White-Fi: What are the
Applications ?
By Akshay Sharma
Research Director
Communications Service Provider
Technology - Gartner
Feb 2012
Opportunities
“White-Fi”, this is a Wi-Fi like system that uses white spaces in the
UHF (Ultra High Frequency) band.
Trends in 3G/4G - WiFi Offload, Hotspot 2.0
- SIPTO, LIPA standards
Can this occur for White-Fi ?
Adoption Drivers – Newer Solutions Needed
- Hotspot2.0 WiFi offload, will soon emerge as a carrier-grade
offload solution  White Fi ?
- WISPs are looking at solutions for better in-building coverage like
Femtocells,  White Fi has better in-building penetration ?
- Telecom Equipment vendors should build combined Femtocell
with WiFi / White Fi capabilities and localized routing to save on
bandwidth for shared content.
- Chipset vendors like Picochip have announced converged gateway
solutions integrating 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi with 21Mbps Release 7
HSPA+, and soon Hotspot2.0 and LTE support will occur. Newer
White Fi chipsets need to occur…
Adoption Needs
- Possibilities around utilizing White Space spectrum in a campus setting for broadband
access,
- Promising data rates exceeding several 100-Mbps.
WISPs:
- Deploy policy-based control of the network including seamless exchange of
authentication certificates for both WiFi and cellular. Plan for Policy Exchange with WiFi
ISPs leveraging peering relationships as needed with White Fi ISPs in the near future
- Plan now for newer WiFi offloading functions in the core such as IMS VCC Applications
Servers, Session Border Controllers with Mobile IP Support, and newer functions
providing traffic shaping and optimal redirection to White Fi in the near future
Telecom equipment vendors:
- Support the ecosystem of WiFi AP functions with White Fi gear
- Support combined Femtocells with WiFi / White Fi AP functions, with Data Session
continuity with Mobile-IP standards.
Adoption Inhibitors
• Competition from WiFi, 4G, 3G Femtocells
• Interference, QoS, and capacity issues
• Complexity and cost to solve interference problems – Geo Location DBs
• Powerful TV broadcasters will continue to fight ‘White Space’ –
especially when Web-TV runs over it
• White spaces only support fixed or semi-mobile users (roaming is not
yet possible). Can be mitigated via Mobile IP standards.
• LTE is on the horizon to allow offload from 3G to Wi-Fi networks.
White Fi with Ads/Billing
Targeted ads,
Demographics,
Location-aware,
Search-aware,
Policy-aware,
Network-aware,
Session-aware,
App-aware,
Content-aware,
Cache-aware,
Context-aware
White-Fi Potential Applications
• Wide area coverage
• Low-power broadband
• Backhaul for WiFi
• Smart Grid, Smart Cities
• Cellular Offloading
• VoIP/Unified Communications
• Vehicular Communications
• Healthcare Communications
• Mesh Networks  Crowd Computing ?
TV Video Spectrum will kill the Cellular Radio Star ?
Thank you
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