May 1, 2000

Hold Taps, for now

The HomeRF's standard for wireless home networking had started to look like an also-ran against competing wireless LAN (WLAN) products, which are widely available, cheaper, and faster (see "Loosely coupled" and "Wireless wars"). But now, the first HomeRF WLAN products stand ready to roll. Plus, the organization may have convinced the FCC to make a rule change that will allow HomeRF products to hit faster data rates.

HomeRF uses frequency-hopping-spread-spectrum transmission to deliver data rates between 1- and 2-Mbits/sec. The specification also includes SWAP (shared wireless access protocol), which allows WLAN nodes, telephony devices, and other wireless products to share the same channel. SWAP could ultimately allow consumers to mix and match cordless phone handsets and other products from different vendors. The sharing protocol gives HomeRF an advantage no competing WLAN can match at this point.

Development, however, has proceeded at a snail's pace. Operable radios finally debuted last fall, leading to two recent product announcements.

Cayman Systems unveiled the $998 3220HW ADSL Broadband Gateway, which allows HomeRF-equipped PCs or Internet appliances to share an Internet connection.

Intel, meanwhile, has an iron in every fire—power-line, phone-line, and wireless—when it comes to home LANs. Until now, the company's successful AnyPoint family has relied on phone-line technology. Now, Intel has introduced two AnyPoint Wireless products, based on HomeRF: a $129 PC Card and a $119 USB device. Intel pledged to ship the products early this month.

It's surprising that Intel would beat Proxim to market with a HomeRF product. Proxim contributed heavily to the HomeRF spec and already ships its Symphony product, based on similar technology. In fact, Proxim offers HomeRF ICs, and Cayman's gateway is based on Proxim technology. Expect a Proxim announcement at Networld+Interop, May 7 to 12 in Las Vegas. Proxim has also signed a licensing agreement with Siemens, which should yield HomeRF phones from Siemens late this year or early next.

So perhaps the bugler shouldn't blow Taps yet. But HomeRF still faces a battle. Multiple vendors, including Apple, Lucent Technologies, and 3Com, sell WLAN products that operate at 11 Mbits/sec, based on the IEEE 802.11b standard. Prices for these products are diving towards $100/node. Meanwhile, the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) is working to ensure interoperability and build market momentum.

HomeRF does have a few things breaking in its favor. The FCC may be ready to change a regulation that confines frequency-hopping radios to a 1-MHz band, limiting data rates. In Europe and Asia, such radios can use 5-MHz bands. The wider band and a new modulation scheme could yield an 8-Mbit/sec data rate—a key given that the WECA folks are hard-selling their data-rate advantage. HomeRF chairman Ben Manny believes the FCC could change the rule this quarter. Even so, products exploiting the change would be a year away.

Manny also points out that HomeRF offers a synergy WECA products can't deliver. Since the Bluetooth standard and HomeRF both use frequency hopping (WECA radios use direct-sequence-spread-spectrum technology), a single antenna and radio could serve in both the WLAN and personal-area networking roles.

In the end, however, WECA's head start and speed advantage may make it hard to derail. In fact, it appears that even Intel's long-term WLAN strategy may be married to 802.11 and WECA. The company is advertising heavily to staff a major 802.11b-oriented R&D facility in San Diego.