Today, high definition video and mobile wireless are the two primary drivers that are transforming the way that consumers stay connected at home, at the office and at play. High quality, high definition video is being watched on wide-screen TVs, interactive game consoles, mobile devices, tablets and computer monitors.  It is penetrating America's homes, schools and offices, and can even be found in elevators, taxi cabs and shopping carts. 

Wireless data usage is doubling annually, and smart phones are growing at almost 90 percent a year.  A whole new computing platform for mobile broadband has emerged, creating a thriving market for mobile applications, and changing the way everyone interacts with the Internet. Wireless technologies have advanced so rapidly that they now do most of what was once only possible with a computer connected at your desk. 

ATT’s CEO Randall Stephenson recently noted that “AT&T’s mobile data traffic has grown by 8000% since the introduction of the IPhone in 2007, and it is not unreasonable to expect that the data traffic will grow another eight to ten times the current levels by 2015”, according to Stephenson. He went on to note that the wireless industry has grown with deliberate intent since the 1980’s by introducing products and watching the growth from that introduction. In this new era of smart phones with internet access the customers have access to “over-the top” applications that are beyond the carriers control, and thus can place unknown demands on the mobile networks.

Verizon CTO Tony Melone said that LTE will allow Verizon to do things they cannot do with wireless today.  They estimated data speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second with LTE – and the network performance has exceeded their own expectations.  The other part of the LTE equation is latency – or network delay – which is cut in half by LTE.  

In this issue we have examined many of the companies and the people behind them that are addressing these transformational times for our industry.

-Jeff Seal