Wireless mesh networking is the key ingredient in making the dream of municipal WiFi a reality. That dream is a little closer with the adoption of 802.11s. Until recently there was no standard available for early adopters to use so they were risking alot if things changed from the method they were using. The lack… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: March 2006
T-Mobile First To Bridge 3G, EDGE, GPRS, And Wi-Fi
Nortel has provided technology to allow T-mobile that allows seamless roaming between 3G, EDGE, GPRS, and WiFi networks in Europe. No word yet if this ‘always on’ internet experience has an off button. Via [cbronline.com]… Continue Reading
Mobile WiMax Gets Thumbs-up In Japan
Japanese telcom KDDI is set to roll out mobile WiMAX in Japan in the very near future. Field trials in Osaka demonstrated a high speed hand off from base stations at speeds of 120 Km/h. Their plans also cover hand off between EVDO, cellular and other wireless technologies for the estimated the 15.4 million subscribers… Continue Reading
The Emergence Of Metro-Scale Wi-Fi
Large scale municipal WiFi installations is a dream of many municipalities, community groups and businesses. There are many technical challenges to such a deployment such as backhaul, bandwidth provisioning, and other less technical challenges such as who pays for it. Combining municipal WiFi with cellular networks may be the way to encourage thier growth. With… Continue Reading
Wireless USB Vs. Cable-Free USB
It appears there will be yet another battle for domination between 2 competing technologies. This time it is over the future of Wireless USB. Intel is not showing of thier WiMedia technology for personal area networks, and Belkin is pushing thier CableFree USB technologies which do the same thing, but are not interoperable with WiMedia.… Continue Reading
European Project To Unify Mobile Wireless Access
People want thier MTV, and now everyone wants it anywhere, anytime. With all the different wireless technologies out there it’s a nightmare for developers to try and make thier mobile apps and platforms work on different protocols and standards. A consortium of several European R&D shops and universities have started the Open Link-Layer API for… Continue Reading
MIMO Clears Another Hurdle
The standards working groups have been busy working on 802.11n, finally submitting a draft this week. 802.11n allows for speeds above 100Mbps using MIMO and OFDM and other alphabet soup technologies. Now the standard has to wait for 40 days for comments to roll in and then it gets a final vote. The lack of… Continue Reading
Firm Testing Wireless Signals To Dispense Drugs
Making sure that patients take thier drugs on time and take all of thier medication is a concern of doctors everywhere. MicroCHIPS Inc seems to have an innovative, though intrusive solution. Using commands sent wirelessly to an implanted drug ‘box’ in the patient, they can dispense the drugs on command. No mention however is thier… Continue Reading
WAPI Battle Exposes Technology Rifts With China
The problem with international standards is that everyone gets a say in the final product. When China blindsided the ISO with thier WAPI standard as a cometitor to 802.11i, it revealed a few things. First there is a large rift between what China and the rest of the world believes are secure standards, and the… Continue Reading
Startup Casts $1B Into WiMAX
WiMAX seems to have gotten a boost through Clearwise. Clearwise is spending $1 Billion on a WiMAX infrastructure in an apparent bid to go head to head with cable and DSL providers. Wireless broadband has the advantage of cheaper ‘last mile’ since there is no need to run fiber near the customers home, and with… Continue Reading
Hurdles Still Block The Road To Faster Wi-Fi
802.11n promises much higher bandwidth over wireless to satisfy the demands for high end multimedia applications, streaming video and the like. However, as with most standards body decisions, the manufacturers are left figuring out “how the heck do impliment that?”. 802.11n seems to be no exception. Trying to span both the 2.4 and 5 Ghz… Continue Reading
D-Link Announces Clamshell Wi-Fi VoIP Phone
D-Link announced that they are releasing a new clam-shell style Wi-Fi compatable VOIP telephone. In what will surely be a boom market, D-Link’s Wi-Fi phone allows users to make VOIP calls over Wi-Fi networks and the internet rather than traditional cellular networks. Via [cbronline.com]… Continue Reading
WiMax To break $1bn Mark By 2009
Revenues from WiMax equipment are set for impressive growth, analysts report, but will continue to lag behind those from wireless LANs (WLANs). Via [networks.silicon.com]… Continue Reading
Track Down Rogue Wireless Access Points
Of all of the threats faced by your network security, few are as potentially dangerous as the rogue Access Point (AP). A rogue AP is a WiFi Access Point that is set up by an attacker for the purpose of sniffing wireless network traffic in an effort to gain unauthorized access to your network environment.… Continue Reading
How Will 802.11T Help Test Wi-Fi?
With ever demanding increases on bandwidth on networks all over, wireless systems need to be tested to be sure they can handle the demands of users in the future. The 802.11T standard is being added to the alphabet soup of 802.11 specs. 802.11T defines specifications for testing wireless gear to make sure it can handle… Continue Reading