es-hence the tendency to mount the equipment on rooftops. Because of its high bandwidth, many LMDS implementations inter- face directly with an ATM backbone to take advantage of ATM's band- width and its diverse quality of service capability. If ATM is indeed the transport fabric of choice, then the LMDS service becomes a broadband access alternative to a network capable of transporting a full range of services including voice, video, image, and data-the full suite of multi- media applications. The LMDS Market Even with the gloomy forecasts coming from the dark corners of the telecommunications industry, there is hope for broadband wireless solu- tions such as LMDS. Three key applications for LMDS have emerged in markets where the technology has been deployed: voice, remote LAN access, and intercon- nection and interactive television. These three applications alone make LMDS a powerful contender in the broadband access market. Of course, fixed wireless has been hit hard, as have other segments of the telecom space. The three major suppliers-Advanced Radio Telecom, Winstar, and Teligent-filed for bankruptcy. All three took on enormous debt to build their networks quickly, but when the markets began to dis- appear in late 2000, they were left with few customers. Most of their assets have been picked up by carriers, especially long-distance carriers looking for a viable entry technology for the local loop market. Many left the market over security and reliability concerns associated with wire- less. Nevertheless, industry analysts predict that fixed wireless is real, will survive the turbulent market, and will see revenues exceed $14 bil- lion by 2006. In fact, other technologies such as WiMAX (described later in this chapter) may provide viable alternatives. Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website. Access Technologies Access Technologie