Business is increasingly becoming a mobile activity, and as a result the wireless networks and services used to support that development are growing in importance. In both the business-to-business and business-to-consumer (B2B and B2C) environments, the availability of more reliable, higher-capacity wireless data networks is one of the keys to expanding the reach of business into the mobile environment. This transformation is occurring in the context of an overall enterprise shift toward all-IP communications. “IP,” or Internet Protocol, describes both the format and the switching technology that drives the core of the Internet. Originally envisioned as a general-purpose data transport, IP has now expanded to support voice and video communications over an integrated IP backbone.
Recognizing these developments, the wireless industry is now aligning itself to take advantage of these trends. The moniker that is used to identify that transition is 4th Generation or 4G, and it is used to describe two primary technologies, WiMAX and Long Term Evolution (LTE). While there are some differences in the implementations, they share a number of key characteristics:
Higher Capacity: WiMAX and LTE will use very similar state-of-the-art radio technologies to deliver several times the transmission capacity of existing 3G wireless services.
Reliability: Using advanced signal encoding and smart antenna technologies, WiMAX and LTE will also deliver a major advance in network reliability, even in the most challenging radio environments, such as densely populated urban environments.
All-IP Communications: Whereas in the past, wireless services were divided along voice and data lines, 4G technologies such as WiMAX and LTE are based on the concept of an all-IP network. This means there exists a single IP pipe that is capable of supporting voice, data and video communications.
For the end user, this transition will mean a new wireless platform that delivers a far wider range of applications with performance and reliability that mimic the desktop experience. Now, rather than settling for a wireless experience with performance that limits the range and utility of applications, wideband voice, high-quality video and lightning-fast downloads will be available to users regardless of whether they are in the office or on the go.
While both WiMAX and LTE promise these capabilities, only WiMAX is available today. With a comprehensive migration plan to evolve from our current 3G infrastructure, Sprint 4G powered by WiMAX is delivering the benefits of 4G to customers in selected markets years ahead of the first LTE rollouts. Because WiMAX networks are already being deployed, users can begin taking advantage of 4G today.
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