAX base stations, which in turn support student at home internet access; Figure 20 Cover Palm Beach County, Florida at a cost of $7 million for 170,000 students = $41 per student in one-time CAPEX or lease for $1/month/student on a 48 month lease or 5% of school district's per student annual allocation; Figure 21 Field-testing for WiMAX and HD camera with laptop-sized encoder; Figure 22 Satellite imagery of the US at night reveals concentration of population more easily served by WiMAX
List of Tables: Table 1 The progression to "one-to-one" computing; Table 2 Comparison of Wi-Fi and WiMAX for school district use; Table 3 Comparison of Wi-Fi and WiMAX; Table 4 Comparison fixed vs. mobile WiMAX; Table 5 Comparisons of wireless backhaul with other options; Table 6 Comparison of wireless vs. fiber optic cable as backhaul solution; Table 7 School WiMAX-related spectrum; Table 8 Comparisons of the costs for technologies for residential internet access; Table 9 Comparisons for monthly internet/intranet access accounts for public school students plus laptop lease as a percentage of annual allocation per student; Table 10 School district operations savings on telecommunications, textbooks, manpower and insurance for WiMAX network; Table 11 Cost savings related to instruction using WiMAX networks; Table 12 Assets a school district may have that a telephone company would have to buy; Table 13 Federal mandates on education where WiMAX-enabled laptops provide a solution

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WiMAX: The Educational Broadband Services Solution

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