[qi:020] With 3G around the corner, and 4G not far behind, the wireless networks are going through some major changes. As more and more folks sign up for these wireless high-speed services, there will be a need for better management of the wireless spectrum. It was something I wrote about when I profiled Hypres, a superconductor company. (This is a theme I intend to follow in the coming weeks and months.)
The same trends are unfolding in the corporate market, as Wi-Fi and other wireless technologies entrench themselves in the corporate campuses. That is one of the reasons why Cisco Systems (CSCO) today said it’s buying Germantown, Md.-based Cognio, one of the leaders in the spectral management sector. The Cognio acquisition will be No. 122 for Cisco and the first one in fiscal year 2008. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Cisco recently released their own unified wireless LAN controller, and Cognio’s technology is supposed to work in tandem with that. Cisco’s Pat Calhoun explains on the company blog why spectrum-related tools are critical to large companies.
Spectrum efficiency is important in xDSL too as a way of squeezing the maximum total bandwidth from a bundle of copper wires, while maintaining reliable connections for the DSL routers. Telcos and equipment vendors have specialised dynamic spectrum management tools that go through the whole network re-optimising it for current conditions (which can include weather).
This is what enables ADSL2+ and VDSL2 to work well and compete somewhat with fibre to the premises.