The latest generation of wireless Internet that will allow people to watch a crystal clear movie or live sporting event on the street or atop a hill is being deployed throughout Hong Kong. The Long Term Evolution (LTE) network will give super high speeds across the city and could mean the end of computers ever needing to be plugged into a wall for a connection to the net.

To create smarter cities and their inhabitants, it is evident that there has to be larger area coverage of enhanced high-bandwidth broadband systems.  IBM’s “Smarter Cities” concept will be facilitated  by the sharing of information and data by new, innovative, reliable and affordable communication systems.  SkyPipes Wireless is such a system, patented in the U.S. and several foreign countries which is preparing for its first full-scale telecom market deployment in 2010.

The global community of individuals, businesses and government agencies is dependent on the Internet for e-mail communication, transaction facilitation, entertainment and data transfer.  More and more users are requiring faster Internet access for an increasing number of applications like IPTV and two-way video communications and collaboration.  These sophisticated applications will demand an order-of-magnitude bandwidth increase for HD television, movie, video and music programming with a “random access – anything at any time” format.  TV will cease to be TV as we have known it and will become a high definition, two-way interactive learning and entertainment medium.  Think of it as “You Tube on steroids.”  The biggest remaining obstacle to achieving this transformation is widely available and affordable high-capacity, last-mile bandwidth connections like SkyPipes.

The big advantages of radio-wave transmission systems would be many including:

·         Higher reliability during storms, fires, earthquakes and other emergencies

·         Less environment damage and material consumption per subscriber than buried cable

·         Wider bandwidth of up to 20 - 40 mbps

·         Access to infinite Internet distributed content at high-definition, wide screen quality

·         Two-way interactive, video communication for distance learning and collaboration

·         Lower costs and potentially lower subscription rates providing wider market access

·         Cost effective way to provide a nationwide broadband system covering 90+% of

populated or highway areas for hundreds of millions of dollars, instead of billions

·         Specialty applications including; rapid deployment post-disaster networks, energy

consumption control, and rural last mile super broadband service delivery

Until now, “broadband” has been defined as 1.5 to 3 megabits per second.  To achieve the above vision it must be redefined as at least 20 megabits per seconds in both directions.  In 2008, 55% of U.S. households were subscribers to broadband services and according to “Broadband Forum” there were over 300 million broadband subscribers worldwide as of first quarter, 2009.  The largest global broadband usage regions were Western Europe with 108 million subscribers, South and East Asia with 99 million and North America with 93.5 million.

In urban areas (smart cities) in the U.S., 92% of subscribers receive their broadband link from buried cable and DSL communication lines.  In suburban areas this percentage drops to 79%. In rural areas where installing and operating buried cable systems is far less economical, they deliver broadband to only 74% of the total subscribers with many prospects not having broadband access.

The SkyPipes radio based, high-bandwidth broadband system will transmit for distances of up to 3 miles to the first node and then be retransmitted through or around obstacles to up to three total nodes.  Each system hub or “Anchor Point” will serve up to 450 subscribers and cover an area of up to 45 sq. miles.  Besides typical telecom and/or TV subscription services, this system can provide dedicated communication channels for local area networks like college campuses, corporate or industrial sites, solar or wind turbine monitoring systems, dedicated communication links for police, fire, government and contractor services in the event of a large disaster anywhere in the world.  Ultimately, the SkyPipes Wireless system will be ideal for transmitting data to and from IBM Analytic Centers from a variety of sources.  For further information please visit www.skypipeswireless.com