UK WiMax Trial Results Revealed

JULY 22, 2009

LONDON -- The Mobile WiMAX Acceleration Group (M-WAG) - a collaboration of companies demonstrating the business case for mobile WiMAX - today announces the initial findings of the UK’s first live end-to-end 2.5GHz Mobile WiMAX trials that took place in Maidstone, Kent from 2008 through 2009. Focusing on four usage scenarios; public safety, CCTV monitoring, building inspection and workforce mobility, the results show that mobile WiMAX provides benefits over current technologies and processes as well as presenting new opportunities for service improvement and cost savings.

The trials, which covered 7.5 square kilometres from the centre of Maidstone, saw Mobile WiMAX deployments with Kent Fire & Rescue Service and Maidstone Borough Council.

For the public safety scenario, M-WAG worked on providing real-time video from accident scenes using Mobile WiMAX, enabling emergency services to develop better strategies for tackling situations while also saving time by delivering critical information live to teams while on their way to incidents.

The CCTV trial focused on enabling faster, more tactical deployment of mobile CCTV cameras to respond to short term needs while reducing the overall running costs. The remote building site inspection trial tested mobile WiMAX’s suitability to stream high-quality real-time video of structural issues – often requiring the capture of minute details – between locations while the workforce mobility scenario looked at the potential benefits of equipping the Council’s anti-social behaviour / violent crime reduction team with video recording devices for victim and witness interviews rather than still cameras and notebooks.

Chris Woodward IT Technical Services Manger, Maidstone Borough Council commented: “The trials demonstrated the flexibility that Mobile WiMAX offers. It’s clear that there are specific benefits to be gained from deploying Mobile WiMAX across a range of public service scenarios and we’re pleased that Maidstone played a role in providing proof of concept for the technology. We look forward to seeing how the findings and experiences help make the UK’s first commercial deployment of Mobile WiMAX a reality.”

http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=179550