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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...
Editor's Corner
Readers of this newsletter know that we have devoted much space--including, we hope, reasoned and at times spirited, arguments--to the question of WiMAX and its potential. In this spirit, we are pleased to announce an important new event on WiMAX hosted by FierceMarkets.
WiMAX Strategies will be held on …
T-Mobile to launch cellular/WiFi converged service
Karl Marx said that history is like the weather--many people talk about it but few do anything to change it. It is not quite the same case with WiFi/cellular converged services, but we do note that the there is a certain lack of proportion between the volume of talk and the number of announcements about convergence and what is actually available in the field, at least so far. Last time we checked, only a few convergence services have been commercially launched. Example: BT Group offers a …
KDDI to offer convergence with a twist
Mobile WiMAX--or rather, as some of our readers point out, mobile broadband (because there is no mobile WiMAX yet)--is on its way to Japan thanks to telecom operator KDDI. The company has just completed field trials of the technology in an area around the city of Osaka to assess how the technology performed in an urban environment. KDDI also tested the technology to measure the high-speed handover between base stations, which it said was satisfactory at travel speeds of up to 120 kmph. …
WiFi mesh-networking draft standard approved
The IEEE standards group working on interoperable WiFi mesh networks has taken an important step forward by adopting a single proposal as the basis for the new standard. The new standard sets the stage for a battle royal between WiFi mesh and 802.16 technologies such as WiMAX and ETSI HiperMAN. The new standard will be called 802.11s. It will define the WLAN MAC and PHY for "extended service set mesh networking." The goal (brace yourself now) was to create a protocol for …
WiMAX about connectivity, not speed (for now)
If you are interested in WiMAX and its likely impact on competition and regulation, then you want to read this just-released OECD report. The 60-page study examines issues such as spectrum allocation and offers a comparison of different national policies on the question of licenses and band allocation. The report's primary finding was that WiMAX depends critically on spectrum allocation, a process which is still under way around the world. "Despite all the excitement over WiMAX, the …
Healthy WLAN gear sales growth in 2005
There was a small drop toward the the end of last year, but still, revenues from worldwide WLAN sales equipment showed healthy growth in 2005, according to a new Infonetics Research report. Revenues were up 10 percent overall in 2005, though there was a 5 percent quarterly dip in the fourth quarter. Unit shipments were up 39 percent in the same period to more than 25 million. You know that enterprises are buying WLAN equipment because WLAN switch and controller revenues grew 93 percent …
SPOTLIGHT: Is WiFi dangerous to your health?
Frederick Gilbert, president of Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, has banned WiFi gear on his campus. Gilbert, a biologist by training, said he is concerned about possible health effects from exposure to even the low levels of RF radiation emitted by WiFi equipment. There is research showing that health effects from exposure to RF radiation (RFR) ranges from sleep disruption to genetic damage, although the effects from WiFi system emissions are probably at the …
ALSO NOTED: IEEE launches 802.11T task group; Nintendo DS WiFi hits 1M user mark; and much more...
> Research In Motion (RIM), fresh from its patent infringement settlement deal, has announced support for Cisco Unified CallManager 5.0 with the BlackBerry WLAN solution to provide on-campus mobile users with IP telephony capabilities. Report
> Toronto's public health department said it was following up on complaints that a plan by Toronto Hydro to install wireless WiFi transmitters on …