Verizon Aims for 4G App Expansion
Verizon Wireless’ LTE network will expand current applications and support completely new kinds, said Brian Higgins, the company’s executive director for ecosystem development. A combination of device availability, speeds, content and applications are needed for LTE service to reach a critical mass, he said.
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Connecting as many devices as possible is crucial to increasing penetration, Higgins said. “We are having LTE embedded as an option for transport on different devices,” he said. Possible new applications include security video cameras, video conferencing devices, personal video players and HD-video, all with LTE chips embedded, he said. Also possible are appliances being fitted with wireless devices. Home control services are broadband-enabled services that include energy management, home security and monitoring, home health and media management, Higgins said.
“We see video as one of the primary components in 4G products,” because it will be the spur to the technology’s growth, Higgins said. The robustness of a new category of video applications and services will be the main point separating competitors, he said. Increasing display resolution wherever possible is the trend, Higgins said. In wireless, HD video can grow in online gaming, real-time video consumption and video surveillance, he said. Initial products will likely be LTE dongles for laptops and notebooks, he said.
Developers will find Verizon’s 700-MHz spectrum “friendly” when they create new classes of LTE applications, Higgins said, noting that the spectrum can increase speed and in-building and outdoor coverage reduce latency on the network. But no matter how much capacity and speed can be theoretically delivered over the air, there’s still the matter of connecting a cellsite back to the Internet. That’s why Verizon has had an “aggressive backhaul plan in place,” Higgins said. He called fiber Ethernet an important approach.