New company, Cometa, created to push nationwide Wi-Fi

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December 05, 2002 (Computerworld) -- AT&T Corp., Intel Corp. and IBM formally announced the formation of a new company, Cometa Networks, to help provide nationwide broadband wireless LAN Internet access. Cometa plans in 2003 to deploy WLAN Wi-Fi "hot spots" offering a raw data rate of 11M bit/sec. in the top 50 U.S. markets.
Daniel Francisco, an Intel spokesman, told Computerworld that Intel has invested in Cometa through its Intel Capital arm. The company's goal is to jump-start public-access WLAN development and deployment so that Wi-Fi hot spots are within a five-minute walk from any spot in urban America, or within a five-minute drive in the suburbs.
Intel's next-generation processor for laptop computers, the Banias, will eventually incorporate Wi-Fi WLAN technology in the silicon. AT&T will provide the backbone for the Cometa network, and IBM will handle site installation and provide back-office billing systems.
Wi-Fi WLAN hot spots provide a much higher data rate than the 20K to 70K bit/sec. offered by cellular carriers such as Redmond, Wash.-based AT&T Wireless Services Inc., but the range of WLANs is limited to about 300 ft. A nationwide network of public-access hot spots of the kind projected by Intel's Francisco would allow mobile workers and fleet operators to easily and quickly find a location that offered high-speed data.
Jeff Amerine, managing director of network services for the FedEx Freight division at Memphis-based FedEx Corp., said he's "super-excited" about the prospects of widespread public-access WLANs. He said the company's next-generation wireless handheld computer for drivers can operate over Wi-Fi networks and the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) wide-area network from AT&T Wireless.
Easy access to Wi-Fi networks would allow FedEx Freight to transmit fat applications, such as freight bills, that couldn't be sent easily over the lower-bandwidth GPRS network, he added. FedEx Freight plans to conduct tests of public-access Wi-Fi networks next year, Amerine said.
Richard Tisdale, CIO of Petro Stopping Centers LP, an El Paso, Texas-based truck stop operator, said he believes that truck fleet operators will embrace Wi-Fi technology quickly, making it imperative for gas stations and truck stop operators to offer public-access Wi-Fi service. Tisdale predicted that within two to three years, practically every truck stop in the U.S. will offer such service. Those that don't, he said, will get passed by.
Tisdale said he has received at least three sales pitches for public-access WLAN service from different vendors in the past month. But before he chooses a Wi-Fi partner, Tisdale said, he needs to be sure it has the technical capabilities to cover a large Petro Stop lot, which can hold as many as 400 trucks.

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