Motorola has acquired Good Technology, which provides wireless email services for handsets, including Motorola’s Q. Motorola Mobile Devices division president Ron Garriques said “Good Technology’s software and managed service deliver a rich user experience, low cost of ownership, industry- leading security and enterprise-class support.” Garriques believes the deal will “continue to strengthen Motorola as a leading provider of mobility devices and solutions both for enterprise customers and consumers.” The company, however, was mum on how it plans to incorporate Good’s products in its own portfolio. The deal, whose financial terms remain undisclosed, will become final early next year.
Via [betanews.com]
Monthly Archive for November, 2006
The evolution of wireless technologies brought lessons that are now driving the draft 802.11n efforts:
1) The WLAN industry made the right move of supporting legacy 802.11b rather than establishing a new and potentially higher-performing frequency band at 5 GHz, which could cause incompatibility among products.
2) Improving throughput in environments filled with interference from neighboring wireless networks means increasing the number and size of channels. The 802.11n task group is using the 5 GHz spectrum to make this possible. Because of better channel utilization, most 802.11n products are expected to deliver data speeds ranging from 100 Mbps to 300 Mbps.
3) There is a need for IEEE working groups and Wi-Fi Alliance to work in parallel, particularly with more and more products released into the market. Last year, the alliance began with the 802.11n certification process along with the IEEE 802.11n working group, a move that helped remove issues and differences as regards the standard.
4) Resolving latency problems is imperative in order for advanced applications like video streaming and VoIP to work on networks.
5) Any new protocol should manage packet overhead to make data transmission more efficient. IEEE 802.11n standard comes with frame aggregation capability, which allows for combining and sending a series of frames with one overhead frame without having to wait for each packet to be acknowledged individually.
6) Consensus is key to speedier agreement on standards. The creation of the Enhanced Wireless Consortium enabled competing camps to resolve technical issues and obtain consensus faster. The EWC came out with a draft that has gained universal acceptance with the IEEE 802.11n working group and is expected to be approved by early next year.
7) Wireless devices do not only refer to PCs anymore, thus a new wireless protocol must embrace other consumer electronic gadgets, which are used in tandem with home and corporate networks.
The demand for higher data transmission speeds means a need for more than one antenna and more than one radio stream, features that are inherent in draft 802.11n.
Via [ddj.com]
Aruba rejected criticisms that its version of centrally-managed wireless LAN does not allow for scalable voice over WiFi (VoFi). Aruba vice president Keerti Melkote admitted that the company’s systems, due to central application of encryption, command wireless traffic flows to go through the central controller. But this is not a problem “from bandwidth point of view.” Aruba, he claimed, boasts abundant scalability, with controllers having the ability to scale 7.5 Gbit/s of WiFi systems that come on-stream. The company, Melkote added, also has “a roadmap to 40 Gbit/s.”
Melkote believes more services will turn to Aruba to enable switched calls by 2007. Aruba’s switches can decide when to move the connection from WiFi to a switched network, if phones go out of wireless coverage. Aruba product director for voice Peter Thornycroft said that, with this capacity for convergence, the company is serving telco’s UMA specification, which will remain the primary technology until full SIP/IMS implementations for convergence become available.
The company also plans to roll out version 1.0 of the client behavior specification for dual-mode handsets to ensure quality of service, performance, and battery life, as well as their compatibility with other vendors’ equipment. Melkote believes the arrival of dual-mode phones will spur VoFi uptake but “they are still built against the model of an isolated AP, not an office network.”
Via [techworld.com]
Blogger David Haskin found himself addicted more to WiFi than coffee, which he gave up five months ago. His confession came as the WiFi Alliance released the findings of a study showing that 80 percent of respondents would rather quit drinking coffee than lose their WiFi connection. Haskin said he brings WiFi travel routers when he is on the road, and stops by coffee shops, not to drink coffee, but to check his email even if he does not need to. He also admitted to stopping in a parking lot outside coffee shops to get a quick WiFi fix as well as taking his laptop to the sofa every evening to surf the Web “mindlessly for hours and hours.”
Via [computerworld.com]
Current developments make Draft N poised to hit the mainstream market next year, according to Mike Hurlston, Broadcom’s vice president of WLAN products. Hurlston said four laptop makers, i.e., Dell, Acer, Lenovo and HP, have announced plans to ship Draft N products. He also noted the improved cooperation among chipmakers, thus creating better interoperability among products, and higher levels of performance.
At this point, Draft N products cater to small businesses and homes requiring one access point installation. Hurlston expects uptake among enterprises to increase once the full standard is released or until Cisco comes out with its 802.11n APs. But with more products hitting the market, enterprise vendors may feel the need to move “ahead of the standard.”
Hurlston believes Draft N will enjoy higher popularity in 2007. Intel, he said, is hinting about offering draft 11n cards early next year. Also, the WiFi Alliance will start branding Draft N products, which will likely extend to a third to forty percent of notebooks by the latter half of 2007. The number will increase to more than half by the end of the following year.
Via [techworld.com]
Intel Corp. chairman Craig Barrett sees WiMax as a solution to India’s digital divide. Barrett said WiMax “is relatively inexpensive and relatively simple” and therefore “ideal for rural environment where there is limited infrastructure in place.” He made these remarks following his tour of Baramati, a town that Intel adopted under its World Ahead Program. There, he visited a hospital that is using WiMax to connect to the Internet for diagnostic work, a school that is employing new technology-driven learning methods, and farmers in remote villages to assess how information technology can help raise living standards.
The U.S. chipmaker is vigorously promoting WiMax around the globe, spending $1 billion for this campaign. Barrett revealed that there are ongoing trials in some 200 sites worldwide, with about 40 to 50 companies looking to use the technology for commercial purposes.
Via [taipeitimes.com]
Samsung is coming out with an all-in-one handheld, a fusion of PC, cell phone, camera, and portable music player. SPH-P9000 houses a folding qwerty keyboard and has built-in WiMax as well as high-speed CDMA EV-DO and Bluetooth capabilities. The PDA, which Samsung first put on display at the Mobile WiMax Summit 2006, is preloaded with Microsoft’s Windows XP and comes with a 5-inch WVGA screen, a 30-GByte hard drive and a 1.3-megapixel camera. The 1GHz Transmeta-powered gadget weighs just a little over a pound.
Via [informationweek.com]
Cicero Networks has unveiled a new dual-mode VoIP client that will allow Nokia smartphones to use the best available connection between WiFi and traditional mobile networks. CiceroPhone is designed for Nokia S60 handsets, including the E60, E61, E70 and N80 models. The Irish software maker plans to officially ship this new product by the end of this month.
Cicero Networks CEO Ross Brennan said the inclusion of Nokia smartphones in the company’s portfolio bespeaks Cicero’s “commitment to bring mobile wireless VoIP technology and fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) solutions to the mainstream market.” Last year, the firm released the first dual-mode client for Windows Mobile 5.0 converged devices. The said application is currently being used by several telecommunication service providers as well as in pre-market tests in more than 30 operators.
Via [siliconrepublic.com]
Analysts at Sound Partners Ltd believe the success of WiMax will depend on business cases. Drs Mark Heath and Alastair Brydon wrote a report entitled The Business Case For WiMax, wherein they predicted that WiMax will lose to DSL in developed countries, particularly with the increased capability and reach of DSL services. The report also debunks the opinion that the developing world will embrace WiMax due to “lack of a viable fixed network alternative.” Heath and Brydon expect deploying WiMax to be costly and therefore face stiff competition from low-cost cellular service. The authors, thus, recommended that WiMax vendors and the WiMax Forum “develop more detailed business cases for the strongest market opportunities” and that “regulators in developed countries, seeking to foster competition in the broadband market … focus primarily on stimulating DSL competition.”
Via [news.zdnet.co.uk]
Broadcom has unveiled an 802.11g Wi-Fi chip that will provide full Layer 3 routing. By integrating a 54g radio and a medium access control block with an Ethernet switch and a MIPS processor, the BCM5354 can generate and connect to multiple networks through a sole access point via multi-BSSID (Basic Service Set Identifier) software.
Lenovo, according to the company, will use Broadcom’s Intensi-fi 802.11n chip sets to allow its N100 widescreen notebook computer and certain 3000-family notebook computers to access dual-band 802.11a/g/n services and enable Bluetooth and Ethernet capabilities.
Buffalo Inc. also opted for Broadcom’s reference design for use in Skype Wi-Fi phones. The design calls for the combination of BCM1161 VoIP processor and the AirForce One BCM4318E 54g chip. The Skype-certified Buffalo handsets are expected to hit the Japanese market this month.
Via [eetimes.com]
The Federal Communications Commission has released its ruling in a case involving Continental Airlines and the Massachusetts Port Authority. In July, the airline filed a petition with the agency after Massport ordered it to take down a Wi-Fi access point at its “President’s Club” frequent-flier lounge in Boston’s Logan International Airport, citing violations of Continental’s lease.
According to the FCC, the lease terms were “unreasonably” prohibitive. Massport, it said, had no right to make that instruction because the airline observed rules concerning on-the-air reception devices, or OTARD: the antenna was within the prescribed standards on measurement, use and location.
In a statement accompanying FCC’s 23-page decision, Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps said the ruling “clarifies that American consumers and businesses are free to install Wi-Fi antennas under our OTARD rules–meaning without seeking approval from their landlords–just as they are free to install antennas for video programming and other fixed wireless applications.”
Naturally, Continental welcomed the decision and called it a “resounding victory to the airline and for consumers.” Massport, on the other hand, was disappointed with the news, adding that it is now mulling its options, including pursuing further legal action.
Via [news.zdnet.com]
A new study by WiFi Alliance indicates that 89 percent of 549 WiFi users in the U.S. would rather give up Starbucks than lose their wireless connection. Some 92 percent of those aged between 18 and 29 are adamant about keeping their WiFi access. According to Wi-Fi Alliance managing director Frank Hanzlik, young people have made WiFi “a part of their lives.” The technology, he said, is now “part of their DNA.”
The survey also showed that users have become security conscious, with 77 percent of those surveyed disclosing that they have enabled security features on their wireless networks. The alliance, Hanzlik affirmed, continues to seek better ways and has developed applications such as the Wi-Fi Protected Setup, to improve the speed and ease of implementing these features.
Via [eweek.com]
Heathrow Express will begin offering wireless Internet access to passengers by early 2007. This will be made possible by T-Mobile’s plans to deploy hotspots on the train. The new network aims to deliver speeds as high as 8 Mbps or about 20 times faster than a 3G connection. Coverage, according to the company, will continue even in tunnels along the 15-minute route. T-Mobile will sell passes priced at £5 for one hour of use, £10 for one day and £40 for one month.
Via [travel.timesonline.co.uk]
Analysts believe it is possible for wireless LAN to replace Ethernet as the preferred mode for accessing enterprise networks in the future. Farpoint Group principal Craig Mathias expects WLAN to “become the default network connection technology over (the) next five to 10 years.” He said the technology continues to improve: WLAN access points have higher capacity and standards like 802.11n come with better security. Mathias expects all these developments to boost throughput, range and reliability that “there’s probably no good reason not to use wireless.”
Market projections seem to support Mathias’ prediction. Although nominally, shipments of Ethernet switch ports remain higher than enterprise-class WLAN access points, the growth in the latter is considerably more. According to market research firm IDC, WLAN AP sales will rise from 1.6 million this year to 11.5 million by 2010 or an increase of over 600 percent, whereas managed Ethernet switch ports will reach 172 million in 2006 to 208 million in four years, or a jump of just about 20 percent.
Via [networkworld.com]
The Two Faces Of WiMAX
Clearwire and Towerstream are two companies currently offering pre-WiMax services but they cater to different clients: Clearwire serves the consumer market and Towerstream focuses on businesses.
Clearwire co-CEO Ben Wolff said subscribers to the company’s fixed wireless service now number 162,000. The operator looks to cover 34 markets by the year’s end and has launched a trial of mobile WiMax in Oregon along with Intel and other partners. It has licenses for 2.5 GHz spectrum in the U.S. as well as nationwide licenses for Poland, Romania and Spain. It has also built networks in several European cities, namely Brussels, Copenhagen and Dublin.
Towerstream’s small and medium business clients are located in large U.S. cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Providence in Rhode Island. CEO Jeff Thompson said the goal is to expand the company’s reach by one or two new markets annually. Although it owns some 2.5 GHz spectrum, Towerstream primarily uses unlicensed bands and hinted at joining the anticipated auction of 700 MHz spectrum in the coming years.
Via [wirelessweek.com]