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Boeing to sit out FCC airwave auction
In Oscar Wilde's The Ideal Husband, Lord Goring says that "it is always nice to be expected, and not to arrive." He might have been referring to Boeing. The premier plane manufacturer surprised everyone by saying it would not be among the 12 potential bidders in a federal auction of airwaves which will allow wireless broadband Internet access on planes flying over North America. The FCC last Friday unveiled the names of the applicants, which include JetBlue Airways and Verizon …
WiMAX Watch: Motorola's 802.16e solution
Motorola, a leading industry proponent of the IEEE 802.16e WiMAX standard, unveiled the first of its MOTOwi4 WiMAX solutions at CTIA Wireless 2006. Using a suite of infrastructure and subscriber products, Motorola demonstrated IP telephony over its MOTOwi4 WiMAX platform. Motorola's first MOTOwi4 WiMAX system focuses on delivering low-cost fixed and nomadic services in underserved markets and developing countries, and it uses the 3.5 GHz spectrum available in most countries. The 802.16e …
NIST certifies Aruba as FIPS 140-2 compliant
Until very recently the federal government has maintained a moratorium on the use of WiFi technology because of worries about its security. This is beginning to change. Last week we reported that the super-hush-hush National Security Agency has selected Harris' SecNet 54 Secure Wireless Local Area Network for deployment. This week Aruba Networks has become the first vendor certified by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) as having achieved Federal Information …
TI shows mWLAN, Bluetooth, FM radio handset
In one of the episodes of Frasier, Frasier Crane tries to impress members of the Seattle Opera board by inviting them to an elaborate reception in his apartment. Niles, Frasier's younger brother, worries that Frasier has gone too far by arranging for three chefs and three different chamber orchestras to entertain the guests. "Are you familiar with the concept 'Less is More'?," Niles gently inquires. "If 'less' is 'more'," Frasier impatiently interrupts him, "just imagine how much …
Intel-Pipex JV to roll out WiMAX in UK
Pipex, the alternative telecom provider (by its own admission), has received an important boost for its plans to offer WiMAX service to its customers: It has secured the backing of Intel. Intel has agreed to inject $25 million into a joint venture, called Pipex Wireless, which will roll out a high-speed Internet service across the 10 largest cities in the U.K. and take on mobile phone operators such as Vodafone. The venture will take over Pipex's 3.6 GHz spectrum license and will be able …
SPOTLIGHT: Muni-WiFi degrades corporate network security
Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., have announced plans to build citywide, public, open-access 2.4 GHz WiFi networks for local government use and as affordable high-speed Internet access for citizens. The large-scale deployment of muni networks could cause significant security and management heartburn for any business that handles confidential information, including financial, healthcare and legal firms. The largest concern is the ability to compromise the …
ALSO NOTED: Extend WiFi network range; iPass partners with T-Mobile; and much more...
> Want to extend the range of your WiFi network? Advice
> Mentor Graphics released its Nucleus 802.11i software to developers requiring IEEE 802.11i, WPA-2 and WPA support in wireless Ethernet applications. Release
> iPass will partner with T-Mobile to incorporate T-Mobile's and T-Com's European WiFi hotspot networks into the …
FierceWiFi March 29, 2006
- Editor's Corner
- Mobile WiMAX certification labs up soon
- xG Technology to offer low-power handset
- NSA selects Harris' SecNet 54
- The dark side of muni-WiFi
- WiFi-assisted GPS system
- SPOTLIGHT: New Orleans can't catch a break
- ALSO NOTED: Intel investing in Brazilian WiMAX developers; Best WiFi hotels in US; and much more...
Editor's Corner
The forward movement on the WiMAX front is gathering speed. The paint on the walls of the fixed WiMAX certification test labs has not yet dried, and the WiMAX Forum is already aiming for a mid-year date for making the certification test lab of mobile WiMAX operational. All this is happening on the technology/standards side. The development of business models and rational for WiMAX …
Mobile WiMAX certification labs up soon
Last December the IEEE ratified the 802.16e amendment to its 802.16-2004 Air Interface Standard. 802.16e adds mobility to WiMAX, and now that mobility is ratified, the WiMAX Forum's Mobile Technical Group is developing the system profiles which will define the mandatory and optional features of the amendment that are necessary to build a mobile WiMAX-compliant air interface. One technology which is included in the amendment is scalable OFDMA technology, aiming to improve multi-path …
xG Technology to offer low-power handset
Sometimes mice do roar. Sarasota, FL-based start-up xG Technology made a splash last November when it demonstrated a low-power xMax wireless technology. Many treated the company's claims as more or less equal to Uri Geller's spoon-bending. The plucky start-up is pushing forward, however, saying it will start a marketing campaign in the U.S. by the end of the year for its innovative consumer handset. "In the U.S., we plan to utilize a grassroots marketing campaign to roll xMax out on …
NSA selects Harris' SecNet 54
Remember the days when secure facilities such as the U.S. national nuclear labs would not allow 802.11-based WLANs on their premises owing to anxiety about the technology security? Those days are almost behind us. In evidence: Melbourne, FL-based Harris has been awarded a five-year, $41.6 million Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract by the National Security Agency (NSA) to supply the company's new SecNet 54 Secure Wireless Local Area Network product to the U.S. federal …
The dark side of muni-WiFi
At times we should look a gift horse in the mouth. There is a rush of municipalities across the U.S. and Europe looking to develop free or low-cost WiFi zones. The goal is to provide the residents of these cities with always-on, high-speed Internet access. Leaders of cities say that creating these city-wide WiFi zones is not only vital for economic development and public safety, but they help insure that the digital divide between rich and poor is eliminated, or at least narrowed. …
WiFi-assisted GPS system
Skyhook Wireless has released software which uses WiFi to turn notebooks and wireless handheld computers into global positioning systems (GPS). The Loki software, now in beta, is based on WiFi detection and location software used to match 802.11 wireless signals transmitted from a user's PC with hotspots. Loki can map locations, pinpoint a particular event within a city or find a gas station with the lowest per-gallon costs. Users can also email their locations to friends and associates …
SPOTLIGHT: New Orleans can't catch a break
As if New Orleans did not have enough trouble, the Louisiana legislature is threatening to turn off the free WiFi network there, which was initially created as a temporary communication measure in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It was launched on the assumption that it would eventually be taken over by a corporate partner and turned into a paid service. Such a partnership has not been found so far, and the city is prohibited from running its own public WiFi network faster than 128 Kbps, …
ALSO NOTED: Intel investing in Brazilian WiMAX developers; Best WiFi hotels in US; and much more...
> EarthLink won the contact to deploy high-speed Internet access and deliver WiFi network services for city employees in a 6.5-sq.-mi. area of Milpitas, CA. Article
> Agilent Technologies announced the availability of the 802.11n wireless library for use with Agilent's Advanced Design System (ADS) …
FierceWiFi March 22, 2006
- WiMAX arrives in London
- WiMAX Watch: Clearwire amassing funds
- Kiwi telecom, iPass ink secure network deal
- Wireless mesh routers to hit $1.2B by 2010
- Ekahau, Digi team on wireless tracking system
- SPOTLIGHT: Unsafe at any speed
- ALSO NOTED: D-Link clamshell WiFi VoIP phone; 802.11n still faces hurdles; and much more...
WiMAX arrives in London
Urban WiMAX is offering what it calls "the U.K.'s first true WiMAX services"--for free. The "free" in "free service" applies to yet another WiMAX trial period, but this trial is more advanced than other WiMAX trials now being conducted in the U.K. by Libera in London, Telabria in Kent, Pipex in Stratford and Metranet in Brighton. Urban WiMAX says the difference lies in the fact that the trial is based on 802.16d standard kit, not on pre-WiMAX, and that there will be a …
WiMAX Watch: Clearwire amassing funds
If you know nothing about wireless communication and want one sentence of advice on how to discern where the industry is heading, I would suggest this: Follow Craig McCaw. McCaw's Clearwire has about $1 billion in funds to build its own WiMAX network, and the company is eager to acquire spectrum and build new markets. The company now has but limited access to the 2.5 GHz licensed spectrum because Sprint owns or leases licenses covering 85 percent of the U.S. population. Ben Wolff, …
Kiwi telecom, iPass ink secure network deal
This is important news for business travelers and the companies which employ them. Telecom New Zealand has signed an agreement with iPass to launch Telecom Office Anywhere, a service which would allow users to access their company networks and files securely from New Zealand and more than 160 countries. Telecom Office Anywhere provides users with access to their company networks and applications from their PC or laptop anyway they wish by using WiFi, broadband or dial-up on Telecom's 3G …
Wireless mesh routers to hit $1.2B by 2010
More than 1 million wireless mesh routers, generating revenues of more than $1.2 billion, will be shipped in 2010 to service muni-WiFi networks, market research group ABI Research concludes. By 2010, municipal WiFi networks will cover 126,000 sq.mi. worldwide, which is an increase from about 1,500 sq.mi. in 2005, ABI says. The growth of municipal WiFi is being driven by several trends, among them use of the wireless networks for public safety and increased efficiency. In addition, …
Ekahau, Digi team on wireless tracking system
The recent West Virginia mining tragedy only serves to highlight the importance of the product to come out of the collaborative effort between Ekahau and Digi International. The companies will work on embedding Ekahau's location-enabling technology in the Digi Connect family of WLAN embedded modules and external device server products. The Digi Connect 802.11b WLAN products provide wireless connectivity to a wide range of edge devices such as medical equipment in healthcare facilities. …
SPOTLIGHT: Unsafe at any speed
A wardriving survey carried out internationally by PandaLabs has thrown up worrisome results: Almost 60 percent of networks have no protection at all. The conclusions of the study are clear: Security of WiFi networks is, in general, insufficient. The most widely used protocol for the security of the network, WEP, has many vulnerabilities, but the most effective protocols, such as WPA or WPA-PSK, are hardly used at all. PandaLabs was able to verify this circumstance through a series of …
ALSO NOTED: D-Link clamshell WiFi VoIP phone; 802.11n still faces hurdles; and much more...
> D-Link shows clamshell WiFi VoIP phone. Report
> The new Nokia 9300i smartphone also offers WiFi, but this reviewer finds that the promised Internet connection does not live up to expectations. Review
> 802.11n is promoted as the key to sharing high-quality multimedia …
FierceWiFi March 15, 2006
- Editor's Corner
- T-Mobile to launch cellular/WiFi converged service
- KDDI to offer convergence with a twist
- WiFi mesh-networking draft standard approved
- WiMAX about connectivity, not speed (for now)
- Healthy WLAN gear sales growth in 2005
- SPOTLIGHT: Is WiFi dangerous to your health?
- ALSO NOTED: IEEE launches 802.11T task group; Nintendo DS WiFi hits 1M user mark; and much more...