Wi-Fi generates opportunities, threatens status quo

Rajit Gadh   Today’s Top Stories    or  Other Mobile and Wireless Stories  

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February 19, 2003 (Computerworld) -- Wi-Fi, a wireless LAN technology, is creating opportunities for entrepreneurs and threatening carriers' business models because it's unregulated, cheap to install and provides excellent last-mile bandwidth without the need for cables.
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System/third-generation (UMTS/3G) wireless networks offer large-scale coverage but are expensive because of the high prices carriers paid for wireless spectrum. An alternative technology called Wireless Fidelity, or Wi-Fi, which is based on the IEEE's 802.11b standard, uses the unregulated 2.4-GHz band to provide wireless data connections of 11M bit/sec. Other related standards are 802.11a and 802.11g, which operate in the 5- and 2.4-GHz bands, respectively; both provide connections of up to 54M bit/sec. If you're using a Wi-Fi-enabled laptop in a Wi-Fi-enabled cafe, you can get a network connection that's just as good as the one in your office.
Wi-Fi has taken off in a major way for a variety of market segments. Coffee shops such as Starbucks now offer Wi-Fi access for a fee. At a recent conference at HP Labs in Palo Alto, Calif., faculty members from leading universities such as Carnegie Mellon, UCLA, UC Berkeley, MIT and the University of Illinois reported various stages of Wi-Fi rollouts on their campuses.
The home market, according to In-stat/MDR, is expected to grow from 123,000 units in 2001 to almost 2.5 million by 2006. This explosive growth is due in part to the fact that low-priced, simple-to-install Wi-Fi hardware is available at consumer electronics stores.
And now, entire cities have jumped into the act. Long Beach, Calif., which is spending $3,000 a year for a Wi-Fi cloud, now offers free Internet access with the hope of attracting business and tourism.
For the business traveler, continuous connectivity via Wi-Fi will soon become a reality. Hotels are rapidly being equipped with Wi-Fi.

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Public WLANs -- A Business-Model Challenge for Wi-Fi Challenges and opportunities for Wi-Fi Wi-Fi generates opportunities, threatens status quo

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• Public WLANs -- A Business-Model Challenge for Wi-Fi
• Challenges and opportunities for Wi-Fi
• Wi-Fi generates opportunities, threatens status quo

• Microsoft promises four patches next week
• Google gives away home-cooked Web application security scanner
• Storm botnet stages Fourth of July attacks
• More top stories 

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