Ken Wieland, editor of the excellent WiMAX Vision magazine, says in WiMAX.com that WiMAX Profile C is Not a Slam Dunk. Barry West, who now heads up the international interests of Clearwire, said one of his priorities in the coming months was to persuade operators to adopt an open approach to WiMAX hardware.
Profile C, as defined by the Wimax forum Network Working Group (archive), stipulates an open and non-proprietary interface standard between basestations (BTS) and the internet gateway (ASN Gateway). Profile C operators are not tied into one vendor for BTS and ASN Gateway equipment.
The WiMAX Forum hopes to break the classic 2G/3G closed architecture model and standardize on Profile C. That enables operators to deploy radio and network equipment from different vendors based on a single “R6″ interface. The “open” approach allows easier handoff between different WiMAX service providers who can use gear from different vendors.
Despite the apparent advantages of Profile C, some ‘turnkey’ vendors are still successfully tempting operators with two non-open approaches between the BTS and ASN Gateway: Profile A and Profile B. Both Profiles can create vendor lock-ins.
- Profile A: WiMAX-defined standard interface between ASN gateway and base station, with more radio resource control functions in the ASN gateway. Alcatel-Lucent is an advocate of Profile A, which must have the same supplier for both the BTS and the ASN Gateway.
- Profile B: No defined interface between ASN gateway and base station. WiMAX suppliers like Cisco started out with profile B (through its acquisition of Navini Networks), but is now shifting to Profile C.
- Profile C: WiMAX-defined standard interface between ASN gateway and base station. It has more radio resource functions in the base station and a focus on the air interface. Alvarion supports Profile C and continues to promote OPEN WiMAX approach (pdf) in their open WiMAX architecture.
Some companies (like Motorola), are said to have hardware pieces that are difficult to change to an “open”, Profile C. For some operators, if the price and performance is right, Profile A or B can be a reasonable (if not ideal) solution, despite the vendor lockdown.
Cisco believes that Profile C is the best choice, according to WiMAX.com. That’s because it centralizes the decision-making for call handoffs between different BTSs. “Where handoff is not required, Profile B can be adequate,” says Paul Sergeant, Mobile WiMAX Solutions Manager at Cisco. “Profile C still has some advantages, even in this case – such as QoS – but it may not justify the extra cost.”
WiMAX is a data-centric, IP-based broadband wireless technology that provides low-cost, multi-megabit speed for bandwidth-intensive applications. It is based on the IEEE 802.16e standard. The Open Patent Alliance is a WiMAX patent pool to help participating companies obtain access to patent licenses at predictable costs and may further accellerate the “open” architecure of broadband wireless networks. The group was formed in June 2008 by members of the WiMAX ecosystem.
Perhaps “open” systems, enabling interoperability between different vendors and service providers, should be given preference in stimulus funding.
