WiMAX: The Educational Broadband Services Solution
This paper makes 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.
Contents
WiMAX: The Educational Broadband Services SolutionIntroduction: 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 Skip to top