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SPOTLIGHT: The shape of things to come
You want to see the future? Go to California. The state takes network security seriously and it is now about to legislate network security stickers. AB 2415 has cleared the California General Assembly and is now on its way to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk for signature. The law is an attempt by the state to make sure that consumers know how to activate security features on their WiFi routers in order to prevent personal information from being accessed "by unauthorized users who piggyback onto their network connection." Report
ALSO NOTED: HP and Cisco partner for indoor wireless; Cell phones sniff out hotspots; and much more...
> HP and Cisco Systems are joining hands hands to become even bigger players in the enterprise unified communications marketplace by offering a range of new applications and services based on Cisco's Pervasive Indoor Wireless Technology. Report
> Cell phones now come with GPS and WiFi sniffers. Report
> The …
Atheros shows new 2x2 pre-802.11n chip
Atheros has just launched a 2x2 MIMO complying with the draft-802.11n standard. Note that this is a more modest solution relative to the 3x3 architecture--more modest in both speed and range. Still, Atheros says that the chip offers reliable coverage of the entire home at speeds of up to 300 Mbps.
The new chip is designated AR5008V and it is based on the company's XSPAN line. The company says that the new chip will be cheaper than the 3x3 version. "We're launching a cost-optimized …
Ghana begins WiMAX deployment
In 1958, the West African country of Ghana was the first African country to gain independence from Britain, heralding a wave of decolonization on the continent. Ghana is now also leading the way on WiMAX, announcing that Internet Ghana and Navini will install a WiMAX networks in the capital, Accra. The Accra deployment will soon be followed by rollouts in 10 additional cities, with an emphasis on cities that serve as regional commercial hubs.
Maryvonne Tubb, a Navini Networks …
The fool-proof way to make WiFi safe
WiFi has never quite been able to shake the notion that it's not the most secure technology. As we wrote last week, some super-sensitive facilities--for example, U.S. nuclear weapons labs--still do not allow the installation of WiFi networks on their grounds.
There is, however, a fool-proof way to secure your WiFi network: Turn your office or building into a Faraday cage. Geeta Dayal writes in Techworld that encasing your office or building with a thin layer of conductive …
Many in India pin hopes on WiMAX
India is a late comer to wireless technology but it's now embracing it with a vengeance. Indian analysts and industry insiders say that WiMAX deployments will both exploit as well as accelerate this growing trend on the subcontinent. They argue that WiMAX promises to offer India widespread Internet access that will form the basis for economic growth and better educational and health care services--the latter two of which are often unavailable in remote, rural areas. The introduction of …
Intel's wireless upgrade hogs memory
You win some, you lose some. You want to make your PC wireless-capable and you want these wireless capabilities to be as updated as often as possible. You go to Intel's Web site and download a software update for the company's wireless hardware--only to find out that the upgrade is faulty so it hogs your PC's memory.
Amy Martin, an Intel spokeswoman, said that the problem affected the Intel PROSet software version 10.5 (the PROSet software accompanies Intel's drivers which run …
SPOTLIGHT: Great expectations
There is much hope invested in the forthcoming 802.11n standard and the potential improvements it will offer to WiFi communication. In a nice turn of phrase, market research firm Research and Markets goes so far as to say that "802.11n will be to 802.11b what a Maserati is to a Pinto." Many are eager for the kind of raw speed the technology is promising--up to 600 Mbps, which is unheard of for a wireless technology of any kind. Research and Markets expects the break-out year for …
ALSO NOTED: Belkin's new 802.11n equipment; Mac OS X security tool for WiFi; and much more...
> Last week Belkin revealed the company's new 802.11n draft 1.0 equipment along with an AP and a wireless card that goes with it. Both should be available in stores by September. Report
> Mac OS X security tool helps secure WiFi networks. Report
> The Wi-Fi …
T-Mobile leads in AWS auction
The second week of the AWS auction ended on Friday, with the original 168 bidders being whittled down to 137 and with money so far pledged for licenses reaching $11.37 billion. As of Friday, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA have outspent all of the other remaining bidders combined.
T-Mobile License LLC held the leading bid of more than $3.8 billion on 125 licenses. Verizon Wireless and Vodafone Group were second with $2.8 billion for four licenses. SpectrumCo, a …
Pre-802.11n sells briskly despite high price
This is a case of getting what you pay for, more or less. The 802.11n standard has not yet been approved but pre-802.11n gear (or draft-802.11n, as some call it) is already available, with mostly small offices and companies investing in it. They're buying it even though it costs almost twice as much as gear based on ratified standards and while facing the risk of having to upgrade or even replace the equipment when the standard is finally ratified.
Market research firm …
Blimp-based communication system to be tested
Old soldiers may fade away, but not old ideas, especially if they have merit. This is the view of Bob Jones, a former manager at NASA, who wants to wed technologies from the past and the present in what he calls the Stratellite.
Jones's vision calls for a fleet of unmanned Stratellites--helium-filled dirigibles--to replace ungainly telecom towers. The dirigibles would hover at 65,000 feet, covering large swaths of territory (a typical airship's radio equipment could cover an area …
The deeper WiFi revolution
If you've read John Dvorak's PC Magazine columns for long enough (and I have, for many years), you would know that adjectives like "timid" and "reticent" aren't usually the first ones that leap to mind when describing his writing style. Dvorak always lets you know where he stands on an issue. So it was good to see a recent column of his in which he elaborated on a theme that we discussed some time ago--the consequences, or "hidden consequences," as he calls them--of …
Connexion by Boeing, RIP
How the mighty have fallen. Last week Boeing announced it was shutting down its Connexion by Boeing broadband-in-the-air program and was exiting the high-speed broadband communications connectivity market. Boeing said it would work with its customers to facilitate an orderly phase out of the Connexion by Boeing service. Those who used the service liked it. Trouble is, there weren't enough of them.
Boeing said it would take a $320 million charge, writing down the assets and paying …
SPOTLIGHT: Back to school...with WiFi?
The school year is about to begin and more and more schools--from junior high classrooms to university lecture halls--are offering an in-class WiFi connection, allowing students to use laptops in class (more than 40 percent of classrooms at colleges and universities had wireless access in fall 2005, up from 35.5 percent in 2004). Is this always-on connection a good thing or a bad thing? On the one hand, students may use the access to finish homework and write term papers. On the other …
ALSO NOTED: WLAN and Bluetooth single chip solution; New i-mate may run Windows Mobile 5.0
> Marvell is showing what it claims to be the world's first WLAN equipped with Bluetooth single chip solution. Press release
> Unconfirmed reports say that a new i-mate model, the i-mate Jaq, does not appear to rely on HTC for its design. The phone purportedly runs the full-fledged Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone Edition. …
FierceWiFi August 15, 2006
- 802.11n not likely to be approved before 2008
- 802.16e sales to surpass fixed WiMAX's by 2008
- UK embraces digital age
- WifiTastic offers new hot spot business model
- New personal electronic companion gains favor
- SPOTLIGHT: e-Passports are here
- ALSO NOTED: Free WiFi in Dubai; Dublin businesses love wireless; and much more...
802.11n not likely to be approved before 2008
They say about the horizon that the closer you appear to get to it, the farther away from you it gets. It's not quite the same with the 802.11n standard, but it's still similar. The reason: The sheer number of public comments on the standard. When an IEEE standard working group requests public comments about the first draft of a soon-to-be-ratified standard, it typically receives 2,000-2,500 such comments. After the 802.11n group issued the first draft in January 2006, it received more …
802.16e sales to surpass fixed WiMAX's by 2008
It won't be long now: ABI Research says that, by 2008, mobile WiMAX sales will surpass the sales of fixed WiMAX. This may surprise some, as 802.16-2004-based solutions have been adopted more and more during the past year. Still, the research group says that the mobile version, 802.16-2005, will arrive sooner than expected, and will likely be adopted at a faster clip than anticipated. ABI's Alan Varghese says, though, that in order to be technically and economically viable, mobile WiMAX …
UK embraces digital age
"There will always be an England," English soldiers sang as they marched to the muddy trenches of the First World War, but it will not be the same England. A just-published Ofcom report says that U.K. citizens adopt the digital age wholeheartedly, as evidenced by the increasing popularity of broadband access, VoIP services and cellular phones.
Ofcom, the British communication regulator, says that more than 10 million British households now have broadband, and that nearly two …
WifiTastic offers new hot spot business model
It is possible to design a better mousetrap. In evidence: WifiTastic, founded in September 2005 by David Sidrane of SmartPhoneTools.com and TreoBits.com and Rob Jonson of HobbyistSoftware.com. They take the public WiFi hot spot model and tweak it a bit to offer the operators of these hot spots a more compelling business proposition.
The company helps venue owners to set up a commercial hotspot, suggesting to these owners that they then can earn money by charging people who happen …
New personal electronic companion gains favor
There is an on-going debate among evolutionary biologists about whether the process of evolution is linear and steady (the technical name is "phyletic gradualism"--a theory stating that most evolution occurs uniformly and by the steady and gradual transformation of whole lineages), or whether evolution is characterized more by what the late Stephen Jay Gould called "punctuated equilibrium": Most species will show little to no evolutionary change throughout their history, and when …
SPOTLIGHT: e-Passports are here
There are twenty-seven countries in the U.S. visa-waver program, that is, their citizens do not need an entry visa to enter the U.S. Following 9/11, the U.S. government instructed these countries that if they want to retain their visa-waver status, they will have to issue new passports to their citizens--passports which contain biometric information and which are equipped with RFID technology. The deadline for these countries to comply is the last day of October. In the meantime, the …