Email Delivery

Receive new posts as email.

Email address

Syndicate this site

RSS | Atom

Contact

About This Site
Contact Us
Privacy Policy

Search


November 2010
Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat
  1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30        

Stories by Category

Basics :: Basics
Casting :: Casting Listen In Podcasts Videocasts
Culture :: Culture Hacking
Deals :: Deals
FAQ :: FAQ
Future :: Future
Hardware :: Hardware Adapters Appliances Chips Consumer Electronics Gaming Home Entertainment Music Photography Video Gadgets Mesh Monitoring and Testing PDAs Phones Smartphones
Industry :: Industry Conferences Financial Free Health Legal Research Vendor analysis
International :: International
Media :: Media Locally cached Streaming
Metro-Scale Networks :: Metro-Scale Networks Community Networking Municipal
Network Types :: Network Types Broadband Wireless Cellular 2.5G and 3G 4G Power Line Satellite
News :: News Mainstream Media
Politics :: Politics Regulation Sock Puppets
Schedules :: Schedules
Security :: Security 802.1X
Site Specific :: Site Specific Administrative Detail April Fool's Blogging Book review Cluelessness Guest Commentary History Humor Self-Promotion Unique Wee-Fi Who's Hot Today?
Software :: Software Open Source
Spectrum :: Spectrum 60 GHz
Standards :: Standards 802.11a 802.11ac 802.11ad 802.11e 802.11g 802.11n 802.20 Bluetooth MIMO UWB WiGig WiMAX ZigBee
Transportation and Lodging :: Transportation and Lodging Air Travel Aquatic Commuting Hotels Rails
Unclassified :: Unclassified
Vertical Markets :: Vertical Markets Academia Enterprise WLAN Switches Home Hot Spot Aggregators Hot Spot Advertising Road Warrior Roaming Libraries Location Medical Public Safety Residential Rural SOHO Small-Medium Sized Business Universities Utilities wISP
Voice :: Voice

Archives

November 2010 | October 2010 | September 2010 | August 2010 | July 2010 | June 2010 | May 2010 | April 2010 | March 2010 | February 2010 | January 2010 | December 2009 | November 2009 | October 2009 | September 2009 | August 2009 | July 2009 | June 2009 | May 2009 | April 2009 | March 2009 | February 2009 | January 2009 | December 2008 | November 2008 | October 2008 | September 2008 | August 2008 | July 2008 | June 2008 | May 2008 | April 2008 | March 2008 | February 2008 | January 2008 | December 2007 | November 2007 | October 2007 | September 2007 | August 2007 | July 2007 | June 2007 | May 2007 | April 2007 | March 2007 | February 2007 | January 2007 | December 2006 | November 2006 | October 2006 | September 2006 | August 2006 | July 2006 | June 2006 | May 2006 | April 2006 | March 2006 | February 2006 | January 2006 | December 2005 | November 2005 | October 2005 | September 2005 | August 2005 | July 2005 | June 2005 | May 2005 | April 2005 | March 2005 | February 2005 | January 2005 | December 2004 | November 2004 | October 2004 | September 2004 | August 2004 | July 2004 | June 2004 | May 2004 | April 2004 | March 2004 | February 2004 | January 2004 | December 2003 | November 2003 | October 2003 | September 2003 | August 2003 | July 2003 | June 2003 | May 2003 | April 2003 | March 2003 | February 2003 | January 2003 | December 2002 | November 2002 | October 2002 | September 2002 | August 2002 | July 2002 | June 2002 | May 2002 | April 2002 | March 2002 | February 2002 | January 2002 | December 2001 | November 2001 | October 2001 | September 2001 | August 2001 | July 2001 | June 2001 | May 2001 | April 2001 |

Recent Entries

In-Flight Wi-Fi and In-Flight Bombs
Can WPA Protect against Firesheep on Same Network?
Southwest Sets In-Flight Wi-Fi at $5
Eye-Fi Adds a View for Web Access
Firesheep Makes Sidejacking Easy
Wi-Fi Direct Certification Starts
Decaf on the Starbucks Digital Network
Google Did Snag Passwords
WiMax and LTE Not Technically 4G by ITU Standards
AT&T Wi-Fi Connections Keep High Growth with Free Service

Site Philosophy

This site operates as an independent editorial operation. Advertising, sponsorships, and other non-editorial materials represent the opinions and messages of their respective origins, and not of the site operator. Part of the FM Tech advertising network.

Copyright

Entire site and all contents except otherwise noted © Copyright 2001-2010 by Glenn Fleishman. Some images ©2006 Jupiterimages Corporation. All rights reserved. Please contact us for reprint rights. Linking is, of course, free and encouraged.

Powered by
Movable Type

« Hotspot Renaissance from iPod Touch? Hardly | Main | Caltrain Rejects Wi-Fi Bids, Calif. Train-Fi Stalls; Thalys Signs Up in Europe »

September 6, 2007

Bus-Fi v Bus-Fi: Microsoft Gets into Commuter Wi-Fi Service for Employees

Google ferries folks all over the Bay Area on swank, uncrowded buses that relay in cell data signals for Wi-Fi access; Microsoft joins in around Seattle: Microsoft, the laggard on search, Web 2.0 applications, and many other areas (but don't let that fool you--remember "The Sleeping Giant Has Awoken") now joins Google and other firms in providing shuttle buses for employees to reduce their commuting time in the greater Seattle area, and, more importantly, increase their viable working hours. Todd Bishop of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports from a briefing this morning that Microsoft will start with as many as 1,000 employees later this month on buses that also include Internet access.

MicrosoftbusMicrosoft has long been a leader in commuter programs, which has made it doubly strange during a period of slack stock growth and employee-filching by other firms that they didn't up the most useful of all things in their workers' lives: time. I live right near the western end of State Route 520, the floating bridge that goes straight to Microsoft's various Redmond offices, and I know plenty of 'Softies who live in my neighborhood and further west. Adding commuter-Fi--along with electrical outlets at each seat--ensures happier employees and more productive hours. There are no dedicated bus lanes on 520, but there are HOV lanes heading west for several miles east of the bridge. That means that afternoon return commuters to Seattle could see 20 to 40 minutes shaved off that trip in which they aren't behind a wheel. Seven of the 14 coaches will have bike storage, too, to encourage fully car-free multi-modal transit.

The company is also putting offices in Seattle, its first substantial footprint in my fair city, despite being called "Seattle-based Microsoft" for all these years. They'll have space in South Lake Union leased from Paul Allen, where a street car is going in (street-car-Fi?), some space near the Amtrak/Sounder station (train-Fi?), and in Pioneer Square, a few blocks from the ferry dock (there is, in fact, ferry-Fi).

What remains to be seen is if Microsoft will tap Seattle-based Junxion for their cell router on the buses. (Junxion really is in Seattle; I just biked by their office on the way to my office.) Update: Bishop confirmed Junxion was tapped. Junxion's gear was designed to be used in large-scale deployments, with back-end administrative tools (Field Commander) that allow a single IT person to control configuration and handle updates. Even better for buses: the latest release of their Junxion Box firmware supports the GPS features in the Novatel 720 card. That means that Microsoft could provide real-time tracking of buses via that feature to their employees wondering when the bus would arrive. Of course, the employee might need to use an...iPhone to access a Web page with that detail while waiting at the coffeeshop.