Background
Soma Networks has announced no WiMax compatible gear whatsoever. However, the company seems to think that for it, adding support for WiMax will be uniquely easy for it to do. Soma considers the gear aspect of fielding a successful WiMax product for its customer to be the easy part.
Before trying to explain that assertion we should first cover some background on the company.
San Francisco based Soma launched in 1998. The company felt that wireless technology was the only facilities based option that could compete with digital subscriber line (DSL) and cable systems.
Soma's products have always been designed for carriers using licensed bands. It offers gear that operates in the 1.9 GHz, 2.3 GHz, 2.6 GHz and the international 3.5 GHz standard. The vast majority of its sales are outside the US---with its best seller, somewhat surprisingly, being in the 2.6 GHz range internationally. Within the US incumbent operating carriers (IOC)s are common customers.
Soma feels it has always been a software development firm rather than a pure hardware vendor. From its inception the company decided to design wireless equipment with an eye toward a systems view.
"Standards are good if it they fit the business case," said Greg Caltabiano, chief operating officer for Soma. "We feel we've always built ahead of the standard---while designing independently of the air interface."
"We want to be able to drop in any chip," Caltabiano added.
Soma believes this separation of air interface (or physical layer) from its core technology provides unique strengths.
A Different Approach
On the surface Soma would appear to be a company that could not easily shift to a WiMax product line. Much like other firms delivering 3G products, Soma currently utilizes a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) technology commonly used in cellular voice/data delivery.
However, Caltabiano explained that the company's deliberate choice to separate the air interface from its core technology actually makes it very easy for Soma to shift to WiMax compatible standards at any time.
Soma maintains that other considerations beyond the air interface usually determine its customers success or failure. Soma believes that the business case of deploying broadband wireless, particularly fixed wireless requires a more robust service delivery platform that can garner increased average revenue per user (ARPU) by allowing the easy delivery of converged or integrated services. This aspect in Soma's view outweighs relative merits between air interface technologies for the customer.
Soma is quick to add however, that when it feels WiMax is positioned for its customer base that it could very quickly offer compatible gear.
Soma's product lines, like virtually all modern second generation licensed band gear, claims a non line of sight (NLOS) capability reducing truck rolls to a minimum. The antenna element utilizes an electronic steering technique (basically a multi diversity approach). The radio is of course a wideband CDMA technology. However, this is only a small part of its function. The company does recognize the innate economic value of a broadly developed standard in reducing costs---whether that be WiMax or others. However for it, the current business case to its customers takes precedence.
Convergence and Integration
Soma's flagship radio product is actually a gateway. Soma's gateways natively support Ethernet as well as analog telephone systems. It hosts a session initiation protocol (SIP) client that allows the carrier to provision its customers to its own soft switch or to third party voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) providers such as Vonage or Nuvio with a standard analog phone. It also supports faxing through the same interface as well as modem dial service. It supports multiple voice lines.
Interestingly Soma's radios can be pre-ordered and configured as home gateways with Wi-Fi cards built in for carriers wishing to vend this service. The system supports advanced IP traffic and services such as traffic shaping, voice mail, caller ID, call forwarding and more. This services add to a carrier's ability to garner higher ARPUs which Soma believes is a core element of what carriers really want.
"We believe our gateway product offers unparalleled business case advantages to our customers," said Caltabiano. "The advanced IP features coupled with NLOS performance and self-installation offer real economic advantages to carriers."
Soma does not believe that just delivering quality gear is doing enough for its customers. Recognizing that many carriers, particularly rural ones, struggle to find the spectrum to deliver service, Soma evolved a whole network of relationships to assist carriers with this dilemma.
Spectrum Before Gear
Finding available licensed spectrum, particularly in the US is not easy.
"The 2.3 GHz range is sometimes available but the footprints are so large that it places a heavy acquisition burden on a carrier," said Caltabiano. "Many small carriers, particularly rural ones, find that the 1.9 GHz and 2.6 GHz bands in the US are more affordable."
Caltabiano added that these two ranges typically come with much smaller coverage zones and thus reduced cost for both purchase and service delivery. The 1.9 GHz range is what it most commonly sees customers use in the rural US.
However, finding who owns a license and helping a customer obtain one is no easy thing. The 1.9 GHz licenses are more expensive than 2.6 GHz licenses but it is easier to find who owns them. Information on the ownership of 2.6 GHz spectrum is very fragmented.
Soma nurtured a series of relationships with US based brokers who assist its customers in finding spectrum. While some spectrum brokers such as Denver based Daniels and Associates are fairly high profile, it turns out that a lot of the rest are known mostly by word of mouth. They are typically small independents. They aren't seeking publicity either---preferring instead to let Soma qualify and sort likely buyers. In fact none wished to be interviewed for this article.
Soma has an internal specialist who is an expert on this. The company utilizes this system as part of its sales process. It rarely talks about this feature of its service---but claims numerous successes.
Internationally, the subject of spectrum can be even more complicated (if more available).
"We have invested a lot of effort in building a lobby group that assists customers in finding the right officials to work with in various countries," said Caltabiano. "Governments are starting to seek us out for help in defining how to apportion their bandwidth to encourage both economic development and competitive widespread service."
Conclusions
Clearly not a company at the forefront of the WiMax movement, Soma's approach does raise important points that WiMax vendors need to address for customers. Likely most broadband wireless carriers appreciate the cost savings that WiMax gear will generate over time. However, it is equally likely that these carriers own business cases needs will inform their purchasing decisions. Higher ARPU, advanced voice and IP services coupled with NLOS performance and reduced truck rolls clearly will positively affect their success today.
Tim Sanders is founder of TheFinalMile, Inc., a fixed wireless consulting group. His experience came from running a multistate Wireless ISP. He can be reached at tim@thefinalmile.net or 828-253-0702.
